TIFF '23: "Pictures of Ghosts" Sings a City Symphony

by Cláudio Alves

When I walk around Lisbon, I often pass by places that once were cinemas, temples of art and communion left abandoned or transformed for new commercial purposes. There's a big one that got bought by an Evangelical church years ago, its screening room turned auditorium for religious spectacle. I've witnessed some of these changes, but many had already happened by the time I found myself alone in the city. My parents' memories and souvenirs tell the stories of a metropolis I never knew, invoking ghostly cinemas I wish I had seen. Lisbon is a graveyard for a moribund culture, the moving image surviving in a few palaces that persist, raging against the dying of the light.

While watching Kleber Mendonça Filho's Pictures of Ghosts, I couldn't help but translate its reflections to my beloved Lisbon. I imagine most cinephiles will do the same for their homes. It's an identification that shouldn't betray the Brazilian master's intent, which is deeply personal. But in specificity, the universal resides...

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Doc Corner: 'We Kill For Love: The Lost World of the Erotic Thriller'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

If you’re restless for the return of Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This podcast, "Erotic ‘90s", then We Kill For Love: The Lost World of the Erotic Thriller may be for you. In many ways, Anthony Petra’s near three-hour video essay (even so much as to get the opening credit of “A video by”) is like the direct-to-video cousin to Longworth’s long-form audio series. And I don’t mean that as a pejorative. I hope the director wouldn't take it that way, either, given Petra’s desire to focus more attentively on the less fondly remembered, less glossy works of (largely independent) Hollywood eroticism that more often than not skipped theatrical exhibition. Instead they instead found money and eager viewers on the shelves of video stores and as late-night cable network fare across the country...

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Venice 2023: Musica, Maestro!

by Elisa Giudici

Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in "Maestro"

In this entry of the Venice Diary, we delve into the world of music, exploring two titles that defy expectations by focusing on the personal lives of musicians rather than just their artistic endeavors.

MAESTRO by Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper, it's clear, isn't content with being just a good director. He aspires to be a legitimate auteur, a distinct voice in American cinema. Maestro boasts numerous scenes seemingly crafted to showcase his directorial prowess. However, what truly defines Cooper as an artist to date is his ability to captivate audiences, to touch their hearts and create a seamless cinematic experience...

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Doc Corner: Maite Alberdi’s 'The Eternal Memory'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

After garnering a (somewhat surprising?) Oscar nomination for The Mole Agent in 2020, Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s next feature was always going to be on people’s radar. With The Eternal Memory she has yet again returned to stories of the elderly in society. Unlike Mole, which had a comedic touch (I’m surprised Diane Keaton hasn’t optioned the film rights), The Eternal Memory is strictly dramatic in its telling of the ravages of Alzheimer’s Disease to one of her home country’s most celebrated journalists and authors, Augusto Góngora.

As you might expect, this isn’t an easy watch. Anybody who has seen what dementia does to a person will recognise many of its subject’s hardest moments. It’s probably a hardened soul who wouldn’t shed a tear by its end.

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Doc Corner: Claire Simon's 'Our Body'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

It isn’t too common for subjects in observational documentaries to turn to the camera and say, “I love cinema.” It’s even less common for this to happen as the subject in question lays on a medical table ready to be pulled under by anaesthesia and be operated on. None of the many, many subjects filmed by director and cinematographer Claire Simon in her new film Our Body (Notre corps) seem to mind all that much that a camera is gazed upon them in trying times. Filming through the gynaecological ward of a hospital in her home of France, her subjects often bare their souls as well as their flesh in the pursuit of landing upon something remarkably humane.

This is why I love cinema, and especially documentaries.

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