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The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)

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Friday
Oct162020

Streaming Review: "What the Constitution Means to Me"

by Christopher James

One of my favorite theater going experiences ever was seeing What the Constitution Means to Me off Broadway last fall. Writer/performer Heidi Schreck had such a knack for involving the audience in her exhilarating look at the role of the Constitution in our lives. By the end of the show, it felt like we were working with her in devising a new and more perfect solution. This level of intimacy and audience engagement seemed almost impossible to replicate with the remove of film. Luckily, director extraordinaire Marielle Heller was tasked with recording the production during its final week at the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway. Heller continues her impressive streak, delivering another hit...

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Friday
Oct162020

Review: "Deerskin" on HBO

by Cláudio Alves

Fashion kills in one of Quentin Dupieux's latest absurdist comedies, the loony nightmare that is Deerskin. After blessing moviegoers with the nonsensical sight of a homicidal tire in Rubber, the French director has now imbued a fringed jacket with the power to unravel the human mind and precipitate its wearers into paroxysms of murderous madness. Jean Dujardin's Georges is the victim of such demonic influence, though, at the start, he, like all things in Deerskin, appears unnervingly mundane…

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Thursday
Oct152020

Monty @ 100: “The Misfits” and the Specter of Death

by Cláudio Alves

The late-career of Montgomery Clift was laden with tragedy, shaped by the doom that was happening both behind and in front of the camera. While nothing can compare to the cataclysm that was the shooting of Raintree County, The Misfits is another film of Clift that's haunted and haunting. The Angel of Death looms over the picture which unwittingly became the last screen appearances of Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe before their untimely ends. Clift would hold on for a few more years, surviving his co-stars.

However, as legend has it, the movie was showing on TV the night the actor died. His secretary, Lorenzo James, asked the actor if he wanted to watch it to which he answered: "Absolutely not!". Those were the last words he ever spoke to anyone, enshrining the movie in even more cursed memory. It's a pity these morbid curiosities define the legacy of The Misfits. In many regards, it's one of Clift's best and most fascinating pictures…

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Thursday
Oct152020

Streaming Review: Over the Moon

By Abe Friedtanzer

Many religions and cultures find meaning in inanimate objects and physical locations, teaching mythical stories about their significance. As children grow up, they may assume a more metaphorical and symbolic understanding of what they heard from their parents and grandparents, no longer convinced that something magic could indeed be real. That can erode the sense of wonder that they once felt and cause them to believe in something less fervently because they believe it couldn’t possibly be true.

Not giving up that childlike hope may be unrealistic, but it does serve as the premise for some of the most heartwarming animated films.

In Over the Moon, streaming on Netflix on October 23rd, we’re introduced to Fei Fei, who, as a young girl, helps her parents make and sell mooncakes, eagerly running all over the city describing their delicious taste. She is always sure to emphasize their connection to the moon itself and to Chang’e, the moon goddess...

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Thursday
Oct152020

Tony Nods 2020: "Jagged Little Pill" and "Slave Play" dominate

by Nathaniel R

The controversial "Slave Play," featuring multiple interracial couples and sexual power dynamics, transferred from Off-Broadway and was huge at the Tony nominations

We're not sure what possessed the Broadway League to announced Tony nominations in mid October (and some probable virtual ceremony in December), just after announcing that Broadway will not return before next summer (thereby missing another Tony season -- the theater season runs June to May). It's especially baffling because earlier it was understood that because the shutdown happened in March while so many of the shows that were expected heavyhitters were still in previews (like revivals of Company and West Side Story) so they never got a chance to be seen by Tony voters. Curious. As are the unusual nominations. But for those who miss Broadway (or just news of it from afar) here is the list that was announced this afternoon...

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