I watched Frances Ha at the wrong time in my life; I was too young to quite get the character. I didn’t understand her, why she wasn’t aware of the incredibly embarrassing things she was saying, why she went to Paris, and why she couldn’t accept the strain in her relationship with her friend Sophie…. Read more »
Entries by Noni Ford
True Friendship in The Iron Giant
It’s hard to pinpoint when a film becomes a family classic. For my family, like many others, what seems to connect all of our disparate tastes is humor. Some of my earliest memories are of us watching movies together and laughing uproariously at a joke we’re seeing for the first or even the fifth time…. Read more »
“Gimme Back My Hand”: Evil Dead II
Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II starts out like any classic horror film, with some lore, a cast of well-meaning characters, and of course a cabin in the middle of the woods. Discovered and studied by a family of archaeologists, the Necronomicon, otherwise known as the Book of the Dead, unleashes an ancient evil when read… Read more »
The Photo Diaries of Nan Goldin: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed starts with the death of photographer Nan Goldin’s beloved older sister, Barbara, whose suicide sent shockwaves through Goldin’s family, life, and art. While it might not always be clear how these things tie back to this event, Goldin tells us through voiceover how they all relate. Part autobiography and… Read more »
Park Chan-wook’s Genre-Blending Romance Decision to Leave
Okay, I’ll be honest, Decision to Leave might be one of the hardest films I’ve had to define. Just when I think it’s a buddy comedy, it turns on its head and becomes more of a neo-noir (but more in terms of story and characterization than mise-en-scene), and then right when it’s settling into that,… Read more »
Conversations on Society in Triangle of Sadness
Yaya (Charlbi Dean Kriek) and Carl (Harris Dickinson) fight and snap at each other throughout their introduction to us in Triangle of Sadness. Their conversation revolves around paying the bill at a fancy dinner; other topics such as power dynamics in their relationship and gendered expectations in relationships are broached as the conversation expands. They… Read more »