In this review of Call Me by Your Name, Alex Heeney explores how Guadagnino captures what first love feels like, in all its fumbling, awkward, confusing, terrifying, joyous glory. This is an excerpt from the ebook Call Me by Your Name: A Special Issue. To read the entire article, purchase a copy of the book here.
[Read more…] about Review: Call Me by Your Name is a gorgeous, erotic tale of first loveMust Reads
Must reads are the best of the best articles at The Seventh Row. These include reviews, interviews, and essays. If you're new to the site, this is a good place to start to get a sense of what kinds of stories we write. Here is the best of our multidisciplinary approach to reviewing films, our most illuminating and original interviews, and our best essays.
With Thelma, Joachim Trier continues to develop his ‘dirty formalism’
Although it is his first foray into genre, Thelma is a continuation of director Joachim Trier’s signature ‘dirty formalism’, and further explores the themes of family dysfunction found in his previous work. This is the fourth feature in our Special Issue on Thelma. Read the rest of the issue here.
[Read more…] about With Thelma, Joachim Trier continues to develop his ‘dirty formalism’Bright Young Things: Josh O’Connor is ready to be vulnerable
We take an in-depth look at the career of rising star Josh O’Connor who plays Johnny Saxby in God’s Own Country, his performance in the film, and talk to the actor about both. Seventh Row also dubs him one of our Bright Young Things. This piece is an excerpt from our ebook God’s Own Country: A Special Issue, which is available for purchase here.
[Read more…] about Bright Young Things: Josh O’Connor is ready to be vulnerable‘Cutting at right angles’: Frederick Wiseman on Ex Libris: New York Public Library
Frederick Wiseman on the making of his exquisite Ex Libris: New York Public Library, which is about the role of the library in society. This is an excerpt from the ebook In Their Own Words: Documentary Masters Vol. 1, which is now available for purchase here.
[Read more…] about ‘Cutting at right angles’: Frederick Wiseman on Ex Libris: New York Public Library‘There have been two big stories in my life — the AIDS crisis and the cinema’: Robin Campillo on BPM (Beats Per Minute)
Director Robin Campillo and actors Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Arnaud Valois discuss the making of 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute), the importance of Act Up, and coming out of the AIDS closet.
[Read more…] about ‘There have been two big stories in my life — the AIDS crisis and the cinema’: Robin Campillo on BPM (Beats Per Minute)TIFF17 Interview: Sophie Fiennes on Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami and performativity
In this excerpt from the ebook In Their Own Words: Documentary Masters Vol. 1, Director Sophie Fiennes discusses the making of Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami and the importance of performativity. To read the whole interview, purchase the ebook here.
English director Sophie Fiennes became a truly recognisable name after her two very popular, playful yet rigorous essay films on Slovene philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Five years later, she delights again with a documentary much less stylised than her previous work, but just as vibrant.
Filmed over a the course of a decade, Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami offers an all-access look into the life of the international star of ‘La Vie en Rose’ — the 1977 bossa nova version. From hotel rooms to television appearances, from the singer’s native Jamaica to nightclubs all over the world, Fiennes’ documentary follows Jones everywhere and with the same hunger, assurance, and energy as the now 69-year-old icon. The film is a fun, thrilling, and inspiring collaboration between two women who completely understand and respect each other — as friends, artists, and women.
The Seventh Row caught up with Sophie Fiennes in Toronto to discuss her process, working with great quantities of footage spread over several years, performativity, trust, and being “a high-flying bitch.”
Seventh Row (7R): How did this project come about?
Sophie Fiennes (SF): I met Grace, and she’d seen this film I’d made about her brother, Noel Jones [Hoover Street Revival (2002)]. On the basis of that, we just decided to start something together. We didn’t quite know what would be in it. When you’re making a documentary, you don’t know what’s going to happen. She’d call me saying, “I’m going here. I’m going there. Come with me to Jamaica!” I was just always ready to go. I kept collecting the evidence, as I say. I was doing other films, but I would go anyway.
It got to a point where I thought, “I’ve now got quite a range of material, but I need a performance.” That was crucial. When I was filming the documentary material, the Grace Jones band didn’t exist yet. Now, they tour everywhere together, and they’re really tight. They’ve got that ensemble understanding of each other on stage. That was one bit that we didn’t have to invent for the film, because it already existed. But the art directed performance didn’t. We had to create that.
Photo courtesy of Sligoville Limited, Blinder Films Limited, The British Film Institute, British Broadcasting Corporation
7R: So the performance we see in the film was created for the film?
SF: Yes. Last year.
7R: Is that the performance she is doing on stage these days?
SF: No. It’s very likely that no one will ever see that performance outside the film.