| The
Vampire Lectures |
| Patrick Ellis, June 30, 2004
|
|
Can a series of fascinating lectures make for a good
book?
|
| The
Australian International Documentary Conference 2004 |
| Sándor Lau, May 31, 2004
|
|
Hundreds of directors, producers, distributors, commissioners
and others from all corners of the documentary industry from all
corners of the world descended on Fremantle Western Australia for
this year’s Australian International Documentary Conference
(26-28 February). Sándor Lau dives into the belly of
the beast in search of its soul..
|
| Band
à part |
| Donato Totaro, May 31, 2004
|
|
A look back at a New Wave classic re-released in a spanking
new 35mm print.
|
| A Man Escaped |
| Pierre Pageau, March 31, 2004
|
|
Pageau revisits Bresson's 'prison' masterpiece after
many years to be surprised all over again.
|
| Light
Keeps me Company |
| Donato Totaro, February 29, 2004
|
|
A look at a documentary account of the life and art of one of cinema's greatest cinematographers, Sven Nykvist.
|
| World Cinema: 2003
|
| Peter Rist, February 29, 2004
|
|
Rist reports on the best from around the globe.
|
| By
Brakhage: An Anthology |
| Brett Kashmere, January 31, 2004
|
|
Review of the recent Criterion DVD that spans Brakhage's
lifework.
|
| Sex
and Violence: Journey into Extreme Cinema |
| Donato Totaro, November 30, 2003
|
|
Offscreen is pleased to announce the recent
publication of a book co-written by author Tommaso La Selva and
Offscreen’s man-in-Italy, Roberto Curti: Sex
and Violence: journey into the cinema of the extreme. Totaro
reviews this important Italian contribution to horror film scholarship.
|
| FanTasia
2003 Report |
| Donato Totaro, September 30, 2003
|
|
The first of two reports on the much anticipated FanTasia
International Film Festival, back after a one year hiatus (July
17-August 10, 2003). This report concentrates on the contribution
of low budget aesthetics.
|
| Hiroshima
Mon Amour (DVD Review) |
| Donato Totaro, August 31, 2003
|
|
A review of Criterion's wonderful transfer of the
Alain Resnais film which helped usher in the 1960s modernist cinema.
|
| FanTasia
2003 Preview |
| Donato Totaro, June 30, 2003
|
|
The long wait is over. After a one year hiatus for
economic and logistical reasons, the FanTasia International Film
Festival is back (July 17-August 10, 2003).
|
| 28
Days Later |
| Donato Totaro, June 30, 2003
|
|
Sometimes it is a fine
line between homage and imitation. With the plentiful allusions
to George Romero’s classic zombie trilogy (Night of the Living
Dead, 1968, Dawn of the Dead, 1979, and Day of the
Dead, 1985) the line is perilously treaded in Danny Boyle’s
latest pseudo zombie, science-fiction action thriller 28 Days
Later.
|
| Straw
Dogs: DVD Review |
| Mark Penny, June 30, 2003 |
|
Review of Criterion's new transfer of Sam Peckinpah's
early 70s classic.
|
| Korean Cinema in 2002 |
| Peter Rist, March 31, 2003
|
 |
A round-up of some of the best from one of
the more interesting National cinemas of the past few years.
|
| A Visit to Korea: a Tale of Pi-Fan, 2001 |
| Peter Rist, - 10-31-02
|
| |
Hospitality Korean style makes Professor Rist's first (and certainly not last) trip to Pi-Fan (5th Puchon International Fantastic
Film Festival) an event to remember. |
| Vancouver
21st International Film Festival: A Review |
| Tim Newman, - 10-31-02
|
| |
Offscreen welcomes Vancouver correspondent Tim Newman as it extends geographically to the Western coast. As a first-time coverage for Offscreen, Newman's descriptive prose captures the all-important ambience of one of Canada's premiere Film Festivals. |
| Stalker: DVD Review |
| Donato Totaro, - 09-30-02
|
| |
The long wait for Tarkovskians is finally
over. Stalker is out on DVD! |
| The
Third Man: DVD Review |
| Donato Totaro, - 09-30-02
|
| |
An in-depth analysis of Criterion's swank release of Sir Carol Reed's British noir classic. |
| Comedia
Film Festival: The Features |
| Donato Totaro, - 07-31-02
|
| |
Perhaps still an appendice to the mega-Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, the new programming crew are out to make a mark. |
| Leila |
| Donato Totaro, - 05-31-02
|
| |
Firstrun Features does an admirable job with
the DVD transfer of Dariush Mehrjui's excellent Leila.
