When Robert Altman was at the peak of his filmmaking during the days of “Nashville” and “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” he was one of the greatest directors of his day. Many of his films have been proclaimed masterpieces of the eras in which they were made. His famed and influential stylistic techniques – the overlapping […]
Author Archives: Ian Colvin
Movie Review: ‘Nymphomaniac: Volume II’
“Nymphomaniac: Volume II” Directed by Lars von Trier Magnolia Pictures 3/5 Paws Danish provocateur Lars von Trier has consistently been the subject of controversy because of his divisive body of work. However, his newest feature, “Nymphomaniac,” is arguably his most daring yet, a four-hour long sexual odyssey (split into two volumes and released separately in […]
Out of Focus: ‘Last Tango in Paris’ a classic ’70s film despite early controversy
In 1972, the New Yorker published a review of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” in which famed movie critic Pauline Kael argued that the film “had changed the face of an art form.” More than four decades later, Bertolucci’s masterpiece stands as one of the great films of its era. “Last Tango in Paris” […]
Out of Focus: ‘Boogie Nights’ captures essence of ‘porno chic’ era
It was the 1970s, and Los Angeles was a metropolis of sleaze, a veritable wonderland of all things deemed disreputable. Just miles from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley was (and still is ) the adult-film capital of the world. With shades discreetly pulled down over windows, hundreds of these so-called […]
Out of Focus: “Je t’aime, je t’aime” combines science fiction, romance
You close your eyes and the past comes flooding back to you: the bitter recollection of some bygone afternoon, the sight of the scene and the scent of your lover. You seek to grasp it, but it’s intangible. In the film “Je t’aime, je t’aime,” master filmmaker Alain Resnais explores this very real human desire […]
Out of Focus: Godard’s ‘Pierrot le Fou’ experiments with New Wave
During his brief cameo in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 ultra-cool masterpiece “Pierrot le Fou,” Hollywood renegade Samuel Fuller famously said, “Film is like a battleground. Love. Hate. Action. Violence. Death. In one word, emotion.” His quip occurs during a party, but it perfectly comments on the meaning of cinema, and foreshadows the events that will follow […]
Out of Focus: 1980s ‘Bad Timing’ is forgotten gem
Sex, lies and obsession play out in the somber streets of a rainy Vienna in director Nicolas Roeg’s 1980 baroque masterpiece “Bad Timing.” From its opening scene, in which paintings by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt appear alongside the jazz-tinged music of singer Tom Waits, “Bad Timing” comes on like a fever dream of Freudian psychoanalysis […]