Picturing “Illuminating The Shadows” Film Critic Conference, April 21-23

“Illuminating the Shadows: Film Criticism In Focus” was the subject of a conference April 21-23, Easter weekend, at the Block Museum of Art on the Northwestern University Evanston campus. Four panels were accompanied by four screenings, including Michael Phillips‘ choice of Errol Morris’ Tabloid; Dave Kehr‘s presentation of “the pre-Codiest of pre-Code” movies, Raoul Walsh’s 1933 three-cannon salute of a carefree sexual romp, Sailor’s Luck; and Karina Longworth with Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Attenberg (my notes here). There aren’t any images here of the panel about this history of film criticism in Chicago that I was part of, but the organizers promise MP3s of the four panels to come. My favorite moment may have come when a film professor type confronted the above panel with the question of why he should read any film criticism at all, what was its purpose, why should he care about anyone’s opinion but his own. To which the Boston Globe’s Wesley Morris essentially replied, “Read one of us.” (His elaboration of how a reviewer’s work can inform the intelligent reader was substantially more nuanced.) To the right of Morris, the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips; The AV Club’s Scott Tobias and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of “Ebert Presents” and Mubi.com. A 52-photo slideshow including these images and others is here; all could bear a bit more color correction to make the assembled seem ever-so-slightly more healthy.

Jonathan Rosenbaum.

At dinner, Vishnevetsky crayons his flowchart to connect John Carpenter and Brian De Palma.

Karina Longworth of LA Weekly.

The Block Museum of Art auditorium during a panel dubbed “Past Perfect–Critical Histories, Seminal Touchstones, and Rediscoveries.” To the left, moderator Nick Davis (Assistant Professor, English and Gender Studies, Northwestern).
Read the full article »

RIP Poly Styrene, 53: O, Cancer, Up Yours

And a brilliant amount of context and testimony from the likes of Johnny Rotten and Billy Bragg in under four minutes:

HANNA-Inspired Comic Art

Focus Features sends illos along: “The artistic blending of action, mystery, innocence and coming of age in Hanna inspired the Illustration Project. Focus Features set out to find three talented artists internationally who could capture the spirit of the characters and bring them to life in their own mediums. Working with exclusive clips, photo stills and the film’s original score by the Chemical Brothers, the artists created and illustrated Hanna’s world through their eyes. The artists Jock, Aaron Minier and Alan Brooks were given little to no direction when they took on this assignment—only materials. This is their art, and their vision, of Hanna.” [Above, Brooks; below, three by Jock. Click twice for larger images. Also: two stills from Hanna illustrating Wright’s comics-ish visual style

Read the full article »

“They’re Paying For It, You Eat It”

[Via Remember Me.]

50 Years of The Wilhelm Scream in 12 Minutes

[Via Cinexcellence.]

Filmmaker Jon Jost’s Riposte To Ross Douthat’s Musing Whether Gandhi Or “Tony Soprano” Are In Heaven

Trailering Luc Moullet’s Latest, TOUJOURS MOINS

Writes Daniel Kasman at Mubi: “A short film suspiciously formed of footage of automated terminals (ATMs, ticket dispensers, turnstiles, etc.) over three decades (perhaps culled from the director’s own work?), with customary pith and concision picks up, toys with, and… finally drops, the many ways human interaction has been eliminated in favor of blocky mechanical interfaces… The self-evident quality of Moullet’s humorist-material record is absolutely in accordance with the filmmaker’s style of matter-of-fact direct presentation…. What Moullet gets… is something so few filmmakers understand, that approaching something as if it has never been filmed and revealed to audiences before has the power to transform the everyday into something… revelatory.” [Via Andy Rector.]

Silent Footage Of Fukushima Wreckage As Peeped By Robot Drone

Dimming Tokyo In Time-Lapse Video

“Hotel,” by Alan Rudolph

More paintings here. Click for larger version.

Thom Powers And Tim Hetherington Talk About His Last Film, DIARY

Trailering Azazel Jacobs’ TERRI

A Lovely Trailer For ANOTHER EARTH

Someone’s even picked the right shots, let alone hit the right notes.

Postering Nash Edgerton’s BEAR

The short sequel to his short Spider. Written by Edgerton & David Michôd. Key art from the talented Jeremy Saunders (@jeremyrsaunders).

Tim Hetherington’s SLEEPING SOLDIERS

“he work was made in 2007-8 while I was following a platoon of US Airborne Infantry based in the Korengal Valley of Eastern Afghanistan. This is a single screen version of the original 3-screen installation that was first shown in New York in 2009 (the original 3-screen version was designed as an immerisve installation, and not for the small screen).”