Arts Review
Polanski’s Carnage: Not a dispute about fundamentals
By Joanne Laurier, February 10, 2012
In New York City, cordiality turns to anger and chaos when two sets of parents meet to discuss an altercation between their 11-year-old sons.
American actor Ben Gazzara (1930-2012)
By David Walsh, February 9, 2012
Ben Gazzara had a long career in film, theater and television, which began in the mid-1950s. He worked with numerous interesting directors, although he seems to have found the greatest artistic satisfaction working with John Cassavetes.
A Dangerous Method: The Freud-Jung controversy, among other matters
By David Walsh, February 8, 2012
The new film by David Cronenberg treats the relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, as well as their association with Sabina Spielrein, a young Russian woman, later one of the first female psychiatrists.
Surviving Progress: A dim view of humanity
By Lee Parsons, February 3, 2012
The documentary film Surviving Progress has attracted a good deal of media attention and accolades from both the official “left” and the right, if for rather different reasons.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: A serious look at public housing and the fate of US cities
By Fred Mazelis, February 1, 2012
A new documentary film examines the history of a St. Louis housing project.
Composer Gustav Mahler: A centennial appreciation
By Dorian Griscom, January 31, 2012
Gustav Mahler is among the most widely listened to of classical composers. Last year, which marked the 100th anniversary of his death, witnessed concerts, new recordings, lectures and exhibitions celebrating his life and music.
The Adventures of Tintin: A generic boy scout travels a computer-generated world
By Alex Lantier, January 30, 2012
In The Adventures of Tintin, director Steven Spielberg sets out to render the Belgian comic strip Tintin in film using motion-capture animation technology.
The death of Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos
“I no longer deal with politics, with generalisations. I have stopped understanding them.”
By Stefan Steinberg, January 27, 2012
In many respects Angelopoulos expresses the artistic and political crisis of a generation of intellectuals who tragically failed to come to grips with the traumas of the past century and the extraordinary social and intellectual challenges of the new.
“Sing like your life depends on it”: Etta James—1938-2012
By Paul Bond, January 26, 2012
Etta James had an instantly recognisable voice, sinuous, tender and harsh in equal measure. She died a few days short of her 74th birthday.
Petition: The Court of the Complainants—a potent Chinese documentary about injustice and state repression
By Richard Phillips, January 25, 2012
Petition explores the plight of poverty-stricken workers and farmers involved in stubborn and ultimately tragic appeals for “justice” from China’s Stalinist bureaucracy.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations—uneventful, for the most part
By Hiram Lee, January 25, 2012
The 84th annual Academy Awards nominations were announced Tuesday in Los Angeles. Few of the films have anything substantial to say about real life.
Johnny Otis, R&B’s renaissance man, dies at 90
By Hiram Lee, January 24, 2012
Influential R&B musician Johnny Otis, best-known for the hit dance record “Willie and the Hand Jive” died January 17 at the age of 90.
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