The biographical documentary is a genre that lends itself to a reliable storytelling formula. First, we look back on the origins of the subject; we are introduced to some of the key figures that helped them along the way; we are shown the beginning of their career all the way to the end, and are then left to contemplate their legacy.
Due to the predictability of this format, these documentaries can often come off as by-the-numbers, taking us on a telegraphed emotional journey intended as a crowdpleaser. But every once in a while, there’s a subject who is so unique that their story elevates the formula. Allee Willis is one such subject, with a life story that’s energetic, colorful and invigorating to witness. Director Alexis Manya Spraic crafts a documentary that strives to be just as fascinating as its subject.
The World According to Allee Willis, which premiered at SXSW earlier this month,...
Due to the predictability of this format, these documentaries can often come off as by-the-numbers, taking us on a telegraphed emotional journey intended as a crowdpleaser. But every once in a while, there’s a subject who is so unique that their story elevates the formula. Allee Willis is one such subject, with a life story that’s energetic, colorful and invigorating to witness. Director Alexis Manya Spraic crafts a documentary that strives to be just as fascinating as its subject.
The World According to Allee Willis, which premiered at SXSW earlier this month,...
- 3/25/2024
- by Jourdain Searles
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Also out this weekend: Sony has anime fantasy ’Suzume’ and Paramount action thriller ‘Assassin Club’.
After a lively weekend for new releases at the UK-Ireland box office over the Easter bank holiday, this session is looking a little calmer, with Universal’s Super Mario Bros: The Movie likely to keep its spot at the top.
The widest new release to take the plunge this weekend is Universal’s Renfield, playing at 605 sites. Chris McKay’s action-comedy take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula is set in modern day New Orleans, with Nicolas Cage as the famous bloodsucker, and Nicholas Hault as his long-suffering familiar,...
After a lively weekend for new releases at the UK-Ireland box office over the Easter bank holiday, this session is looking a little calmer, with Universal’s Super Mario Bros: The Movie likely to keep its spot at the top.
The widest new release to take the plunge this weekend is Universal’s Renfield, playing at 605 sites. Chris McKay’s action-comedy take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula is set in modern day New Orleans, with Nicolas Cage as the famous bloodsucker, and Nicholas Hault as his long-suffering familiar,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent, new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.
Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...
Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Stephen Fry-led doc ‘Willem & Frieda’ to world premiere at BFI Flare; full festival line-up unveiled
The Lgbtqia+ festival takes place March 15-26.
The BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 37th edition which takes place March 15 – 26.
The programme features 58 features, six of which are world premieres, spread across three thematic strands – Hearts, Bodies and Minds.
Scroll down for full line-up
World premiering at the festival is John Hay’s documentary Willem & Frieda which is presented by Stephen Fry and explores how a gay man and a lesbian woman led the anti-Nazi resistance in Holland.
The other world premieres are Timothy Harris’ documentary Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn about the...
The BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 37th edition which takes place March 15 – 26.
The programme features 58 features, six of which are world premieres, spread across three thematic strands – Hearts, Bodies and Minds.
Scroll down for full line-up
World premiering at the festival is John Hay’s documentary Willem & Frieda which is presented by Stephen Fry and explores how a gay man and a lesbian woman led the anti-Nazi resistance in Holland.
The other world premieres are Timothy Harris’ documentary Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn about the...
- 2/15/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
The best moments in Patricia Highsmith’s novels are the ones in which we see quick flashes of her protagonists’ interiority, before they reset the masks they’re inevitably presenting to the rest of the world.
We learn in the documentary “Loving Highsmith” that the author herself knew plenty about the duality that defined so many of her characters. As director Eva Vitija makes clear, Highsmith was required — by law, by society, perhaps also by personality — to wear a number of masks throughout her life and career.
Though she certainly qualified as a public figure, Highsmith remained deeply private. And who could blame her? The years between 1950 and 1980, when she wrote most of her bestsellers, were hardly welcoming to most female professionals, let alone gay women who soundly rejected cultural norms of marriage, children and strictly-defined femininity.
