Under the Spell of French Cinema Now

Dennis Harvey
Oct 25, 2011

Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.

Under the Spell of French Cinema Now

Dennis Harvey
Oct 25, 2011

Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.

Under the Spell of French Cinema Now

Dennis Harvey
Oct 25, 2011

Love permeates SFFS's francophone film series.

Mill Valley Brings Oscar Contenders Close to Home

Dennis Harvey
Oct 6, 2011

Mill Valley amps up the star wattage in its annual mix of local, international titles.

Mill Valley Brings Oscar Contenders Close to Home

Dennis Harvey
Oct 6, 2011

Mill Valley amps up the star wattage in its annual mix of local, international titles.

Mill Valley Brings Oscar Contenders Close to Home

Dennis Harvey
Oct 6, 2011

Mill Valley amps up the star wattage in its annual mix of local, international titles.

Mill Valley Film Festival

Oct 6, 2011

The 34th Mill Valley Film Festival continues at a number of locations, with a number of notable guests, including directors Gaston Kaboré and Luc Besson. See Dennis Harvey's extended preview on SF360 for the full story. More info and film schedule at mvff.com.

Mill Valley Film Festival

Oct 6, 2011

The 34th Mill Valley Film Festival continues at a number of locations, with a number of notable guests, including directors Gaston Kaboré and Luc Besson. See Dennis Harvey's extended preview on SF360 for the full story. More info and film schedule at mvff.com.

Gordon-Levitt's Chances Better than '50/50'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 30, 2011

Up-and-comer Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so good he compensates for the cancer comedy's shortcomings, even if he can't erase them.

Gordon-Levitt's Chances Better than '50/50'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 30, 2011

Up-and-comer Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so good he compensates for the cancer comedy's shortcomings, even if he can't erase them.

Gordon-Levitt's Chances Better than '50/50'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 30, 2011

Up-and-comer Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so good he compensates for the cancer comedy's shortcomings, even if he can't erase them.

Gordon-Levitt's Chances Better than '50/50'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 30, 2011

Up-and-comer Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so good he compensates for the cancer comedy's shortcomings, even if he can't erase them.

Broadly Comedic ‘My Afternoons with Margueritte’ a Harmless Indulgence

Dennis Harvey
Sep 26, 2011

Sentimental French film is no top-shelf vehicle, but Depardieu savors it as if it were the rarest vintage Bordeaux.

Broadly Comedic ‘My Afternoons with Margueritte’ a Harmless Indulgence

Dennis Harvey
Sep 26, 2011

Sentimental French film is no top-shelf vehicle, but Depardieu savors it as if it were the rarest vintage Bordeaux.

Broadly Comedic ‘My Afternoons with Margueritte’ a Harmless Indulgence

Dennis Harvey
Sep 26, 2011

Sentimental French film is no top-shelf vehicle, but Depardieu savors it as if it were the rarest vintage Bordeaux.

‘Aurora’ Startles, Subtly

Dennis Harvey
Sep 15, 2011

Unhurried, character-driven story demonstrates the filmmaking finesse that’s brought Romanian cinema to the fore. Though it had made an occasional international impression before—notably with a long history of Cannes entries and prize winners—few could have anticipated the splash Romanian cinema would create in the last few years. Or that the attention paid it would bring a number of often long, difficult, obtuse movies out of their usual habitat (the festival circuit) into theaters around the world. The collapse of Communism and execution of Romania's quarter-century dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 freed the filmmaking industry from strict governmental control and propagandic content. But it took until the middle...

‘Aurora’ Startles, Subtly

Dennis Harvey
Sep 15, 2011

Unhurried, character-driven story demonstrates the filmmaking finesse that’s brought Romanian cinema to the fore. Though it had made an occasional international impression before—notably with a long history of Cannes entries and prize winners—few could have anticipated the splash Romanian cinema would create in the last few years. Or that the attention paid it would bring a number of often long, difficult, obtuse movies out of their usual habitat (the festival circuit) into theaters around the world. The collapse of Communism and execution of Romania's quarter-century dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 freed the filmmaking industry from strict governmental control and propagandic content. But it took until the middle...

He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 13, 2011

Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 13, 2011

Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 13, 2011

Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

He-Men Command Belief in MMA Film 'Warrior'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 13, 2011

Gavin O'Connor does a remarkable job making his two-and-a-half-hour fight film gritty, involving and as credible as humanly possible.

More than Cute Keeps 'Hedgehog' Going

Dennis Harvey
Sep 6, 2011

Mona Achache's first feature relies heavily on an 11-year-old narrator, but it's 60- and 65-year-old actors who steal the show.

More than Cute Keeps 'Hedgehog' Going

Dennis Harvey
Sep 6, 2011

Mona Achache's first feature relies heavily on an 11-year-old narrator, but it's 60- and 65-year-old actors who steal the show.

More than Cute Keeps 'Hedgehog' Going

Dennis Harvey
Sep 6, 2011

Mona Achache's first feature relies heavily on an 11-year-old narrator, but it's 60- and 65-year-old actors who steal the show.

‘The Arbor’s’ ‘Verbatim Theatre’ Approach Strikes Chord

Dennis Harvey
Aug 16, 2011

Clio Barnard's ‘The Arbor’ takes a fascinating and unconventional look at Andrea Dunbar's brief, brilliant career.

‘The Arbor’s’ ‘Verbatim Theatre’ Approach Strikes Chord

Dennis Harvey
Aug 16, 2011

Clio Barnard's ‘The Arbor’ takes a fascinating and unconventional look at Andrea Dunbar's brief, brilliant career.

‘The Arbor’s’ ‘Verbatim Theatre’ Approach Strikes Chord

Dennis Harvey
Aug 16, 2011

Clio Barnard's ‘The Arbor’ takes a fascinating and unconventional look at Andrea Dunbar's brief, brilliant career.

High Energy 'Point Blank' Is a Rush

Dennis Harvey
Aug 9, 2011

Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.

High Energy 'Point Blank' Is a Rush

Dennis Harvey
Aug 9, 2011

Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.

High Energy 'Point Blank' Is a Rush

Dennis Harvey
Aug 9, 2011

Thrill ride 'Point Blank' loses nothing in translation—it's a prime example of cinematic globalization.

McDonagh Finds Success in Family Path with 'The Guard'

Dennis Harvey
Aug 4, 2011

John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.

McDonagh Finds Success in Family Path with 'The Guard'

Dennis Harvey
Aug 4, 2011

John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.

McDonagh Finds Success in Family Path with 'The Guard'

Dennis Harvey
Aug 4, 2011

John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.

