ESSAYS

March 22, 2010

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese, 1974)

It was a pleasant surprise to see Alice doesn’t live here anymore. Is it a feminist film? Can a male filmmaker look at a woman through a female perspective?
September 28, 2010

Coming Home: Melodrama and social change

David Ehrenstein condemns melodramas like Coming Home for perpetuating the illusion that they can affect social change instead of creating real change.
March 26, 2010

The City and the Dogs (Francisco J. Lombardi, 1985)

he City and the Dogs, based on the popular novel of the same name by Mario Vargas Llosa, is an allegory of power in South America.
September 30, 2010

Central Station and the Cinema Novo tradition

Central Station is one of the most popular and internationally acclaimed Brazilian films of the 1990s. It heralded a renaissance in Brazilian cinema.
March 20, 2018

Black Panther: A Perspective

I haven’t been motivated enough by any of the recent movies to add to the discussion. Black Panther has changed that. Although not a revolutionary film, elements of it speak to me profoundly.How does Black Panther paint the African-American portrait? How does it interact with other films from Africa and the African diaspora?
March 22, 2010

The World Of Apu (Satyajit Ray, 1959)

What I found most interesting in The World Of Apu is how much the representation of India came so close to my vision of Haiti, my native country.
March 26, 2010

I Don’t Want To Talk About It (Maria Luisa Bemberg, 1993)

In I Don’t Want To Talk About It which precedes her sudden death in 1995, Maria Luisa Bemberg explores the same themes as in her most famous movie, Camila.
October 1, 2010

African cinema, Ousmane Sembene and the Western gaze

In its perspectives and traditions, African cinema draws the spectator into its narrative, nurturing a symbiotic relationship with life itself.
October 1, 2010

The African diaspora: Colonialism and displacement

The transatlantic slave trade was one of the most disruptive acts in history, separating Africans from their backgrounds, traditions, and identities. This has had a significant impact on diaspora films.
October 1, 2010

Election (Alexander Payne, 1999)

There are some movies that change your perception of what is possible, what is allowed. Alexander Payne's Election was that for me.
July 24, 2011

The Tree of Life, or how to fail at the impossible

The world is whole beyond human knowing. -Wendell Berry The Tree of Life, by renowned director Terrence Malick, is years in the making. Its history starts even before Malick’s previous film, The New World, was distributed in 2005. After generating a substantial amount of ink in the media, and hot on the heels of the film’s highly publicized win of […]
October 1, 2010

Come Drink With Me (King Hu, 1966)

In Come Drink With Me, King Hu considers each of the director’s tools, using camera movement differently than editing or the wide-screen space.