Save The Receipt: Rethinking Wes Anderson
Zach Baron10.17.07
Wes Anderson’s latest movie, The Darjeeling Limited, has provoked a number of critics to express their exhaustion with his hermetically sealed realm of white bourgeois male privilege. Zach Baron wonders whether these critics aren’t missing the point.
Dusan Makavejev’s Sweet Movie comes to Criterion DVD
Mike Powell10.11.07
Schweeet! (you saw that joke coming, but…) It is sweet that Dušan Makavejev’s 1974 cult classic has infiltrated the somewhat taught sieve of great films that is the Criterion Collection of DVDs. It’s a sexually unabashed film that no doubt the Swedish national socialists (Swedish national socialists?) who recently smashed an Andres Serrano exhibit would love to get their nasty hands on (but that’s another story). Mike Powell reviews.
We’ve Lost Control (of the Ian Curtis Legend)
Mark Asch10.10.07
Anton Corbijn’s new black-and-white biopic of Ian Curtis, which opens today, has the approval of the singer’s widow, whose memoir it is based on, and the backing of numerous film critics, many of whom can still remember their first intoxicating spin of Unknown Pleasures. But Mark Asch wonders whether something doesn’t get lost when we demystify our rock icons.
IMPRINTS 4: Dana Vachon, Doug Stumpf and Jim Cramer
Zach Baron09.29.07
"Wealth rubs people in different ways," writes Zach Baron, who in his first IMPRINTS tackled DeLillo’s Falling Man. Baron isn’t through with the world of finance yet, and in IMPRINTS 4 he addresses two novels concerning the subject – Dana Vachon’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Doug Stumpf’s Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy. For good measure, he also gives a turn to CNBC’s seemingly insane Wall Street analyst Jim Cramer and his book Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich.
Reviews: Denis Johnson’s – Tree of Smoke and Richard Russo’s – Bridge of Sighs
Vikram Johri09.28.07
Vikram Johri reviews two new novel from old masters, Denis Johnson’s oddly epic Vietnam novel Tree of Smoke and Richard Russo’s memoir of childhood, Bridge of Sighs.
The 2007 New York Film Festival: A Preview
Benjamin Strong09.27.07
By nature, the New York Film Festival is always slanted towards American filmmakers, despite its first-class international selections. But as Benjamin Strong explains, the 45th annual edition includes uncommonly strong autumnal entries from Hollywood elders Brian De Palma and Sidney Lumet. Fanzine gives you a full report on the festival.
John Cage’s 95th
Mike Powell09.20.07
…birthday that is. Mike Powell attended a memorial for the legendary composer at NYC’s Kitchen this September 5th. While he forgot to bring us back any of Yoko’s flowers from the event, he did deliver us a nice reflection on it.
Reviews: Wayne Koestenbaum’s Hotel Theory and Masha Tupitsyn’s Beauty Talk & Monsters
Brian Pera08.26.07
Brian Pera reviews two new books: Wayne Koestenbaum’s Hotel Theory, a visually experimental work which juxtaposes two seemingly disparate texts, a collusion of dead stars and theory and into one cohesive package, and Masha Tupitsyn’s Beauty Talk & Monsters, a collection of observations, "Disguised as a series of short stories," of women seeking "apartness-as-refuge."
The Braffing of Daft Punk or…
Nick Sylvester08.19.07
Editing Nick’s piece, I had to ask him what "Braffed" meant. He replied in an email that "to be Braffed is a sideways reference to Garden State and Zach Braff and ‘The Shins will change your life’ line – any overly dramatic preordained significance given to a piece of art’s power to transcend." Alas, this piece is Sylvester’s response to some Braffing he read concerning a recent Daft Punk show.
IMPRINTS 3: Andre Aciman and David Markson
Zach Baron07.31.07
Zach Baron reviews two novels of the summer romance variety (if you will) – Andre Aciman’s Call Me By Your Name and David Markson’s debut Wittgenstein’s Mistress. Not your average beach books…