Cinematographer Cardiff's Eye Prized in 'Cameraman' Doc

Dennis Harvey
Jul 29, 2011

'Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff' is a lovely portrait of an innovator and consummate craftsman.

Cinematographer Cardiff's Eye Prized in 'Cameraman' Doc

Dennis Harvey
Jul 29, 2011

'Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff' is a lovely portrait of an innovator and consummate craftsman.

Cinematographer Cardiff's Eye Prized in 'Cameraman' Doc

Dennis Harvey
Jul 29, 2011

'Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff' is a lovely portrait of an innovator and consummate craftsman.

Fassbinder's Funky Futurism Speaks to the Moment

Dennis Harvey
Jul 26, 2011

Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.

Fassbinder's Funky Futurism Speaks to the Moment

Dennis Harvey
Jul 26, 2011

Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.

Fassbinder's Funky Futurism Speaks to the Moment

Dennis Harvey
Jul 26, 2011

Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.

Fassbinder's Funky Futurism Speaks to the Moment

Dennis Harvey
Jul 26, 2011

Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.

Fassbinder's Funky Futurism Speaks to the Moment

Dennis Harvey
Jul 26, 2011

Fassbinder's retro-chic, thought-provoking 'World on a Wire' finds the 'future' is now.

Hands Up! Essential Skolimowski

Jul 22, 2011

PFA opens Hands Up! with a double-bill of Polish New Wave legend Jerzy Skolimowski's early European works, 'Deep End' and 'The Shout,' both featuring bleak comedy, dynamic camera work and soundtrack contributions by then-avant touchstones (Can and Genesis, respectively). The series runs through August 25, see Dennis Harvey's in-depth coverage here. More info bampfa.berkeley.edu.

Striking Skolimowski Films Rescued from Obscurity at PFA

Dennis Harvey
Jul 18, 2011

Pacific Film Archive’s ‘Hands Up! Essential Skolimowski’ surveys the Polish director’s confounding oeuvre.

Striking Skolimowski Films Rescued from Obscurity at PFA

Dennis Harvey
Jul 18, 2011

Pacific Film Archive’s ‘Hands Up! Essential Skolimowski’ surveys the Polish director’s confounding oeuvre.

Striking Skolimowski Films Rescued from Obscurity at PFA

Dennis Harvey
Jul 18, 2011

Pacific Film Archive’s ‘Hands Up! Essential Skolimowski’ surveys the Polish director’s confounding oeuvre.

Weitz Explores the Other L.A. with 'A Better Life'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 8, 2011

'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'

Weitz Explores the Other L.A. with 'A Better Life'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 8, 2011

'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'

Weitz Explores the Other L.A. with 'A Better Life'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 8, 2011

'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'

Weitz Explores the Other L.A. with 'A Better Life'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 8, 2011

'A Better Life' succeeds as an L.A.-set remake of bleak Italian neorealist classic 'The Bicycle Thief.'

‘Over the Edge’ Emerges from ‘Cult-Favorite’ Closet

Dennis Harvey
Jun 28, 2011

Ficks’ ‘Watch out for Children’ triple bill features a long lost career-lanching teen-drama gem.

‘Over the Edge’ Emerges from ‘Cult-Favorite’ Closet

Dennis Harvey
Jun 28, 2011

Ficks’ ‘Watch out for Children’ triple bill features a long lost career-lanching teen-drama gem.

‘Over the Edge’ Emerges from ‘Cult-Favorite’ Closet

Dennis Harvey
Jun 28, 2011

Ficks’ ‘Watch out for Children’ triple bill features a long lost career-lanching teen-drama gem.

Vintage Kinski Uncorked at YBCA

Dennis Harvey
Jun 17, 2011

YBCA digs a delightfully disturbing live Kinski document from the archives.

Vintage Kinski Uncorked at YBCA

Dennis Harvey
Jun 17, 2011

YBCA digs a delightfully disturbing live Kinski document from the archives.

Frameline35 Opens, Features Wildly Diverse Program

Dennis Harvey
Jun 16, 2011

The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.

Frameline35 Opens, Features Wildly Diverse Program

Dennis Harvey
Jun 16, 2011

The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.

Frameline35 Opens, Features Wildly Diverse Program

Dennis Harvey
Jun 16, 2011

The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival delivers internationally as well as locally made films of every identity and genre stripe.

Soap-Operatic 'Bride Flight' Is an Entertaining Ride

Dennis Harvey
Jun 10, 2011

An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.

Soap-Operatic 'Bride Flight' Is an Entertaining Ride

Dennis Harvey
Jun 10, 2011

An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.

Soap-Operatic 'Bride Flight' Is an Entertaining Ride

Dennis Harvey
Jun 10, 2011

An historical-romantic novel in screen form, 'Bride Flight' offers all the pleasures (some guilty ones) of a film made half a century ago.

'Blank City' Looks Back at Underground 'B' Heyday

Dennis Harvey
Jun 3, 2011

A documentary digs into New York's 'No Wave' movement that briefly flourished in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

'Blank City' Looks Back at Underground 'B' Heyday

Dennis Harvey
Jun 3, 2011

A documentary digs into New York's 'No Wave' movement that briefly flourished in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

'Blank City' Looks Back at Underground 'B' Heyday

Dennis Harvey
Jun 3, 2011

A documentary digs into New York's 'No Wave' movement that briefly flourished in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

Dennis Harvey
Jun 2, 2011

The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

Dennis Harvey
Jun 2, 2011

The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

Dennis Harvey
Jun 2, 2011

The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

Another Hole in the Head Scares Up New Round

Dennis Harvey
Jun 2, 2011

The adventure of Another Hole in the Head Film Festival requires you risk seeing the occasional dud to seek out the gems.

Elizabeth Taylor Tribute Maps Unusual Star Path

Dennis Harvey
May 26, 2011

The Castro's Elizabeth Taylor retrospective brings the actress back to her most devoted fans. The first and last time I attended the now-defunct Taos Film Festival, it gave a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor (who lived in the area), allowing me to spend an hour sitting about ten feet from one of the most famous movie stars ever. Arriving by wheelchair with a little dog on her lap, she was petite and attractive, though infirmity had taken its own toll on her figure. She was also funny, candid, unpretentious, occasionally ribald, passionately serious about her causes (especially AIDS research and education), and a little dotty—occasionally she'd drift off on some strange...

