For the last two weeks, Chilean writer-director Sebastián Silva has been in San Francisco as the Winter 2014 Artist in Residence with the San Francisco Film Society, talking about his craft with high school and college students, as well as other filmmakers. He also gave a Q&A at a special screening of his most recent […]
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Review: Mandolinist Chris Thile and The Punch Brothers reinvent bluegrass in How to Grow a Band
Is it possible to have a successful band when its members may not be musical equals, even if they are all very talented virtuosos? It was a central question in Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous about the often bickering, fictional band Stillwater, which had a guitarist who had musically surpassed his peers. Since it was also […]
‘Tim’s Vermeer’: Did Vermeer use lenses and mirrors?
In a time when painters were rigourously trained, how did the untrained Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) create such luminous, lasting masterpieces? According to inventor-techie Tim Jenison, he may have been equally adept at tinkering and made use of optical devices to help create a realistic look. Jenison sets out to prove this theory in Teller’s new […]
Sundance Film Review: Frank — getting inside his (gigantic cartoon paper mâché) head
Lenny Abrahamson’s charming, offbeat comedy film, Frank, tackles loneliness and mental health with wit and features great work by Domhnall Gleeson and Michael Fassbender. Listen to our podcast on Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did. Listen to our podcast on Lenny Abrahamson’s series Normal People. Irish director Lenny Abrahamson’s latest film, the charming, offbeat comedy, Frank, is about […]
Sundance Review: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon charm in The Trip to Italy
Looking over the skulls at the Fontanelle Cemetery in Naples in The Trip to Italy, Steve Coogan begins to quote Hamlet to his companion in travel and comedy, Rob Brydon: “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow/ of infinite jest…Where be your gibes now? your/gambols? your songs?’”. This famous speech could be the thesis […]
Sundance Review: Hong Khaou’s film Lilting explores grief with Ben Whishaw
Hong Khaou’s feature film debut, Lilting, is an exploration of grief, family, and the trauma of immigration. The film premiered at Sundance. Is there anything Ben Whishaw can’t do? He played Hamlet in the West End at twenty-three, Keats in Bright Star, Q in Skyfall, a timid but potentially dangerous young man in Criminal Justice, and […]