Sean Baker talks about Tangerine and how he created such stunning visuals when shooting on an iPhone. Read our review of Baker’s follow-up film, The Florida Project. It’s Christmas Eve in Santa Monica, but the transgender women at the center of writer-director Sean Baker’s Tangerine aren’t celebrating the holiday. Nobody outright says it in the film, […]
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‘The Book of Mormon’ brings religious satire to Broadway San Jose
“You’re making things up again, Arnold. You’re taking the holy word and adding fiction,” croons Arnold’s father with disappointment. His nineteen-year-old son, Arnold Cunningham (A.J. Holmes), has been claiming the Book of Mormon contains stories about Christ’s abhorrence of genital mutilation and raping babies. Arnold is in Uganda as a missionary, where the Mormon group […]
What Happened, Miss Simone? is all about the passion
Liz Garbus’ new documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?, consists mainly of rousing historical footage of Simone’s concerts and interviews, while paying tribute to Simone’s achievements and illuminating the struggles in her life. Nina Simone wanted to become the first black female classical pianist to perform at Carnegie Hall. She had to settle for becoming a […]
‘A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence’: Andersson’s dark humour and humanist touch are a rare delight
Roy Andersson’s final installment in his trilogy about being a human being (You, The Living and Songs from the Second Floor), A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, begins with a comedic bang of twisted humour: a series of three vignettes that detail “meetings with death.” In my favourite one, we find two […]
Review: Love & Mercy reveals the real Brian Wilson
Photo credit: Francois Duhamel Early on in Love & Mercy, the middle-aged Brian Wilson of the 1980s phones up a car saleswoman he’s just met, Melinda (a luminous Elizabeth Banks), and says, “Hi, it’s Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys.” It’s a fact he was coy about acknowledging when they first met, but it works […]
Bujalski whips the rom-com into new shape with Results
Results, Andrew Bujalski has reinvented and rejuvenated the romantic comedy, dispensing with the formulaic boy meets girl, boys loses girl, boy gets girl back trajectory. Beginning in the middle of the love story, the opening credits play over a moving, striped sheet that fills the screen while moans can be heard in the background. Bujalski […]