Elizabeth Taylor Tribute Maps Unusual Star Path

Dennis Harvey
May 26, 2011

The Castro's Elizabeth Taylor retrospective brings the actress back to her most devoted fans. The first and last time I attended the now-defunct Taos Film Festival, it gave a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor (who lived in the area), allowing me to spend an hour sitting about ten feet from one of the most famous movie stars ever. Arriving by wheelchair with a little dog on her lap, she was petite and attractive, though infirmity had taken its own toll on her figure. She was also funny, candid, unpretentious, occasionally ribald, passionately serious about her causes (especially AIDS research and education), and a little dotty—occasionally she'd drift off on some strange...

YBCA Revisits Vintage Erotica

Dennis Harvey
May 19, 2011

YBCA uncorks another era's eros.

YBCA Revisits Vintage Erotica

Dennis Harvey
May 19, 2011

YBCA uncorks another era's eros.

YBCA Revisits Vintage Erotica

Dennis Harvey
May 19, 2011

YBCA uncorks another era's eros.

Stone not Cold in Castro Conversation

Dennis Harvey
Apr 28, 2011

Oliver Stone reflects on his own heated past, and the world’s, as he accepts the Founder’s Directing Award onstage at the Castro Theatre during SFIFF54.

Stone not Cold in Castro Conversation

Dennis Harvey
Apr 28, 2011

Oliver Stone reflects on his own heated past, and the world’s, as he accepts the Founder’s Directing Award onstage at the Castro Theatre during SFIFF54.

Stone not Cold in Castro Conversation

Dennis Harvey
Apr 28, 2011

Oliver Stone reflects on his own heated past, and the world’s, as he accepts the Founder’s Directing Award onstage at the Castro Theatre during SFIFF54.

Tindersticks Fuel the Claire Denis Film Fire

Dennis Harvey
Apr 26, 2011

A soundtrack staple in the Denis oeuvre, Tindersticks play their beautifully brooding music live to clips at SFIFF54.

Tindersticks Fuel the Claire Denis Film Fire

Dennis Harvey
Apr 26, 2011

A soundtrack staple in the Denis oeuvre, Tindersticks play their beautifully brooding music live to clips at SFIFF54.

Tindersticks Fuel the Claire Denis Film Fire

Dennis Harvey
Apr 26, 2011

A soundtrack staple in the Denis oeuvre, Tindersticks play their beautifully brooding music live to clips at SFIFF54.

Terence Stamp Honored with Owens Award

Dennis Harvey
Apr 25, 2011

Terence Stamp has treated acting not as a job, but as a restless quest for new frontiers.

Terence Stamp Honored with Owens Award

Dennis Harvey
Apr 25, 2011

Terence Stamp has treated acting not as a job, but as a restless quest for new frontiers.

Terence Stamp Honored with Owens Award

Dennis Harvey
Apr 25, 2011

Terence Stamp has treated acting not as a job, but as a restless quest for new frontiers.

On Producing Killer Films

Dennis Harvey
Apr 18, 2011

Christine Vachon examines her varied indie successes while offering notes on the world of change engulfing cinema.

On Producing Killer Films

Dennis Harvey
Apr 18, 2011

Christine Vachon examines her varied indie successes while offering notes on the world of change engulfing cinema.

On Producing Killer Films

Dennis Harvey
Apr 18, 2011

Christine Vachon examines her varied indie successes while offering notes on the world of change engulfing cinema.

Ozon's 'Trophy Wife' Is a Winner

Dennis Harvey
Apr 1, 2011

Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.

Ozon's 'Trophy Wife' Is a Winner

Dennis Harvey
Apr 1, 2011

Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.

Ozon's 'Trophy Wife' Is a Winner

Dennis Harvey
Apr 1, 2011

Ozon's Deneuve vehicle, filled with comedy and politics, travels well.

Kiarostami’s Enigmatic ‘Copy’ Fascinates

Dennis Harvey
Mar 18, 2011

Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy’ is a puzzling provocation that gets better with multiple viewings.

Kiarostami’s Enigmatic ‘Copy’ Fascinates

Dennis Harvey
Mar 18, 2011

Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy’ is a puzzling provocation that gets better with multiple viewings.

Kiarostami’s Enigmatic ‘Copy’ Fascinates

Dennis Harvey
Mar 18, 2011

Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy’ is a puzzling provocation that gets better with multiple viewings.

‘William S. Burroughs: A Man Within’

Mar 15, 2011

“At times William S. Burroughs seemed less the author of fiction than a creation of it,” writes Dennis Harvey in SF360; director Yony Leyser offers what Harvey calls a "fascinating, impressionistic" treatment of the subject in ‘William S. Burroughs: A Man Within.’ Leyser and other special guests offer a Q&A following the showing of their film, Tuesday, March 15. More at roxie.com.

Burroughs’ Story Still Stranger than Fiction

Dennis Harvey
Mar 11, 2011

A new Burroughs documentary revisits a familiar story, but delivers fresh insight.

Burroughs’ Story Still Stranger than Fiction

Dennis Harvey
Mar 11, 2011

A new Burroughs documentary revisits a familiar story, but delivers fresh insight.

Burroughs’ Story Still Stranger than Fiction

Dennis Harvey
Mar 11, 2011

A new Burroughs documentary revisits a familiar story, but delivers fresh insight.

'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen

Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011

Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'

'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen

Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011

Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'

'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen

Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011

Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'

'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen

Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011

Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'

Arctic 'Summer' Story Chills Screen

Dennis Harvey
Feb 25, 2011

SFFS Screen's 'How I Ended This Summer' is a taut drama set in the Arctic.

Arctic 'Summer' Story Chills Screen

Dennis Harvey
Feb 25, 2011

SFFS Screen's 'How I Ended This Summer' is a taut drama set in the Arctic.

Noise Pop Film Series

Feb 22, 2011

A festival whose curation was called "stupefyingly good" by Dennis Harvey in SF360.org last week, the Noise Pop Film Series complements the live music it's meant to accompany as the likes of Feist, Devendra Banhart and Tom Ze cross the screen. More at 2011.noisepop.com/film.

'We Were Here' Wrings Hope from the AIDS Crisis

Dennis Harvey
Feb 22, 2011

Weissman and Weber's 'We Were Here' pulls a surprising degree of hope and inspiration out of the AIDS tragedy.

'We Were Here' Wrings Hope from the AIDS Crisis

Dennis Harvey
Feb 22, 2011

Weissman and Weber's 'We Were Here' pulls a surprising degree of hope and inspiration out of the AIDS tragedy.

'We Were Here' Wrings Hope from the AIDS Crisis

Dennis Harvey
Feb 22, 2011

Weissman and Weber's 'We Were Here' pulls a surprising degree of hope and inspiration out of the AIDS tragedy.

Noise Pop 2011's Film Series Rawks

Dennis Harvey
Feb 17, 2011

Noise Pop brings the noise as well as great filmmaking to its annual music-and-movie event.