Also Read:
Dakota Fanning to Star Opposite Andrew Scott in Showtime’s ‘Talented...
We learn in the documentary “Loving Highsmith” that the author herself knew plenty about the duality that defined so many of her characters. As director Eva Vitija makes clear, Highsmith was required — by law, by society, perhaps also by personality — to wear a number of masks throughout her life and career.
Though she certainly qualified as a public figure, Highsmith remained deeply private. And who could blame her? The years between 1950 and 1980, when she wrote most of her bestsellers, were hardly welcoming to most female professionals, let alone gay women who soundly rejected cultural norms of marriage, children and strictly-defined femininity.
Also Read:
Dakota Fanning to Star Opposite Andrew Scott in Showtime’s ‘Talented...
- 9/9/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Roxy Cinema
The series “Woman as Witch” offers 35mm prints of von Sternberg’s Dishonored and Alan Rudolph’s rarely screened Remember My Name.
Bam
In advance of her debut feature The African Desperate, Martine Syms has curated a series of influences—among them Spike Lee’s Girl 6, Paprika, and Happy Together.
Film Forum
A Miloš Forman retrospective celebrates the filmmaker’s 90th birthday; “Loving Highsmith” has its second weekend with Purple Noon, Strangers on a Train, and The American Friend; restorations of Alain Resnais’ The War Is Over and Carnal Knowledge continue.
Film at Lincoln Center
Three Colors: Blue, Three Colors: White, and Three Colors: Red all play in new 4K restorations.
Museum of the Moving Image
One of Johnnie To’s best films, Vengeance, screens on Friday as part of a retrospective on The Story of Film, while...
Roxy Cinema
The series “Woman as Witch” offers 35mm prints of von Sternberg’s Dishonored and Alan Rudolph’s rarely screened Remember My Name.
Bam
In advance of her debut feature The African Desperate, Martine Syms has curated a series of influences—among them Spike Lee’s Girl 6, Paprika, and Happy Together.
Film Forum
A Miloš Forman retrospective celebrates the filmmaker’s 90th birthday; “Loving Highsmith” has its second weekend with Purple Noon, Strangers on a Train, and The American Friend; restorations of Alain Resnais’ The War Is Over and Carnal Knowledge continue.
Film at Lincoln Center
Three Colors: Blue, Three Colors: White, and Three Colors: Red all play in new 4K restorations.
Museum of the Moving Image
One of Johnnie To’s best films, Vengeance, screens on Friday as part of a retrospective on The Story of Film, while...
- 9/8/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Gimmicks: They work! Most theaters reduced ticket prices to 3 September 3 in recognition of the National Association of Theater Owners’ just-invented National Cinema Day. As a result, people bought more than 8 million tickets — the most in a single day since each of the three first days of “Avengers: Endgame” in April 2019.
Financially and psychologically, this was a bonanza for theaters. Half or more of the ticket revenue went to distributors; for exhibitors, it was all about the popcorn, the Red Vines, and their generous profit margins. For one day at least, money rolled in. The long-term impact is Tbd: Prices have returned to their normal average of over 10 and the next few weeks are bleak.
One side effect of the 3 ticket is it wreaks havoc on box-office estimates. With the top four films within 600,000 of each other, and an additional Monday to come for the four-day weekend, take the order below as an educated guess.
Financially and psychologically, this was a bonanza for theaters. Half or more of the ticket revenue went to distributors; for exhibitors, it was all about the popcorn, the Red Vines, and their generous profit margins. For one day at least, money rolled in. The long-term impact is Tbd: Prices have returned to their normal average of over 10 and the next few weeks are bleak.
One side effect of the 3 ticket is it wreaks havoc on box-office estimates. With the top four films within 600,000 of each other, and an additional Monday to come for the four-day weekend, take the order below as an educated guess.
