Madness and Civilization

At Moving Image Source:

When Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux was released in April 1947, its director was already on his way to becoming persona non grata in American culture. On top of personal scandal...

Read More

Elizabeth Hardwick Shines On

At The L Magazine:

Hardwick, who died in late 2007, is most famous as a critic, and perhaps the most remarkable aspect of her essays was her cutting psychological insight. The first eight stories here, written between 1946 and 1959, are penetrating, richly detailed character sketches...

Read More

Wood's Dilemma

At Moving Image Source:

Robin Wood once wrote, "Any critic who is honest...is committed to self-exposure, a kind of public striptease." In keeping with that spirit...

Read More

Reinterpreting the Gods

At Moving Image Source:

In the story of English-language film criticism, Robin Wood looms large. He was one of the first film critics to publish serious, book-length studies of individual directors, and also one of the first to get a job teaching at a university...

Read More

Sturm und Drang und Irony

At The L Magazine dot com:

I don’t really know what they’re about,” my friend remarked, “I just know I really, really like them.” She was voicing a not uncommon reaction to the films and videos of Michael Robinson...

Read More

Bad Filmmaker Makes Bad Film About Good Filmmakers

At The L Magazine:

The American film avant-garde is in need of an approachable documentary that could make its staggering accomplishments more readily accessible to a wider audience. Or an erudite documentary that could spark discussion among those already in the know...

Read More

Enough with All the 60s Godard!

At The L Magazine dot com:

I have a friend who jokes, whenever another early Godard film is playing at Film Forum, “When is that series going to be over?”—as if Film Forum were running one continuous series of Godard films from the 60s...

Read More