Noise Pop 2011's Film Series Rawks

Dennis Harvey
Feb 17, 2011

Noise Pop brings the noise as well as great filmmaking to its annual music-and-movie event.

Noise Pop 2011's Film Series Rawks

Dennis Harvey
Feb 17, 2011

Noise Pop brings the noise as well as great filmmaking to its annual music-and-movie event.

'Come Undone' Disrupts Domesticity

Dennis Harvey
Feb 11, 2011

Neither tragedy nor grand romance, 'Come Undone' captures an evocative everyday mess.

'Come Undone' Disrupts Domesticity

Dennis Harvey
Feb 11, 2011

Neither tragedy nor grand romance, 'Come Undone' captures an evocative everyday mess.

'Somewhere' Seizes on Discontent

Dennis Harvey
Jan 14, 2011

Sofia Coppola's 'Somewhere' nails the spiritual erosion of constant, effortless indulgence.

'Somewhere' Seizes on Discontent

Dennis Harvey
Jan 14, 2011

Sofia Coppola's 'Somewhere' nails the spiritual erosion of constant, effortless indulgence.

'Somewhere' Seizes on Discontent

Dennis Harvey
Jan 14, 2011

Sofia Coppola's 'Somewhere' nails the spiritual erosion of constant, effortless indulgence.

De Oliveira's 'Angelica' Balming, Enlivening

Dennis Harvey
Jan 7, 2011

'The Strange Case of Angelica' finds Manoel de Oliveira, at 102 years old, in fine form.

De Oliveira's 'Angelica' Balming, Enlivening

Dennis Harvey
Jan 7, 2011

'The Strange Case of Angelica' finds Manoel de Oliveira, at 102 years old, in fine form.

De Oliveira's 'Angelica' Balming, Enlivening

Dennis Harvey
Jan 7, 2011

'The Strange Case of Angelica' finds Manoel de Oliveira, at 102 years old, in fine form.

'Deathstalker' Muscles its Way Back to Big Screen

Dennis Harvey
Jan 6, 2011

Sword, sandals and a sinister real-life epilogue: 'Deathstalker' earns top billing in a Midnite for Maniacs evening at the Castro. As one of 1982's bigger box-office hits, Conan the Barbarian accomplished two things. First, it finally made a movie star out of thick-bodied, thicker-accented Arnold Schwarzenegger after several failed attempts. Second, it spawned a legion of cheaper imitations cashing in on the early 1980s' seemingly bottomless need for films to fill cable airtime and video rental shelves. (Remember, until that time there the only commercial outlets for movies were theatrical release and network TV—so these were entirely...

'Deathstalker' Muscles its Way Back to Big Screen

Dennis Harvey
Jan 6, 2011

Sword, sandals and a sinister real-life epilogue: 'Deathstalker' earns top billing in a Midnite for Maniacs evening at the Castro. As one of 1982's bigger box-office hits, Conan the Barbarian accomplished two things. First, it finally made a movie star out of thick-bodied, thicker-accented Arnold Schwarzenegger after several failed attempts. Second, it spawned a legion of cheaper imitations cashing in on the early 1980s' seemingly bottomless need for films to fill cable airtime and video rental shelves. (Remember, until that time there the only commercial outlets for movies were theatrical release and network TV—so these were entirely...

'The Sound of Music' Offers Simpler Times, Strange Complications

Dennis Harvey
Dec 3, 2010

'The Sound of Music' stretches its music empire into a new century with popular sing-alongs and a new home-entertainment release. When we look back at the 1960s, the phenomenon that was—and still somewhat is—The Sound of Music seems like an anomaly. But at the time it was more like the solid rock of reassuring constancy that masses clung to as waters of bewildering change rose all around them, a three-hour oasis of clean living and cheerful melody that wouldn't go away—no matter how many antiwar protesting, unisex...

'The Sound of Music' Offers Simpler Times, Strange Complications

Dennis Harvey
Dec 3, 2010

'The Sound of Music' stretches its music empire into a new century with popular sing-alongs and a new home-entertainment release. When we look back at the 1960s, the phenomenon that was—and still somewhat is—The Sound of Music seems like an anomaly. But at the time it was more like the solid rock of reassuring constancy that masses clung to as waters of bewildering change rose all around them, a three-hour oasis of clean living and cheerful melody that wouldn't go away—no matter how many antiwar protesting, unisex...

Season's Screenings Bring out Best Films of the Year

Dennis Harvey
Nov 24, 2010

The year closes with six weeks of strong foreign and arthouse awards-seekers as well as solid franchise holiday entertainments.

Season's Screenings Bring out Best Films of the Year

Dennis Harvey
Nov 24, 2010

The year closes with six weeks of strong foreign and arthouse awards-seekers as well as solid franchise holiday entertainments.

Season's Screenings Bring out Best Films of the Year

Dennis Harvey
Nov 24, 2010

The year closes with six weeks of strong foreign and arthouse awards-seekers as well as solid franchise holiday entertainments.

'Client 9' Reclaims Spitzer

Dennis Harvey
Nov 18, 2010

'Client 9' makes the case that Wall Street, not women, brought Eliot Spitzer down. This month commenced with the most stellar edition yet of what's become America's favorite political pasttime, a game we call Out with the (Sorta) Old, In with the (Kinda) New.  Payback was especially directed at the current administration's failure to get the economy back to booming. Yet as one of the year's biggest documentaries, Charles Ferguson's Inside Job, noted, conservative politicos and their allies were very much in on the policies that got our collective piggy bank broken and looted in the first place. Though it can certainly stand on its own merits, Client 9 (which opens at local theaters this...

'Client 9' Reclaims Spitzer

Dennis Harvey
Nov 18, 2010

'Client 9' makes the case that Wall Street, not women, brought Eliot Spitzer down. This month commenced with the most stellar edition yet of what's become America's favorite political pasttime, a game we call Out with the (Sorta) Old, In with the (Kinda) New.  Payback was especially directed at the current administration's failure to get the economy back to booming. Yet as one of the year's biggest documentaries, Charles Ferguson's Inside Job, noted, conservative politicos and their allies were very much in on the policies that got our collective piggy bank broken and looted in the first place. Though it can certainly stand on its own merits, Client 9 (which opens at local theaters this...

Essential SF: Marlon Riggs

Dennis Harvey
Nov 15, 2010

From 'Tongues Untied' to 'Black Is.....Black Ain't,' Marlon Riggs' art was a series of radical acts that were both overdue and ahead of their time. Two decades ago, in post-Reagan America, the arts were under fire—one lit by a very particular religious right match. Feeling the heat was the National Endowment for the Arts, a then 25-year-old institution already pretty pitifully funded by comparison with most other developed nations’ governmental arts support. But the small portion of NEA grants that helped avant-garde or otherwise edgy art—as opposed to, say, the local Gilbert & Sullivan society or annual craft fair—provided plenty of opportunities...

