Category Archives: Movies

Review: Soup and Ideology

Posted on June 11, 2022 by philipbrasor

Filmmaker Yang Yonghi’s career has been in the service of explaining why her family is what it is, and as with many such endeavors the family itself hasn’t always seemed happy with the attention. Most of this work has been … Continue reading →

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Review: The Story of Film: A New Generation

Posted on June 9, 2022 by philipbrasor

British film scholar and filmmaker Mark Cousins takes the notion of fan service to its most obvious ends in that, as a fan himself, he only seems intent on satisfying his own needs, which turn out to be quite specific. … Continue reading →

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Review: Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

Posted on June 4, 2022 by philipbrasor

In many ways every film is about its filmmaker, even when the ostensible subject is a different person. A viewer who approaches Werner Herzog’s documentary about the British travel writer Bruce Chatwin expecting a biography will likely be disappointed since … Continue reading →

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Review: Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan

Posted on June 3, 2022 by philipbrasor

The centrality of “authenticity” comes and goes in the annals of music criticism. In its most common usage it represents an artist’s commitment to music as craft, which is why hip-hop and techno were originally dismissed by self-serious, trad-oriented types. … Continue reading →

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Review: An Officer and a Spy

Posted on June 2, 2022 by philipbrasor

Roman Polanski is old and probably doesn’t have many more films left in him. Though he’s considered one of the most important directors of the last 60 years, his output since the turn of the millennium has been riddled with … Continue reading →

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Review: Mothering Sunday

Posted on May 26, 2022 by philipbrasor

Adapted from a Graham Swift novel published in 2016, Eva Husson’s debut feature feels like an attempt to inject oxygen into the stuffy atmosphere that usually surrounds the so-called British prestige picture. Comprising three different time periods but centered on … Continue reading →

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Review: One Second

Posted on May 20, 2022 by philipbrasor

At one point the most celebrated and revered member of the so-called Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, Zhang Yimou has since turned into an equally notorious example of submitting to a repressive system for the sake of survival as an … Continue reading →

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Review: Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time

Posted on May 6, 2022 by philipbrasor

There will be two documentaries released in Tokyo theaters this month about Laurel Canyon, the leafy residential adjunct to Los Angeles that acted as an incubator for the storied Southern California Sound of the late 60s and early 70s. This … Continue reading →

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Review: Marry Me

Posted on April 23, 2022 by philipbrasor

It strikes me as odd that Marry Me is based on a graphic novel, since I tend to associate the form with science fiction, young adult themes, or horror/suspense stories. Marry Me is about as generic a rom-com as you’re … Continue reading →

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Review: Paris, 13th District

Posted on April 21, 2022 by philipbrasor

There’s much to like about Jacques Audiard’s breezy feature, adapted by Audiard, Lea Mysius, and Celine Sciamma from a series of stories by Adrian Tomine, and even more to admire in the way it downplays the kind of desperation that … Continue reading →

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