|
| Frailty |
| Donato Totaro, - 04-30-02
|
| |
Just when you thought it was safe to go to
the movies, actor turned director Bill Paxton turns in an unsettling
religious horror film. |
| The
Limey |
| Donato Totaro, - 04-30-02
|
| |
Steven Soderbergh balances arthouse modernism
with convetnions of the classical genre to produce nouveau gangster
chic. |
| Sátántangó
|
| Donato Totaro, - 04-30-02
|
| |
A review which tries to capture the unique
experience which is Béla Tarr’s Sátántangó.
|
| Udine
Far East Film Festival |
| Roberto Curti, - 04-30-02
|
| |
A report on the fourth edition (2002) of one
of the fastest growing Asian film festivals around. |
| Ménilmontant
|
| Donato Totaro, - 03-31-02 |
|
|
An in-depth analysis of an overlooked silent film classic
by Russian emigré Dimitri Kirsanov. |
| Cinefest
2002: An Overview |
| Donato Totaro, - 03-31-02
|
|
|
In wake of the untimely death of its founder Phil
Serling, Offscreen looks at the first post-Serling Cinefest.
|
| Things
Never Said in Playa Perdida |
|
Donato Totaro, - 01-31-02
|
|
|
Good things do come in small packages, with this subtle and delicate low budget digi-film that dignifies 24 hours in the life of two flawed, yet endearing losers, lovers Alex and
J.D.
|
|
Oscar 2002 Predictions
|
| Peter Rist, - 01-31-02
|
|
|
Frequent Offscreen contributor Peter Rist puts his reputation on the line with his fearless Oscar predictions. Check back in a few days to see why Rist usually wins the Oscar pool.
|
| DVD Reviews: Japanese
Silent Cinema, Mon Oncle,
Big Deal on Madonna Street,
Cane Toads, Jackson's
Forgotten Silver, Red
Desert, Scarlet
Empress, Black Sunday,
The Trial, The
Limey, Leila,
The Road Home,
The Third Man,
Stalker, The
Ecstacy of Angels, Go,
Go Second Time Virgin, The
Cranes are Flying, Alucarda,
Straw Dogs,
Hiroshima Mon
Amour, Virgil
Bliss, By
Brakhage: An Anthology, Death
Bed, Les
Dames du Bois de Boulogne: DVD Review, Light
Keeps me Company, Journal
d’un curé de campagne: A DVD Review Essay, La
Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game), Deathdream:
The Return of 1970s Horror |
|
|
|
Planet of the Apes, or, "Damn" those Screenwriters
|
|
Donato Totaro, - 08-09-01
|
|
|
Offscreen rarely reviews big budget Hollywood. But I am making an exception with the latest remake of Planet of the Apes, if only to reaffirm why it is that Offscreen treads cautiously when it comes to current Hollywood.
|
|
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On: Excavating the Past
|
|
Donato Totaro, - 14-08-00
|
|
|
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On is an impassioned cinema verite-styled account of the one-man wrecking crew/dissident Okuzaki Kenzo, an ex-Private of the 36th Engineering Corps who fought in the West Pacific during World War 2. Read review of recent book on the film.
|
|
Buster Keaton Rides Again
|
|
Donato Totaro, - 12-07-00
|
|
|
Will Buster Keaton ever date? Unlikely, as this recent retrospective demonstrates.
|
|
Subterranean Passage: The Power Of Childhood Imagination
|
|
Donato Totaro, - 12-07-00
|
|
|
The Award winning Canadian experimental narrative film Subterranean Passage is a meticulously layered visual puzzle that slowly unravels through a series of echoing motifs on the wonder and resiliency of childhood imagination.
|
|
American Psycho
|
|
Donato Totaro, - 07-04-00
|
|
|
American Psycho is funny, irreverent, 'Hitchcockian', and much more.
|
|
Ghengis Blues
|
|
Donato Totaro, - 28-01-00
|
|
|
Genghis Blues touches the very core of the human soul -as great music does- and demonstrates with poetic simplicity how music can be the great cultural leveler. How else can you explain the immediate, symbiotic link that is established between a burly, blind, near-forgotten San Franciscan bluesman and the people of a remote Central Asian nation, Tuva?
