As one of the brightest stars of the 20th century, Josephine Baker wasn’t just a mesmerizing actor or a sublime dancer who could make beautifully goofy faces — she was, and still is, an iconic cultural figure whose powerful presence incurs questions of colonialism, Black womanhood, authorship, and much, much more. In her new book… Read more »
Month: May 2021
Monthly Movie Round-Up: May
Every month, A Place for Film brings you a selection of films from our group of regular bloggers. Even though these films aren’t currently being screened at the IU Cinema, this series reflects the varied programming that can be found at the Cinema and demonstrates the eclectic tastes of the bloggers. Each contributor has picked one film… Read more »
The Mysteries of Combat: Two by King Hu
Writing in the Chicago Reader about Louis Feuillade’s Les Vampires (1915-16), Jonathan Rosenbaum enticingly called that ten-part silent serial “one of the supreme delights of film.” This assertation basically gets at how I feel about the extraordinary wuxia films that the Chinese director King Hu made in the 1960s and ‘70s and, more specifically, about… Read more »
Pygmalion (1938) and the Art of Cinematic Comedy
You might expect Pygmalion, the adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s classic play, to not make great use of the formal potential of cinema. Its theatrical roots, as well as Shaw’s role in writing the screenplay, might lead you to think that the filmmakers would create a filmed version of the play that would be so… Read more »
Physical Media Isn’t Dead, It Just Smells Funny: Blu-ray Reviews for April 2021
Full transparency: all Blu-rays reviewed were provided by Kino Lorber and Criterion. On this month’s episode, I’m very happy to have my first guest with fellow Cicada Cinema co-founder and by far the most encyclopedic cinephile I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling my friend, Nile Arena! I decided I need some help talking about… Read more »