Robert Altman @100: "Short Cuts" The Actresses

part 2 of a piece on Short Cuts (1993) to relaunch our Robert Altman tribute. (or start with part 1 if you missed it)

Julianne Moore & Anne Archer in "Short Cuts"

by Eric Blume

Inspired by Juan Carlos’ very fun and smart examination of the actresses in Nashville, I thought it might be fun to do the same for the many actresses in Short Cuts.  Here’s a report of my favorites from least to most…with the caveat that even the “least” are beautifully played by these super talented ladies.

10 Lili Taylor as Honey Bush
Taylor has possibly the least to do of any of the actresses, but it was joyful to see her again and be reminded of that fresh, weird, thrilling energy she brought to cinema in the 1990s.  Hollywood never figured out what to do with her, even though she’s worked continuously.  Here she’s yearning and touching, and she and Robert Downey Jr (before he got so self-conscious) find a quirky comic spark...

Click to read more ...

Nicole Kidman Tribute: Margot at the Wedding (2007)

by Eric Blume

With Margot at the Wedding, writer-director Noah Baumbach makes an Éric Rohmer film.  The character’s names are French, it’s lit like a French movie, cut like a French movie, and has the rhythms and languorousness of, specifically, a Rohmer movie.  But, and this may be a hot take:  Rohmer never made a film as textured and exquisite as the one Baumbach makes here.  Rohmer’s films often deal with an indecisive man-child choosing between two women:  there’s a lovely wistfulness about them, but they’re repetitive and limited in depth. 

Baumbach captures the Rohmer melancholia, but he fleshes out all the relationships in the film so they are deeply lived-in and layered. The film is all frayed edges, with unpredictable touches and uncomfortable complexities…

Click to read more ...

Erotic Thrillers: Part 3 – Bare Witnesses

by Cláudio Alves

Making your way through the Criterion Channel's Erotic Thrillers collection, you'll start noticing a recurring concept here and there. One of the most prevalent is voyeurism (peeping toms or bystanders) twisted by the advent of violence. That very idea can lead to a consideration of the audience as another variation of the voyeur, whether in a critique or apologia. Fear and desire often mix, the horrified spectator enlivened by the hideousness they just saw even as trauma lingers in the psyche. Excited by danger and drunk on terror, they're laid bare for the camera in more ways than one.

As our cinematic odyssey reaches the end of the eighties, we encounter three tales of eroticized witnessing – Curtis Hanson's The Bedroom Window, Bill Condon's Sister, Sister, and the program's first woman-directed picture, Sollace Mitchell's Call Me…

Click to read more ...

Cannes at Home: Day 7 – Death to Reality!

by Cláudio Alves

Park Chan-wook and David Cronenberg have arrived. Livening up the 75th Cannes Film Festival, the two auteurs debuted new works, prompting many to sing their hosannas in reverent tones. The Film Experience's own Elisa Giudici has declared Decision to Leave the film of the festival, a sentiment shared by many critics who've celebrated the picture's surprising romanticism and Tang Wei's performance. Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future was less ecstatically received, but the reactions are still positive. The verdict is that the film is less shocking than advertised but more elegiac in tone. Nevertheless, as the director predicted, multiple spectators walked out before the end credits rolled.

While anticipating these filmmakers' new offerings, let's remember their past works – Thirst's sicko love story and eXistenZ's visions of a violent future…

Click to read more ...

Sundance: Lena Dunham Returns with ‘Sharp Stick’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Director Lena Dunham attends the Q&A at the virtual premiere of Sharp Stick, an official selection of the Premieres section at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. © 2022 Sundance Institute.

It’s been twelve years since Lena Dunham broke through with her second feature film, Tiny Furniture, and just under five years since her Emmy-winning HBO series Girls came to an end. While she’s had a few small film roles since (including Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood) and worked behind the scenes on a trio of series (Genera+ion, Industry, and Camping) she has mostly been out of the media spotlight. Her latest feature, Sharp Stick, absolutely puts her back there. It's an interesting experience, to say the least…

Click to read more ...