|
|
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
|
|
Valery Stepanov, - 12-05-99
|
|
|
At the last year's 33rd edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the main prize, the "Crystal Cube", went to the Canadian filmmaker Charles Binamé for his film
Streetheart
.
|
|
Three Films by Eisenstein
|
|
Christina Stojanova, - 12-05-99
|
|
|
Sergei Eisenstein has always been the pride of the Soviet cinema, but it was not until after perestroika, and especially after the collapse of Communism, that Russian theoreticians began to freely explore the national-psychological roots, cultural
|
|
AmérAsia: Korean New Wave and Beyond
|
|
Donato Totaro, 12-10-99
|
|
|
The 1st AmérAsia International Film & Video Festival (Dec. 3-Dec.12, 1999) is following a fairly recent Montreal trend in Asian themed film events, but differs in its slant.
|
|
Chinese Cinema: 1933-1949
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 12-05-99
|
|
|
From May 19th to May 30th Montreal will host an historically important cultural event when The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema and IITS at Concordia University in association with Ciné-Asia present the film series: "Chinese Cinema: 1933-1949".
|
|
1999 International Festival of New Cinema, New Media
|
|
Jamie Gaetz, 12-01-99
|
|
|
The 28th International Festival of New Cinema and New Media set the marker posts on the route to the future. This one festival comprises two very separate events that, for the moment, have little to do with each other.
|
|
1999 International Festival of New Cinema, New Media
|
|
Donato Totaro, 11-19-99
|
|
|
The continual blur of Montreal Film festivals does not allow the seasoned filmgoer much chance to breathe, let alone contemplate each individual festival within the city's cinematic global whole.
|
|
The Cinémathèque Québécoise Goes Grand
|
|
Donato Totaro, 11-19-99
|
|
|
For its annual benefit screening, La Cinémathèque Québécoise offered a restored 35-mm print of Paul Leni's searing expressionistic historical drama, The Man Who Laughs. |
|
Cinema du Parc does Repertory Well
|
|
Donato Totaro, 11-19-99
|
|
|
My curiosity about a film entitled Burn, Witch, Burn has been
peaked since the day I purchased an original one-sheet of the film
in the mid-1970's. With the film still unavailable on video, I had
written off the likelihood of every seeing the film. |
|
One on one with Annabel Chong
|
|
Mark Penny, - 10-19-99
|
|
|
During the 1999 Fantasia Film Festival Montrealers were "graced" with the presence of Grace Quek (alias Annabel Chong), in town promoting a documentary about her life entitled SEX: The Annabel Chong Story, directed by Canadian filmmaker Gough Lewis.
|
|
Affliction
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 03-05-99
|
|
|
Affliction is a powerful account of domestic male violence and a man trapped within its vicious circle. Nick Nolte is the trapped man Wade Whitehouse, the town's part-time sheriff and all-around handyman, and son to Glen Whitehouse (sublimely played
|
|
Sopyanje
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 03-05-99
|
|
|
Sopyanje is a stirring Korean style road movie that weaves emotive Korean folk music (Pansori) and pastoral landscapes with a powerful plea for Korean identity.
|
|
Where Opera Weds Painting
|
|
Jamie Gaetz, - 23-10-98
|
|
|
The Roes' Room marries opera with painting-like images in an intricate and enthralling homage to the wonder of youth. Majewski uses both the fine arts and the vitality of the natural world to induce a sense of the richness of his life as a child and
|
|
New Cinema 27
|
|
Daniel Lynds, - 19-10-98
|
|
|
The latest incarnation of the Festival of New Cinema and New Media(FCMM) runs from October 15 to 25 and seems to be another attempt at redefining itself.
|
|
Mother and Son
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 23-09-98
|
|
|
I have left for last the most powerful alienating effect on nature, Sokurov's use of special distorting lenses and mirrors that give the image an oblique, quivering feel. It is a unique form of distortion, one that has had many viewers baffled. When
|
|
Killer Condom
|
|
- 25-10-97
|
|
|
Germany has a rich tradition of serial killer films, going back to Fritz Lang's classic M (1931), but not much will prepare you for serial killer condoms!
|
|
The Prophecy (God's Army)
|
|
- 25-10-97
|
|
|
Every now and then a horror film comes out that reaffirms one's tenuous faith in the Hollywood "major" Independent studios. The Prophecy is one such film.
