Music documentary Directed by Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden People don’t recognize the name Anita O’Day the way they do Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald, but as a jazz vocalist she’s arguably in their class. She possessed a beautiful voice, a unique and expressive way of making familiar lyrics her own, and a phenomenal sense [...]
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Dance opera Written by Aramantono and Garin Nugroho Directed by Garin Nugroho Astonishing sensual, works like a dream. Things don’t connect the way they do in the real world (or in a conventional film), but that doesn’t bother you in the slightest. You’re in its world, and you see no reason to want out. In [...]
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Music documentary Written by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud and Emmanuel Gétaz Directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud It’s sad when a great idea and an important subject lose their way. I don’t know whether to blame filmmaker Pierre-Yves Borgeaud or the film’s subject, singer/song-writer Youssou N’Dour, but Return to Gorée isn’t the film it should have been. Part of [...]
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I caught the last screening of West Side Story at the Castro last night. This was the brand new 70mm print with DTS (almost as good as the original magnetic analog) sound. I’d seen the classic, Oscar-winning musical before, of course, but not for decades and never in anything approaching its original roadshow glory. Quite [...]
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Musical biopic/mockumentary/weird undefinable something Written by Todd Haynes and Oren Moverman Directed by Todd Haynes Artists should experiment, try new things, push the boundaries of their art. There can be no masterpieces without experimentation. But since experimentation involves trying something that may or may not work, failure is a real possibility. (I’m talking about artistic [...]
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Musical Written and directed by John Turturro To a radical non-smoker like myself–someone who finds the act of smoking about as sexy as Dick Cheney–the very term “Romance and Cigarettes” seems odd. That’s appropriate. John Turturro’s musical tragi-comedy about marriage and adultery is a very odd motion picture. The songs are familiar hits, and for [...]
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Music Documentary Written and directed by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher You’ve got one night–Friday, November 9–to catch Dirty Country at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. And if you like raunchy humor, you should catch it. Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher of Found Footage Fame (or Found Footage obscurity) built this documentary around [...]
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