- 9/4/2022
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
“My life is a chronicle of unbelievable mistakes.” So writes Patricia Highsmith, the acclaimed author of Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and many more. Loving Highsmith, directed by Eva Vitija, is a nifty chronicle of Highsmith’s turbulent life, anchored primarily by her own diary entries, television interviews, and the recollections of past lovers. It is, above all else, a fascinating window into the personal and creative life of a queer woman constantly rebelling against the restrictive social norms of her time while trying to decipher what kind of person she is herself. As Highsmith writes: “I am the forever seeking.”
English actress Gwendoline Christie voices Highsmith’s diary entries with appropriately calm intensity. She was an enigmatic persona: often progressive in her worldviews, yet frequently vicious in her observations of others. She was raised in Texas under the vast shadow of prejudice by her family,...
English actress Gwendoline Christie voices Highsmith’s diary entries with appropriately calm intensity. She was an enigmatic persona: often progressive in her worldviews, yet frequently vicious in her observations of others. She was raised in Texas under the vast shadow of prejudice by her family,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Bam
“Working Class Musicals” examines the most lavish expressions from a ground level, featuring Cherbourg, Chantal Akerman, West Side Story x2, and more.
Roxy Cinema
The series “Woman as Witch” offers 35mm prints of Johnny Guitar, Jennifer’s Body, and Woman in the Dunes.
Film Forum
“Loving Highsmith” begins with Purple Noon, Strangers on a Train, and The American Friend; Alain Resnias’ The War Is Over continues and Carnal Knowledge, restored, begins a run.
Japan Society
Kihachi Okamoto’s Kill! plays on 35mm this Friday.
Film at Lincoln Center
As the Three Colors: Red restoration continues, The Wiz has a free outdoor screening this Friday on Governor’s Island.
Paris Theater
Kurosawa’s Ran plays exclusively through the weekend.
Museum of the Moving Image
Streets of Fire, Licorice Pizza, Tron and Sleeping Beauty play on 70mm this weekend, while a series of zombie films screen.
Bam
“Working Class Musicals” examines the most lavish expressions from a ground level, featuring Cherbourg, Chantal Akerman, West Side Story x2, and more.
Roxy Cinema
The series “Woman as Witch” offers 35mm prints of Johnny Guitar, Jennifer’s Body, and Woman in the Dunes.
Film Forum
“Loving Highsmith” begins with Purple Noon, Strangers on a Train, and The American Friend; Alain Resnias’ The War Is Over continues and Carnal Knowledge, restored, begins a run.
Japan Society
Kihachi Okamoto’s Kill! plays on 35mm this Friday.
Film at Lincoln Center
As the Three Colors: Red restoration continues, The Wiz has a free outdoor screening this Friday on Governor’s Island.
Paris Theater
Kurosawa’s Ran plays exclusively through the weekend.
Museum of the Moving Image
Streets of Fire, Licorice Pizza, Tron and Sleeping Beauty play on 70mm this weekend, while a series of zombie films screen.
- 9/1/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber have acquired North American rights to Eva Vitija’s documentary Loving Highsmith, which takes as its focus Carol and The Talented Mr. Ripley author Patricia Highsmith. Zeitgeist will release the film theatrically this September.
Loving Highsmith is a unique look at the life of the celebrated American author, focusing on Highsmith’s quest for love and her troubled identity through her personal diaries and the intimate reflections of her lovers, friends and family. The film sheds new light on her life and writings, the best known of which were adapted for the big screen: Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Carol, a partially autobiographical novel and the first lesbian story with a happy ending in 1950s America. Highsmith herself was forced to lead a double life and had to hide her vibrant love affairs from her family and the public, reflecting...
Loving Highsmith is a unique look at the life of the celebrated American author, focusing on Highsmith’s quest for love and her troubled identity through her personal diaries and the intimate reflections of her lovers, friends and family. The film sheds new light on her life and writings, the best known of which were adapted for the big screen: Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Carol, a partially autobiographical novel and the first lesbian story with a happy ending in 1950s America. Highsmith herself was forced to lead a double life and had to hide her vibrant love affairs from her family and the public, reflecting...
- 6/16/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
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