Several factors contributed to the box office underperformance of the Karyn Kusama-directed film Jennifer’s Body in 2009 — chief among them was the marketing, which relied heavily on selling the movie as a slasher with Megan Fox as the eye candy for a primarily male audience. Although the focal point of the film is the… Read more »
Full transparency: all Blu-rays reviewed were provided by Criterion, Kino Lorber, and 88 Films US. Happy holidays, everyone! ‘Tis the season for merriment, goodwill to your fellow man, and watching people beat the living hell out of each other, or at least it is on “Physical Media Isn’t Dead, It Just Smells Funny.” There’s something… Read more »
In one of her essays, film historian Jane Gaines opens with a contemplation about absence in the historical archive. She’s writing about racialized spectatorship. Documents may be lost or never have existed, and the cultural experiences of both Black and White audiences attending race films in some ways defy documentation in their ephemerality. How can… Read more »
Guest post by Jon Vickers, IU Cinema Founding Director Emeritus. It is hard not to conjure thoughts of Francois Truffaut’s 1973 film Day for Night when first thinking about Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep from 1996. On the most obvious level, Assayas’ “circus-of-a-film-production” is led by aging director René Vidal, played expertly by Truffaut’s longtime alter-ego,… Read more »
Spoilers throughout for the 1944 film Laura. At a swanky cocktail party in New York City, glamorous advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) artfully rebuffs pretty playboy Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price) when he begins flirting with her the minute she catches his eye. You can hardly blame Shelby – with her impeccably coiffed curls, simple… Read more »
Guest post by Maria Hamilton Abegunde. Unless otherwise noted, quoted lines are from Latasha N. Nevada Diggs’ poem “Maybe.” When We Gather is ritual. When you watch it, Hear the Wind. She say, Daughter, leave what wounds you. Touch the Earth. She say, Daughter, reclaim what is whole. Smell the Sea. She say, Daughter, heal…. Read more »