Essential SF: Marlon Riggs

Dennis Harvey
Nov 15, 2010

From 'Tongues Untied' to 'Black Is.....Black Ain't,' Marlon Riggs' art was a series of radical acts that were both overdue and ahead of their time. Two decades ago, in post-Reagan America, the arts were under fire—one lit by a very particular religious right match. Feeling the heat was the National Endowment for the Arts, a then 25-year-old institution already pretty pitifully funded by comparison with most other developed nations’ governmental arts support. But the small portion of NEA grants that helped avant-garde or otherwise edgy art—as opposed to, say, the local Gilbert & Sullivan society or annual craft fair—provided plenty of opportunities...

New Italian Cinema Puts Focus on Ferzan Ozpetek

Dennis Harvey
Nov 14, 2010

'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.

New Italian Cinema Puts Focus on Ferzan Ozpetek

Dennis Harvey
Nov 14, 2010

'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.

New Italian Cinema Puts Focus on Ferzan Ozpetek

Dennis Harvey
Nov 14, 2010

'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.

New Italian Cinema Puts Focus on Ferzan Ozpetek

Dennis Harvey
Nov 14, 2010

'When in Rome,' or outside it: NIC offers fresh voices, new locations.

Essential SF: Rick Prelinger

Dennis Harvey
Nov 2, 2010

Rick Prelinger’s efforts at preserving ephemeral films have made him indispensable to the cinema of San Francisco—and the world.

Essential SF: Rick Prelinger

Dennis Harvey
Nov 2, 2010

Rick Prelinger’s efforts at preserving ephemeral films have made him indispensable to the cinema of San Francisco—and the world.

Marquee Names Light Up French Cinema Now

Dennis Harvey
Oct 28, 2010

The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.

Marquee Names Light Up French Cinema Now

Dennis Harvey
Oct 28, 2010

The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.

Marquee Names Light Up French Cinema Now

Dennis Harvey
Oct 28, 2010

The latest finds from France's national cinema play in an SFFS showcase.

Altman Versus the World

Dennis Harvey
Sep 20, 2010

A series at the Roxie mines the fault lines in Robert Altman's varied oeuvre.

Altman Versus the World

Dennis Harvey
Sep 20, 2010

A series at the Roxie mines the fault lines in Robert Altman's varied oeuvre.

Altman Versus the World

Dennis Harvey
Sep 20, 2010

A series at the Roxie mines the fault lines in Robert Altman's varied oeuvre.

Phil Spector, the Spectacle, Viewed in New Doc

Dennis Harvey
Sep 10, 2010

A look at Phil Spector brings back memories, if not that loving feeling.

Phil Spector, the Spectacle, Viewed in New Doc

Dennis Harvey
Sep 10, 2010

A look at Phil Spector brings back memories, if not that loving feeling.

'Change of Plans' Finds Humor in Mid-Life

Dennis Harvey
Sep 9, 2010

'Change of Plans' charts an eventful year in the lives of a dozen or so disparate Parisians.

'Change of Plans' Finds Humor in Mid-Life

Dennis Harvey
Sep 9, 2010

'Change of Plans' charts an eventful year in the lives of a dozen or so disparate Parisians.

'Change of Plans' Finds Humor in Mid-Life

Dennis Harvey
Sep 9, 2010

'Change of Plans' charts an eventful year in the lives of a dozen or so disparate Parisians.

'Change of Plans' Finds Humor in Mid-Life

Dennis Harvey
Sep 9, 2010

'Change of Plans' charts an eventful year in the lives of a dozen or so disparate Parisians.

A Family Implodes in Biting 'Dogtooth'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 3, 2010

A Greek film incriminates the viewer.

A Family Implodes in Biting 'Dogtooth'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 3, 2010

A Greek film incriminates the viewer.

Going McCarey's Way

Dennis Harvey
Sep 2, 2010

A Mechanics' Institute series appreciates Leo McCarey's genius with comedy.

Going McCarey's Way

Dennis Harvey
Sep 2, 2010

A Mechanics' Institute series appreciates Leo McCarey's genius with comedy.

Going McCarey's Way

Dennis Harvey
Sep 2, 2010

A Mechanics' Institute series appreciates Leo McCarey's genius with comedy.

Lisa Cholodenko Makes High Art of Family Hijinx

Dennis Harvey
Jul 16, 2010

A festival and awards-buzz favorite since its January Sundance premiere, The Kids Are All Right has real depth and drama yet is largely comedic in tone.

Lisa Cholodenko Makes High Art of Family Hijinx

Dennis Harvey
Jul 16, 2010

A festival and awards-buzz favorite since its January Sundance premiere, The Kids Are All Right has real depth and drama yet is largely comedic in tone.

Lisa Cholodenko Makes High Art of Family Hijinx

Dennis Harvey
Jul 16, 2010

A festival and awards-buzz favorite since its January Sundance premiere, The Kids Are All Right has real depth and drama yet is largely comedic in tone.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival Speaks Volumes

Dennis Harvey
Jul 15, 2010

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival offers its now expected collection of rare finds, live music and early film amazements

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival Speaks Volumes

Dennis Harvey
Jul 15, 2010

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival offers its now expected collection of rare finds, live music and early film amazements

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival Speaks Volumes

Dennis Harvey
Jul 15, 2010

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival offers its now expected collection of rare finds, live music and early film amazements

'Wild Grass' Finds Resnais Still Growing

Dennis Harvey
Jul 9, 2010

Resnais remains elusive and detached, his films beautiful abstracts of intellectual rather than emotional impact.

'Wild Grass' Finds Resnais Still Growing

Dennis Harvey
Jul 9, 2010

Resnais remains elusive and detached, his films beautiful abstracts of intellectual rather than emotional impact.

Observing Ordinary People in 'Everyone Else'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 2, 2010

Maren Ade’s second feature is striking for what it doesn't do as it follows ordinary lives through a failing relationship.

Observing Ordinary People in 'Everyone Else'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 2, 2010

Maren Ade’s second feature is striking for what it doesn't do as it follows ordinary lives through a failing relationship.

Kore-eda Breathes Life into 'Air Doll'

Dennis Harvey
Jun 25, 2010

Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll is a conceptual gamble pulled off with a master’s grace and subtlety.

