World music, Lusty Men, and a Roman Holiday this week in Bay Area screenings. Festivals Frameline continues through Sunday. Check out my preview. The Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival opens tonight and runs through Sunday. I'll be introducing the final film of the festival, The Scarlet Letter, Sunday, 4:00, at the Niles Essanay Silent Film … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 24 – 30
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
A- Music documentary Directed by Morgan Neville In the year 2000, cellist Yo-Yo Ma decided to take his musical career in a new direction. He gathered up musicians from various countries, all experts in their own cultures' music, and created The Silk Road Ensemble. The idea was to find the beauty in their different traditions … Continue reading The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
The SF Jewish Film Festival turns 36 (double chai)
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival turns 36 this year with 68 films (more than 50 of them features) from 16 countries. The films and presentations include comedies from Argentina and California, several coming-of-age dramas--including one about an Iranian family in Israel, a new TV series from the creator of Arab Labor, a Freedom of … Continue reading The SF Jewish Film Festival turns 36 (double chai)
A+ List: The world ends with a bang, a whimper, and a lot of laughs in Criterion’s Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove
Stanley Kubrick's only out-and-out comedy, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, manages to terrify the audience, hold them in suspense, and trick them into rooting for people about to cause Armageddon, all the while generating side-splitting laughter. As the darkest of dark comedies, Dr. Strangelove earns its place … Continue reading A+ List: The world ends with a bang, a whimper, and a lot of laughs in Criterion’s Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove
John Ford’s The Long Voyage Home at the Pacific Film Archive
John Ford directed seven films in the three years preceding Pearl Harbor. That in itself wasn't so remarkable in the days of studio assembly lines. But the quality of those seven show the power of a mature artist at his height. They include Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, Young Mr. Lincoln, and How Green Was … Continue reading John Ford’s The Long Voyage Home at the Pacific Film Archive
Wenders & Suzuki: Saturday night at the Pacific Film Archive
I saw two very different films Saturday night at the Pacific Film Archive. They were not a double feature, and few people stayed for both of them. The American Friend Brief digression: My wife and I watched the first two seasons of Breaking Bad recently; we're not sure if and when we'll get to season … Continue reading Wenders & Suzuki: Saturday night at the Pacific Film Archive
What’s Screening: June 17 – 23
Three new movies, a Giant, a Long Voyage Home. All this and more in this week's Bay Area screenings. Festivals The Black Film Festival continues through Sunday Frameline continues through this week and beyond. Check out my preview. New films opening A Tikkun, New Mission, opens Friday A young, male Chasid, extremely religious and prone … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 17 – 23
Life at the gym through young eyes: My review of The Fits
A- Doesn't fit any genre Written by Anna Rose Holmer, Saela Davis, and Lisa Kjerulff Directed by Anna Rose Holmer This impossible-to-categorize narrative film shows us the world of a public, inner-city gym through the eyes of the teenagers and pre-teens who use it. Specifically, we see it through the eyes of Toni (Royalty Hightower). … Continue reading Life at the gym through young eyes: My review of The Fits
What’s Screening: June 10 – 16
This week we have a Martian, lots of Chaplin, and the two weakest Indiana Jones movies--although only one of them is really bad. Festivals SF DocFest continues through Thursday Charlie Chaplin Days runs Saturday and Sunday, with many shorts, a walking tour of Niles, and a costume contest. The Black Film Festival opens Thursday and … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 10 – 16
Spellbound with music: Surviving and enjoying the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Nothing really beats the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. For three days (plus an opening night), you're immersed in an art form that was born, matured, reached extraordinary heights, and then suddenly died--all within the space of 20 to 40 years (depending on how to you define its birth and death). All told, this year's … Continue reading Spellbound with music: Surviving and enjoying the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival
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