This week in Bay Area movie theaters: a new comedy about death, a massive epic about totalitarianism, rock and roll gone wrong, masterpieces by Orson Welles and Martin Scorsese, and a trip out of this world. Also film festivals frozen, haunted, and Jewish. Festivals The Frozen Film Festival continues through Sunday Modern Cinema: Haunted! (Gothic … Continue reading What’s Screening: July 19 – 25
Month: July 2019
Say hello to The Farewell
B+ Dramatic comedy Written and directed by Lulu Wang Chinese and Chinese Americans don't always see eye-to-eye. These generational clashes provide a lot of the laughs in The Farewell. But writer/director Lulu Wang keeps the existential pain of mortality always in the foreground, reminding us that something very serious is happening along with the humor. … Continue reading Say hello to The Farewell
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Rolling Thunder Revue, Last Black Man in SF, Rosenda, The Vikings, & The Woman in the Window
I didn't see a single movie in my European vacation. I was tempted to see The Dead Don't Die in a cinema club across the street from our Airbnb, but it was dubbed into Italian. Then, as soon as I got home, I dived into previewing the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. It wasn't until … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: Rolling Thunder Revue, Last Black Man in SF, Rosenda, The Vikings, & The Woman in the Window
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Preview: Part 2
Four more films that will play at this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Three of them are documentaries; the other is a comedy. Three of them are about Israel/ Palestine issues. This is the last article I'll write on this festival until after Opening Night. A- What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael … Continue reading San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Preview: Part 2
What’s Screening: July 12 – 18
A lot of comedy in Bay Area movie theaters this week. We get laughs from Laurel and Hardy, Billy Wilder, Wallace and Gromit, François Truffaut, Lulu Wang, and even Gregory Peck. But you can also get unintended laughs from Roger Corman and deep pretentiousness from Alain Resnais. Also, three film festivals open this week. Festivals … Continue reading What’s Screening: July 12 – 18
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Preview: Part 1
Here's my first selection of films for this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, in order of quality. A American Factory One of the most technically accomplished, emotionally effective documentaries I've seen in a while. Fuyao, a car glass manufacturer from China, takes over a closed factory in Detroit, producing jobs and cultural conflicts. The … Continue reading San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Preview: Part 1
This year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
I'm back from a three-week vacation in Europe. Had a great time. But I missed the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival's schedule announcement. So, a couple of weeks late, let me tell you what's coming up. Me in Nuremberg The Bay Area hosts quite a few of what I call identity film festivals, because they're … Continue reading This year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Something going wrong on Bayflicks
I don't know how this happened, but several old drafts of tests and rewrites went on line July 4 (and I hope no more). I have since deleted them. Sorry for the confusion.
Gothic Tales from very scary Women
Here's another film festival, one intended to give you the willies from mid-July to late August. Modern Cinema: Haunted! (subtitled Gothic Tales by Women). It will play at SFMOMA's Phyllis Wattis Theater. SFMOMA's latest "Modern Cinema" series looks at gothic stories, most of them horror of some sort. All of them are written by a … Continue reading Gothic Tales from very scary Women
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