Close
The Belgian director Lukas Dhont spotted Eden Dambrine, an eleven-year-old French dance student, on a train and asked him to audition for his latest film Close (2022). Among the youth’s qualities were his “very big eyes.” In discussing film acting, the great director Nicholas Ray—They Live by Night (1948), Johnny Guitar (1954) and Rebel Without […]
Light From Light
Paul Harrill’s second feature, Light From Light (2019) is an even stronger, more assured work than his marvelous first feature Something, Anything (2014). The film played at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival where it received very positive reviews from both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, and was picked up for distribution by Grasshopper Films. Like […]
Red Rocket
I was given the opportunity to write about any American indie film for the new “21st Century Film Essentials” series from UT Press. I chose The Florida Project (2017) because I believe that Sean Baker is simply one of the best indie filmmakers working today. The chance to study the film in-depth has only given […]
The Florida Project Book
At long last, my new book on Sean Baker’s indie film The Florida Project (2017) was published last week. It’s the 3rd book in a series entitled 21st Century Film Essentials from University of Texas Press, and the 4th film book related to indie cinema that I’ve published. In order to write the book, Baker […]
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict
Last week was Peggy Guggenheim’s birthday, which elicited numerous posts about her online. It prompted me to re-watch Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s fascinating documentary Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (2015), which is available for viewing on Amazon Prime. The film benefits from a long-lost taped interview with her that was discovered in a basement. Guggenheim’s life, as […]
The Lost Leonardo
I saw the Danish filmmaker Andreas Koefoed’s new documentary The Lost Leonardo at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s currently playing at Film Forum. Like the Netflix film, Made You Look: The Story About Fake Art, it documents an art world so obsessed with money that its players are willing to deceive themselves in order to […]
I'll Come Running
Although many indie filmmakers—Gus Van Sant, Matthew Porterfield and Joe Swanberg, among others—have used more minimal forms of scripts, such as outlines and treatments, Spencer Parsons and Line Langebek [Knudsen] have argued in favor of a more detailed and “overwritten” script, which they term the “spacious screenplay.” As they explain, “The screenplay is chiefly written […]
Bellflower
In Bob Byington’s comedy Harmony and Me (2010), Harmony (Justin Rice) complains to an acupuncturist about his ex-girlfriend, “She broke my heart, but she’s still at it. She hasn’t finished the job. She’s breaking my heart.” He continues, “My heart is a snack. She’s like a bear with a fish in its paw.” Evan Glodell’s […]