Kore-eda Breathes Life into 'Air Doll'

Dennis Harvey
Jun 25, 2010

Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll is a conceptual gamble pulled off with a master’s grace and subtlety.

Frameline34 Focuses on Warhol and Worlds of LGBT Cinema

Dennis Harvey
Jun 17, 2010

Frameline34 takes a fresh look at Andy Warhol's world while offering a view to the world of international LGBT cinema 2010.

Jordan's Magic Moments with Ondine

Dennis Harvey
Jun 8, 2010

Ondine finds Neil Jordan back on personal terra firma with a story (his own, in conception and screenplay) that sits exactly on the thin line separating reality and fantasy.

On Loving the Best Worst Movie of All Time

Dennis Harvey
Jun 3, 2010

For many, the mother of all brain-scrambling cinematic boondoggles is Troll 2; a documentary takes stock of the phenomenal success of this epic failure.

Looking for Comedy in Ken Loach's 'Eric'

Dennis Harvey
May 28, 2010

It s not a laugh-out-loud film, but Looking for Eric can be considered a comedy…in comparison to just about any other Ken Loach movie you could name.

Merchant-Ivory: A Look Back

Dennis Harvey
May 27, 2010

A literary adaptation filled with first-class actors in sumptuous settings, City doesn't fall too far from the familiar Merchant-Ivory tree.

Stevenson's Oddball Scandinavian Cinema

Dennis Harvey
May 21, 2010

Former San Franciscan Jack Stevenson returns from Denmark to promote the U.S. publication of Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s.

Getting Shatnered with Thrillville

Dennis Harvey
May 20, 2010

William Shatner has survived as a unique sort of elder showbiz statesman, one who is willing to be the butt of jokes because he is in on them.

Conner Forever Moving Forward

Dennis Harvey
May 10, 2010

Bruce Conner, the sculptor, painter, photographer and filmmaker who loomed large in the Bay Area's shifting avant-garde currents for 50 years, resurfaces with Three Screen Ray.

SFIFF53 Reports: Divine Madness at 'All About Evil' Premiere

Dennis Harvey
May 4, 2010

Judging from Saturday night s festivities, half the capacity Castro Theatre audience had worked on or otherwise invested in Joshua Grannell a.k.a. Peaches Christ s debut feature.

SFIFF53 Reports: James Schamus, Roger Ebert and the Writing Life

Dennis Harvey
May 3, 2010

Few would argue that a good movie often starts with a good story. Yet it has been the screenwriter s lot to be underappreciated.

SFIFF53: 'At the Movies' with Roger Ebert

Dennis Harvey
Apr 30, 2010

You know someone is well liked when they re used as the standard by which you fall short.

SFIFF53: The Art of Revival

Dennis Harvey
Apr 29, 2010

Through most of its history, the Festival has featured revivals of restored classics and little-known gems. This year s selections run an unusually wide gamut.

SFIFF53: Deft Dussollier In 'Micmacs,' 'Wild Grass'

Dennis Harvey
Apr 21, 2010

How many foreign stars do U.S. moviegoers know? Not many, alas. My favorite living French actor, André Dussollier, appears prominently in two high-profile festival films.

Independent Inuit Films at YBCA

Dennis Harvey
Apr 8, 2010

Inuit peoples—the indigenous cultures rooted in Arctic regions from Alaska to Greenland—have an honored place in film history, dating to Flaherty's Nanook of the North.

Epic Expectations in 'The Warlords'

Dennis Harvey
Apr 7, 2010

When television first became a dire threat, Hollywood fought the small screen by making the big one really big with vast spectacles worth leaving home for.

Unresolved Conflict in 'American Radical,' 'Promised Lands'

Dennis Harvey
Mar 25, 2010

YBCA s month-long, six-part Human Rights and Film series closes with two documentaries on the Arab-Israeli conflict made 35 years apart.

Bong Joon-ho's 'Mother' Pleases

Dennis Harvey
Mar 18, 2010

One of the heroes of South Korean cinema's recent renaissance wisely sticks to home terrain with his follow-up to The Host.

28th SF Int'l Asian American Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
Mar 10, 2010

The Center for Asian American Media, formerly known as NAATA and founded to nurture Asian American filmmakers as well as counter ethnic stereotypes, has accomplished that and more.

West with 'Sweetgrass'

Dennis Harvey
Mar 9, 2010

There will probably never be a theatrical release for James Benning's landscape movies. Amazingly, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor have scored distribution and made a splash.

Hurt and Belief in 'The Yellow Handkerchief'

Dennis Harvey
Mar 5, 2010

William Hurt didn't fulfill the promise of major stardom in the 80s, but it's become clearer that he probably didn't want that.

Cinequest at 20

Dennis Harvey
Feb 21, 2010

Wasn't it just yesterday that Cinequest was the scrappy upstart amongst Bay Area festivals? Apparently not: San Jose's annual cinematic blowout is entering its third decade.

Herzog's Unexpected 'My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done'

Dennis Harvey
Feb 19, 2010

With its comfortable suburban setting, flashback structure and mystery-suspense framework, My Son, My Son is, by Herzogian standards, almost mainstream-conventional. I said almost.

Freak Flag Flying at YBCA

Dennis Harvey
Feb 17, 2010

YBCA has sustained a major place in S.F.'s cultural landscape without receiving the due it would have had its mission been narrower and more easily defined.

As Oscars Approach, Winners Still Up in the Air

Dennis Harvey
Feb 16, 2010

Last month's nominations announcement was anticipated with unusual interest, largely because the Academy reverted to ten Best Picture nominees, a practice abandoned in 1943.

Buscemi in Fine, Droll Form in 'St. John of Las Vegas'

Dennis Harvey
Feb 11, 2010

Steve Buscemi is one of those actors people are instantly happy to see on screen, even if their recall stretches no farther than, Hey, it's that guy!

Mostly British and Very Entertaining

Dennis Harvey
Feb 4, 2010

Tragically underrepresented in the Bay Area's densely packed world of globally oriented film festivals is the land(s) of our erstwhile colonial rulers!

'Fish Tank's Essex truth

Dennis Harvey
Jan 28, 2010

Writer-director Andrea Arnold created a stir with her first feature Red Road, but her new film is arguably an even stronger work.

Can't Stop the Musical: PFA's Classics

Dennis Harvey
Jan 27, 2010

As soon as the silent era hit sound circa 1927, musicals became a leading genre worldwide. How could their appeal possibly die out?

