The Brute: Buñuel’s Dark and Brutal Melodrama
Brutal passion and political commentary meet in Luis Buñuel’s take on the Frankenstein tradition. Made during his commercial period in Mexico, The Brute (1953), which pits a bourgeois landowner against his working-class tenants, may qualify as Luis Buñuel’s most political work. At the time
Sensationalism, Surrealism, Susana
A relic of Buñuel’s commercial period in Mexico, Susana offers up sex, sensationalism, and literal Sturm und Drang. The vast majority of Luis Buñuel’s filmography was released before his ascension to the throne of surrealist cinema. The filmmaker may have first come
The Unbelievable Story of Ada Falcon
Filmmakers Lorena Munoz and Sergio Wolf trace the life of an iconic tango singer who vanished at the height of her career. Ada Falcon was a tango diva. She sang on cinema screens. Her voice dominated the airwaves. Tabloids were preoccupied
25 Watts Captures the Absurdity of Adolescence
25 Watts may be an ode to Linklater and Jarmusch, but the film is more than capable of standing on its own. A worthy addition to that sub-genre of low-budget, seemingly low-effort, films that defined the independent film scene during the
The House is Black Refuses to Turn Away From Ugliness
In The House is Black, Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad presents the lives of leper colony inhabitants with empathy and grace. “On this screen will appear an image of ugliness, a vision of pain no caring human being should ignore.” The image in question is that of
Raymundo Gleyzer: A Revolutionary Filmmaker and the Revolution
Raymundo Gleyzer attacked the authoritarian Argentinean government with revolutionary cinema. “I don’t believe in revolutionary cinema. I believe firmly in the revolution.” Here we have, in writing, the artistic philosophy of radical Third Cinema pioneer Raymundo Gleyzer. The Argentinean filmmaker spent his career telling stories
The Mountains and Memoirs of Luc Moullet
The Sieges of Alcazar and The Man of the Badlands bookend the fascinating career of Luc Moullet. Though he may be one of the less-decorated foot soldiers of the French New Wave, Luc Moullet is an integral member of that legendary legion of artists.
A Woman Without Love: The Early Promise of an Iconic Auteur
More than a decade prior to the release of Belle de Jour, Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel directed this Mexican melodrama about the effects of infidelity on a family. https://youtu.be/KvhiILFqGJMAt first it may not seem as if there is much that distinguishes
The Poignant Confrontation of Reunification
In a style reminiscent of Chris Marker, Reunification (2015) meditates on the nature of memory, family, and art. Alvin Tsang is motivated to contextualize his family’s experience empathetically, historically, and philosophically. The intimate family history we are given is marked by
The Screen is a Monolith: Understanding 50 Years of 2001
To celebrate 50 years of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, we take a look at two forgotten films by Pavel Klushantsev. These films show a clear influence on the visuals and special effects which made 2001: A Space Odyssey the groundbreaking work we