Sometimes there are connections between the three things, oftentimes there are not.
• The River – a new authenticity: a very fine essay by Ian Christie for Criterion on Jean Renoir’s 1951 feature shot in India (above).
• The catastrophe: a rather extraordinary piece by Oliver Sacks in The New Yorker on the late Spalding Gray, who I knew slightly and admired immensely.
• Bruce Springsteen – ‘The River’: from when this song was new – just because…
• Innerspace: Eric Hynes at the Museum of the Moving Image Reverse Shot blog writes very well about Miami Vice (1984-89, above) and Miami Vice (2006); for those nostalgic about the original series, take a look at the Top 10 Miami Vice music moments compiled by schnuffel661:
Sometimes there are connections between them, oftentimes there not.
• A new Whitney: Michael Kimmelman reviews Manhattan’s latest museum, with great use of embedded video and graphics (above) in a spectacular online essay from The New York Times.
• The Louvre scene from Bande à part (1964, director Jean-Luc Godard): this has recently been appropriated by an ad for a mobile phone, but the original says more about heritage, museums, cinema and being young than pretty much any other 40 seconds of film.
• The Smithsons on Housing: writer and filmmaker B. S. Johnson’s eccentric and compelling BBC documentary made in 1970 about architects Alison and Peter Smithson; I came to this via John Grindrod’s terrific blog Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, which has an informative entry here (and lots more links to fascinating films).
• Los Angeles Plays Itself: Thom Andersen’s great 2003 essay film (above) about Hollywood’s representation of the city of angeles is finally available on DVD (albeit as a Region 1 impost); here’s the trailer…
• Survival tactics: German filmmakers in Hollywood, 1940-1960: a long, detailed and dense essay by Joe McElhaney for Lola about Michael Curtiz, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder and others – fascinating if you’re prepared to devote the time it needs.
• How I feel for the films of Robert Siodmak: Geoff Andrew for the BFI on the noir director who has a retrospective at BFI Southbank this month and next; here’s the trailer for the re-release of Siodmak’s Cry of the City (1948):
• The Angelic Cinema of Manoel de Oliveira: a beautiful video essay by Kevin B. Lee for Fandor about the cinema of the director who died very recently, taking its inspiration from the film de Oliveira made at the age of 102, The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, above); go here for an excellent tribute to the filmmaker compiled by David Hudson.
• Stranger than fiction: Honour Bayes for The Space writes about how ‘artists are beginning to use YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and probably an array of new programmes I’m not cool enough to know about yet, to make art.’ She includes a host of projects including Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir…
• Let’s Tanz: Pina Bausch’s Wuppertal dancers on her unearthed 80s creations: with the radical German company back in London at Sadler’s Wells this week with Auf dem Gebirge Hat Man ein Geschrei Gehört (above), this is a really good piece by the Guardian’s Chris Wiegand about the recovery of early works by the late choreographer.
• Love and marriage – an ultimate journey: Adrian Martin at Fandor on Vigo, Rossellini and ‘a sense that second chances for married lovers are forever possible’ – lovely piece.
• Cries and Whispers – love and death: Emma Wilson for The Criterion Collection on Bergman’s great film (above), immaculately illustrated with extracts.
• Shedding her skin: The Good Wife, currently running on More4 (with, among others, Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, above) is simply the best thing on TV – did you see last week’s show with the prison consultant? This New Yorker piece by the excellent Emily Nussbaum from last autumn goes some way to explaining its strengths: ‘the series is a model of how strict boundaries—the sort that govern sonnets—can inspire greater brilliance than absolute freedom can.’
