Author Archives: Ana Heller

With television and film images so inculcated into our society, it is hard for most to remember the first film or TV show we ever saw, and nearly impossible to imagine a world without television.

It’s a wonderful Parisian life. Or is it?

On Soundstage 3, seated on a couch as if in his own living room (that is, if his living room had galleys and elevated passageways where a ceiling should be), is the award-winning cinematographer Stephen Burum.

The Good German Director Steven Soderbergh Warner Brothers Pictures It only gets worse in Berlin. Or so say the characters in Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, “The Good German,” an attempt at film noir about post-World War II Berlin. But, like the city itself, the movie only spirals downward because of its convoluted plot, which includes […]

“Fast Food Nation” Director Richard Linklater Fox Searchlight Pictures It may be hard to adapt a novel to film, but what about a book of non-fiction? Richard Linklater’s “Fast Food Nation” takes on Eric Schlosser’s 2001 bestselling work of the same title, but doesn’t quite live up to its literary forerunner. Like Schlosser’s book, the […]

Considering the suffering that was endured during the Spanish Civil War and the ensuing Franco era, it is not surprising that the witnesses from that time have long remained silent. Until now, those who lived through the horror of the Civil War and the repression under General Francisco Franco have chosen, or have been forced, […]

The normalcy that Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris exude is strikingly atypical of successful movie directors. Dayton and Faris, happily married UCLA alumni (Class of 1980) with children, have every reason to be frazzled or erratic or, at least, tired. Rather, despite ringing phones, festivals and meetings, the couple is upbeat and excited. After all, […]