neilcomics

For several years, I've been trying to persuade friends who care about movies to watch Carl Th. Dreyer's Ordet, surely one of my top-5 favorites. However, I've also had to warn them to be careful to read nothing online about it, which doesn't help the case to check out an obscure foreign film from 1954. Finally, Roger Ebert has written a review this movie truly deserves--he interestingly avoids criticism or any discussion of where the plot heads (which ruins it, in so many books and articles) and simply describes the experience of watching it, only up to the point that's necessary to convince you that it's worth seeing. They ought to give him another Pulitzer for casting some more attention on this film.

As much as I enjoy reading Ebert (if not for his actual recommendations all the time), I'm sad to learn that my favorite film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has retired. If you're unfamiliar, there's a nice list of selected reviews and a YouTube interview with him here, courtesy of the Chicago Reader. I credit him with greatly influencing my taste and will miss his film writing very much--though hopefully this will pave the way for new great works from him.

Labels: film

I'm still technically on hiatus, unable to post comics here (everything I'm working on now must be saved for later, alas), and not willing to clean up the site design just yet; I know that if I get back to it, I'll be distracted by it for several days! However, Flight Volume 4 has now been officially released, and it looks great in print. The reception has been positive, and the book seems to be coming across as intended. In my opinion, the sexiest review so far, to borrow a phrase, is this one from the Onion A.V. Club (you need to scroll down a bit to find it).

Anyhow, I wanted to get back in the habit of blogging about movies and books and other things that interest me. I like to take notes on this sort of thing, so I figure I may as well share them for filler around here. Right now, for instance, I'm consumed with anticipation for this movie:



Although I have to admit that part of me buys into the romantic notion of movies as lost treasures (like the last original print of The Passion of Joan of Arc found in near-pristine quality in a mental hospital, or the original version of John Cassavettes' Shadows, lost in a Subway car and found in an attic decades later, or the long lost extended cut of Greed), it's really the sincerity of these clips that moves me. I'll get a couple chances to see it in San Francisco next month, and I'm counting the days. On the other hand, I'm kind of dreading an approaching deadline around that time as well. Hopefully, trekking up to the city to watch this movie will be a nice reward after a hard month.

On a darker note, one of my favorite filmmakers, Edward Yang, has passed away much too soon. I've got my eye set on a sharp new Criterion Collection DVD of his Yi Yi, and I'm happy to see that there's at least a collector-created edition of A Brighter Summer Day available as well. So much to see, so little time!

Links:
Killer of Sheep official website, with screening locations and dates
NPR reviews Killer of Sheep

Labels: film