Val Lewton's Brooding Mood, Chilling Themes

Dennis Harvey
Jan 21, 2010

Horror movies were once dismissed by most grownups (and nearly all critics) as juvenile, silly, even offensive. Val Lewton seriously challenged that thinking,

Darkness Of Noir City On Castro Screen

Dennis Harvey
Jan 20, 2010

In late January, many tune their radar to the snowy, showy glare of Sundance. With Noir City here, the stay-at-homes are the luckier ones.

It's 'Playtime' with Jacques Tati in New Series

Dennis Harvey
Jan 13, 2010

You could make a case for Tati as the last great silent comedian even if he didn't begin making features until two decades into the sound era.

3D Reloaded: Where Does 3D Go From Here?

Sean Uyehara
Dec 27, 2009

The release of Avatar puts a fitting capstone on a frenzied campaign by studios to reintroduce stereoscopic 3-D to audiences in 2009.

Soulful "35 Shots of Rum" Gently Intoxicating

Dennis Harvey
Dec 17, 2009

Claire Denis proves her unpredictability and versatility as a director with the 2008 release 35 Shots of Rum.

Shannon and Ryan own the screen in "The Missing Person"

Dennis Harvey
Dec 17, 2009

Shannon and Ryan own the screen in the contemporary indie noir The Missing Person.

Holiday Film Preview, Part II

Dennis Harvey
Dec 11, 2009

Dennis Harvey weighs in on the upcoming films of the holiday season.

Wintering with the SF Silent Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
Dec 9, 2009

Highlights from the 2009 San Francisco Silent Film Festival winter event.

The Cockettes' Celluloid Afterglow Still Strong at 40

Dennis Harvey
Dec 3, 2009

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art honors the 40th anniversary of The Cockettes with a one-night-only program.

Feast Your Eyes: A Holiday Film Preview

Dennis Harvey
Nov 25, 2009

Dennis Harvey weighs in on the upcoming films of the holiday season.

Chilean Film 'The Maid' and the Liberation of a Genre

Dennis Harvey
Nov 13, 2009

This little no-budget film has picked up a slew of festival prizes for its character depth, unpredictable storytelling, humor and warmth.

New Italian Cinema's Fact, Fiction, Fascination

Dennis Harvey
Nov 12, 2009

The 13th New Italian Cinema festival finds the political and personal mixing more frequently than you'd find in any assortment of U.S. narrative films.

The Exiled Ingrid Bergman at PFA

Dennis Harvey
Nov 6, 2009

The PFA is offering a rare overview of Bergman's European films in the series, A Woman's Face: Ingrid Bergman in Europe.

Yes Men Take On the World

Dennis Harvey
Oct 30, 2009

The documentary chronicles several large-scale pranks devised in the hopes of fooling corporate/government event attendees and/or the media.

French Cinema Now—and then

Dennis Harvey
Oct 29, 2009

Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is being revived as part of San Francisco Film Society’s second annual French Cinema Now festival, which runs the week of October 29 through November 4 at the city’s Clay Theatre.

Robert Mailer Anderson on Mendo Madness of 'Pig Hunt'

Dennis Harvey
Oct 26, 2009

After ripping it up at various genre fests, the Bay Area indie horror flick settles in for a theatrical run at the Red Vic.

Live from Mill Valley: Woody Harrelson and Uma Thurman

Dennis Harvey
Oct 19, 2009

At their respective festival tributes, the actors gave entertaining and revealing onstage interviews.

The Turn-off Sex Cinema of Koji Wakamatsu

Dennis Harvey
Oct 16, 2009

Probably no one pushed the artistic carte blanche of "pink" films further—at least into the realm of serious political engagement—than the Japanese auteur.

Mill Valley Film Festival's 32nd

Dennis Harvey
Oct 9, 2009

The program offers a surprisingly potent mainstream industry presence, with tributes to A-list types more frequently seen at the multiplex than at the art house.

Columbia Pictures' noir lights at the Roxie

Dennis Harvey
Sep 17, 2009

The Roxie's Best of Columbia Noir seroes features great films capitalizing on a simple formula: a girl, a guy and a gun.

Cory McAbee and 'Stingray Sam'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 13, 2009

High-concept cabaret-act favorite in the Bay Area who sidelines as a filmmaker, Cory McAbee (The American Astronaut) speaks about his latest, Stingray Sam.

William Klein's Restless Mind

Dennis Harvey
Sep 9, 2009

The movies of William Klein are suffused with the same impudence, social commentary and aesthetic surprise found in his photos.

Lee, Schamus and Woodstock

Dennis Harvey
Aug 27, 2009

The release of Woodstock provides an opportunity to look back on Ang Lee and Schamus's very impressive, diverse screen resume.

Bob Goldthwait, Fate and 'World's Greatest Dad'

Dennis Harvey
Aug 23, 2009

Bay Area favorite Bob Goldthwait, whose pop culture moment seemed to expire in the mid '80s, returns with comedic vengeance via World's Greatest Dad.

WWII as Genre Busted by 'Flame & Citron'

Dennis Harvey
Aug 20, 2009

Flame & Citron, one of the most expensive Danish films ever made, is an historical drama that plays like an espionage thriller.

'District 9' a Summer Sci-fi Surprise

Dennis Harvey
Aug 14, 2009

This fanboy-anticipated New Zealand-produced film set in South Africa, with gang activity, theft, riots, and ever-mounting interspecies hostility, is a summer breakout.

Josef von Sternberg Gem

Dennis Harvey
Aug 12, 2009

Josef von Sternberg's The Salvation Hunters caused a small sensation within the industry when it appeared, and is visually assured time capsule of urban poverty.

'Thirst' and the Vampire Genre Still Bleeding

Dennis Harvey
Aug 7, 2009

Vampires are still the It Ghoul of our cultural moment and South Korean film Thirst is as precisely crafted as it is gleefully over-the-top in content both carnal and carnivorous.

'Desert of the Tartars' Saved from Obscurity

Dennis Harvey
Aug 2, 2009

The Desert of the Tartars is a story in which the grim certainty that "Nothing will ever happen" is a slow poison that drives men to madness, suicide or other inglorious ends.

'Until the Light Takes Us'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 29, 2009

Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell's documnetary, Until the Light Takes Us examines the dark intersection of local Norwegian history and Death Metal.

Whip-smart, Witty 'In the Loop'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 23, 2009

Director Armando Iannucci's razor-sharp satire is about how the politics of spin can determine critical decisions on both sides of the Atlantic.

An Ample Display of Tilda Swinton's Edge

Dennis Harvey
Jul 10, 2009

Tilda Swinton's edge of riskiness is on ample display in Julia, a new film by French director Erick Zonca.

