Saw this courtesy of TMC. In 1971-73 I edited a film quarterly magazine entitled 'Cinema' and was always in search of new material. Not to toot my own horn (but here I go--toot, toot!) we published the first work on Joseph Lewis and Oscar Mischaux, put Performance on the cover, published Lindsay Anderson's work on John Ford, ran the first translated interviews with Mizoguchi, Ichikawa and Ozu, ran a booklet-size piece of Peter Guber's predictions about the "cartridge revolution," ran…
The peculiar nature of the Vietnam War has had its effect on films. Past war propaganda films (pro and con) were like the wars: straight, "us vs. them," goal-oriented cine-journalism with hard-hitting MARCH OF TIME style narration. But Vietnam defies traditional documentary technique: it's anachronistically conventional in a nuclear age, it's without front lines, clear purpose or definite enemy, and is transmitted primarily through television. I have yet to see an effective pro-Vietnam War documentary, because the Armed Forces' WHY…
‘I told them: There’s no way I can improve Blue Velvet’
David couldn’t get Blue Velvet made. Dino De Laurentiis told David he’d pay me to rewrite the script and David gave it to me. It was one of the best scripts I’d ever read. I told Dino there was no way I could improve it. David thanked me and Dino financed the film. The rest is film history. The only thing to add is this: smoking kills.
via ‘David Lynch altered our brains’: fellow directors, friends and fans a titan of cinema by Catherine Shoard
The Guardian — 17 January, 2025
THE CONCLAVE is an excellent film on many levels. 1. An anthropological look into a society known only to a few 2. Intellectually rigorous and complex 3. A masterpiece of imagery. The shots are primarily static, each composed with a precise painterly eye. Among the year's best. Not to be missed.
