SXSW: How It Ends, Alien on Stage, and Violet

by Christopher James

It’s the end of the world as we know it on Day Three of the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.

The festival only continues to heat up with more great films. A buzzy first feature, documentary of a viral sensation and dramedy on the brink of apocalypse comprise my watches on Day Three. The virtual film festival continues to impress, not just in terms of the filmmaking but also in terms of organization. Aside from registration confusions, booking and watching films throughout the week continues to be seamless and stress free. Most of all, it helps make sure the films are presented in the best light possible, short of being in a physical theater...

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Showbiz History: The First Televised Oscar Ceremony!

This one is from our vaults, first published 8 years ago but we're reupping it it with some additional bits of trivia to celebrate March 19th! If it's your birthday today you can brag that you share a birthday with the televised tradition of Oscar ceremonies. This particular ceremony, the 25th Academy Awards, held 68 years ago today was historic for many reasons...

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Streaming Roulette (March 18th-31st) Last chance for lots of classics!

Farewell Amor, which we discussed a few times last year, is now on Hulu

Time for another round of streaming roulette where we point out titles that are new(ish) to streaming or about to leave and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar and whatever comes up we share...

Have you seen the movie Tell Me You Love Me?

MONSOON WEDDING (2001/2002) leaving on March 31st
Mira Nair's colorful layered empathetic classic is a must-see. Check it out on Criterion and then read Cláudio's recent piece; It was the first time he had ever seen it...

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SXSW: Portraits of motherhood in "Ninjababy" and "Bantú Mama"

by Cláudio Alves

Motherhood is one of cinema's favorite subjects, ever since narrative pictures emerged as a force to be contended with. One can go so far as saying that ever since the origins of drama, of storytelling, tales of mothers have dominated audiences' attentions, defined cultures, were made into the foundations for moral and religious belief. Perhaps because of such history, such conceptual weight, mainstream cinema rarely attempts to subvert or question the precepts of dramatized maternity. Even in more independent circuits, there's still reverence there, a willingness to prop up the mother figure into a saintly paragon, idealized caretaker, matriarch of humanity.

Because of it, one feels grateful when artists turn their back on all that baggage and decide to subvert what cinematic mothers are, what they look like, what they represent. The irreverent Ninjababy and the beautiful Bantú Mama, both presented at the SXSW film festival, are prime examples of this…

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SXSW: Reviews of "WeWork" and "Language Lessons"

 by Christopher James

Day Two of the SXSW Festival provided even more interesting, high profile premieres. Between a billion dollar flamout and a star-studded movie shot entirely on zoom, it would be hard to find more disparate projects on the second day of the festival. Both WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn and Language Lessons were engaging and worthwhile watches in very different ways. One was a grandiose look at the rise and fall of a famous company born out of the ashes of the financial crisis. The other was a heartfelt dramedy where two lonely souls connect via online Spanish lessons...

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