|
|
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
|
|
- 25-10-97
|
|
|
This is by far the best Freddie film since the original in 1984. Only a fresh comparison between them would decide which of the two is better.
|
|
The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb
|
|
- 25-10-97
|
|
|
« a quietly dark, sinister reworking of The Island of Dr. Moreau and various children's tales (Tom Thumb, Jack the Giant Killer)»
|
|
Freaked
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 25-10-97
|
|
|
Freaked is an offbeat, somewhat juvenile contemporary rehash of Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1932) and Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932).
|
|
In the Mouth of Madness
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 25-10-97
|
|
|
Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness, though not based on any specific work of H.P. Lovecraft, is one of the most Lovecraftian films ever made. It makes a nice companion piece to fellow horror-auteurist Wes Craven's New Nightmare as films that explor
|
|
(October 4, 12:00pm - 12:00am)
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 25-10-97
|
|
|
For the uninitiated (which included me) Eurofest is a one-day smorgasbord of European horror and sleaze that has included over its four-year life-span zombie mayhem, giallo madness and action-adventure.
|
|
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Master
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 18-09-97
|
|
|
In 1996 James Quandt, programmer for the Cinematheque Ontario in collaboration with the Audio-Visual Division of the Japan Foundation,Tokyo organized the film series, "Mizoguchi The Master." The series included stops along New York, Edmonton, Van
|
|
Two Films by Shin Sang-Ok
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 18-09-97
|
|
|
Having seen only three of the 60 plus films directed by Sang-Ok it may be premature to start tossing out superlatives, but his films seen at the recent Cinematheque Canada’s (CCA) "Three Korean Master Filmmakers" series represent one of the major
|
|
Mohsen Makhmalbaf: Retrospective
|
Donato Totaro , - 18-09-97
|
|
|
From what I’ve seen so far Mohsen is at least the equal of Abbas Kiarostami, and in terms of eclecticism, commands a much more varied cinematic style. It’s also apparent that the spirit of neo-realism and Zavattini’s ideals about making social
|
|
India x 2
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 17-09-97
|
|
|
The two great pillars of Indian cinema, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, made remarkable, though considerably different, films in 1958: The Music Room and Ajantrik.
|
|
Asian Potpourri
|
| Donato Totaro, 17-09-97
|
|
In Asian potpourri, the adventurous reader will find a series of loosely connected reviews of films from Iran (from this past year's Festival of International Cinema and New Media) and Central Asia.
|
|
Necrophilic Art: Kissed and Aftermath
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 22-07-97
|
|
|
Both the Canadian Kissed and Spanish Aftermath deal with the taboo subject of necrophilia. However, the respective filmmakers Lynne Stopkewich and Nacho Cerdà are as far apart in approach as there native countries are geographically.
|
|
love god
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 21-07-97
|
|
|
The Love God is easily one of the most wildly inventive, original American genre films of recent years. It seems to re-invent itself as it goes along, spewing forth a barrage of sound and image that defies easy genre categorisation or simple plot syn
|
|
TRUTHANDDARE
|
|
Sarah Rooney, - 17-07-97
|
|
|
Linoleum floors, toy horses, souvenirs, ash trays, slippers, sagging skin, shriveled hands, truth and dare; CUT THE PARROT is a tragic comedy with an artist and caste of marginal performers whose guttural monologues take on the characteristics of
|
|
WINDOW
|
|
Sarah Rooney, - 17-07-97
|
|
|
WINDOW : (n) 1: "Inner rhythms : The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret they mainly make models.
|
|
SILENCE AND RURAL AMERICAN MYTHS
|
|
Daniel Lynds, - 17-07-97
|
|
|
Put your head in the hand of the hand and build a new foundation under the old. Before it begins show a few frames of what's to come. Then begin. Begin with the pretense that improvisation is of the moment. Not necessarily a moment that recaptures
|
|
SHANGHAEID TEXT
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 17-07-97
|
|
|
SHANGHAEID TEXT is an interesting experimental short that blends original footage with a variety of found footage (Soviet and Hollywood films, soft porn, riot footage).
|
|
The Beyond, Lucio Fulci, Italy, 1981
|
|
Donato Totaro , - 10-07-97
|
|
|
Fant-Asia's screening of Lucio Fulci's gothic zombie masterpiece The Beyond on Sunday, July 27 at 21h50 is something to really get excited over. Seeing this gorgeously photographed gem in 35mm on the Imperial's huge screen is an event no died-in-t
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