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 »
Every month, Establishing Shot 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 that they… Read more »
Vampires are a B-movie staple. Whether produced by Hammer Films or Roger Corman, off-Hollywood audiences never seem to tire of them. They’re a monster that’s just human enough to be alluring but still dangerous and thrilling. While the film vampire has had strong erotic undertones since at least Bela Lugosi’s 1931 portrayal of Count Dracula,… Read more »
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 »
Guest post by Chris Forrester. In The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996), a lesbian video store clerk seeks out the history of a Black film star from the ’30s as she tries to make a movie of her own. Swoon (Tom Kalin, 1992) retells and relitigates the Leopold and Loeb murder case with a more… Read more »
There are many films which seem to be influenced by Joseph Campbell’s famous book The Hero of a Thousand Faces (first published in 1949), which is about his conception of an archetypal storytelling pattern known as “the hero’s journey.” They include but are not limited to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), The Lion… Read more »