SF Silent Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
Jul 9, 2009

Douglas Fairbanks in The Gaucho is one of the many highlights on screen during the three-day San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

'The Greatest Year in Film' at the Castro

Dennis Harvey
Jul 2, 2009

A series at the Castro marks 1939 as the high-water mark of cinema.

Suspense, Stillness and Beauty in 'Three Monkeys'

Dennis Harvey
Jun 26, 2009

Turkey may be lonely, but it is indeed beautiful in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys.

Iron Curtain Call in the Poland of 'Katyn'

Dennis Harvey
Jun 19, 2009

Katyn is a sizable period saga about a tragic, still-controversial chapter in Poland's 20th-century history, one with particular resonance for Andrzej Wadja.

Frameline33: Something Old, Something New

Dennis Harvey
Jun 17, 2009

A dose of self-affirmation arrives with Frameline33 (or, if you prefer, the multiple-breath-intake-requiring San Francisco International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Film Festival.)

Marco Ferreri's Anarchic Filmmaking

Dennis Harvey
Jun 12, 2009

Wild man of Italian cinema, Marco Ferreri left many films in need of rediscovery (or simply discovery) since his death in 1997.

'Fados' finds Saura on his toes

Dennis Harvey
Jun 4, 2009

Fados, about a Portuguese musical genre, reveals Carlos Saura as an effortless master at weaving together disparate performances.

Another Hole in the Head

Dennis Harvey
Jun 4, 2009

At a film festival called Another Hole in the Head, dedicated to sci-fi, horror and fantasy, catastrophic carnage meets comedy more often than not.

Raimi's Return to Horror: Drag Me to Hell

Dennis Harvey
May 29, 2009

Despite a few flaws in story and continuity, Drag Me to Hell offers the pleasures of a first-class entertainer thoroughly enjoying himself.

Berkeley Hosts Karel Vachek Retrospective

Dennis Harvey
May 28, 2009

Berkeley hosts Karel Vachek: Poet Provocateur, the first-ever full U.S. retrospective for this unclassifiable Czech filmmaker.

Garrel's 'Frontier of Dawn'

Dennis Harvey
May 15, 2009

Philippe Garrel sticks to his highly-personal aesthetic in Frontier of Dawn.

Kubrick and Altman's Fear, Desire, and Delinquency

Dennis Harvey
May 8, 2009

The Roxie present Fear and Desire and Delinquents by Stanley Kubrick and Robert Altman

SFIFF52 Blogs: Coppola & Lucas at the Castro

Dennis Harvey
May 3, 2009

An Evening with Francis Ford Coppola & Friends honored Coppola with the Founder Directing Award and included a moderated discussion with editing/sound design genius Walter Murch, director Carroll Ballard, scenarist-turned-director Matthew Robbins, and George Lucas.

SFIFF52: Leone's 'Once Upon a Time in the West'

Dennis Harvey
Apr 30, 2009

Once Upon a Time in the West is grand, cynical, lavish and above all huge, Sergio Leone's penchant for the iconically gargantuan (perhaps at the willing expense of relatable human detail) expressed in ultimate form.

SFIFF52: Robert Redford Accepts Owens Award

Dennis Harvey
Apr 29, 2009

Robert Redford braves the public and accepts the San Francisco International Film Festival's Peter J. Owens Award.

SFIFF52: "Lightness of Being" – Eight Wry Films

Dennis Harvey
Apr 24, 2009

The eight films in the San Francisco International Film Festival's Lightness of Being spotlight are Laila's Birthday, Small Crime, Mid-August Lunch, Every Little Step, (Untitled), In the Loop, Our Beloved Month of August and Still Walking.

Bahrani Earns Ebert's Praise for "Goodbye Solo"

Dennis Harvey
Apr 17, 2009

Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo prompted Roger Ebert to pronounce him "the new great American directorâ" a couple weeks ago. The film is definitely the writer-helmer's most accessible work to date, one that might very well provide him with an arthouse breakthrough.

"Observe and Report:" Seth Rogen Strikes Again

Dennis Harvey
Apr 9, 2009

If it grows darker than one might expect, Observe still hesitates at becoming a true black comedy; it's more medium-gray, earning stripes for breaking from current comedy norms on a moment-to-moment basis without quite arriving at an original, fully-developed whole. But Hill has a good eye, ear (the soundtrack choices are notably sharp), sense of off-kilter pacing, and, most importantly, a firm grasp on character.

Back to Nature with Ben Rivers

Dennis Harvey
Mar 27, 2009

Ben Rivers makes his Bay Area debut this week presenting in person two programs, both providing a slightly dislocative experience at once tranquil and sinister.

Troell in Fine Form with 'Everlasting Moments'

Dennis Harvey
Mar 12, 2009

Troell keeps everything emotionally intimate in this lovely film full of grace moments, that chronicles the early 20th-century travails of the Larsson family. 

'Examined Life' Puts Ideas into Action

Dennis Harvey
Mar 6, 2009

An engaging documentary sampler of nine leading contemporary theorists, interviewed in settings that one way or another in real world terms illustrate (or contrast with) the concepts they discuss.

Cinequest, Transforming

Dennis Harvey
Mar 1, 2009

What you'll get at Cinequest's three downtown San Jose venues is a mix of tributes, seminars, parties and, of course, a whole lot of movies, including no fewer than 18 world premiere features.

Gangster Life Verite in 'Gomorrah'

Dennis Harvey
Feb 27, 2009

Like the strictest kind of verite doc, Gomorrah simply presents activity, without "introducing" characters or spelling out their circumstances or motivations.

Noise Pop Film Festival 2009

Dennis Harvey
Feb 26, 2009

About as far from the ever-increasing corporatization of popular music as you can get is the annual dose from the Noise Pop Festival.

Strand Releasing Turns 20

Dennis Harvey
Feb 26, 2009

Twenty years after its founding, Strand Releasing remains an active, irreplaceable and distinctive presence on the U.S. distribution scene.

Re-Viewing 'The Savage Eye'

Dennis Harvey
Feb 18, 2009

This "dramatized documentary" was a labor of love–if also a graphic portrayal of the vast LA detached from Hollywood's success-bubble glamour.

'Just Another Love Story' Offers Shock Treatment

Dennis Harvey
Feb 17, 2009

A title like this is its own disclaimer, hinting there will be nothing "normal," or very loving, about this story.

Terence Davies' 'Of Time and the City' is Poetic, Personal

Dennis Harvey
Feb 10, 2009

Davies' latest film recalls his earlier autobiographical narratives, but is also unlike anything he has done before, being nonfiction.

SF Indiefest 2009

Dennis Harvey
Feb 5, 2009

With a roster that sprawls from horror to softcore to verite-style drama and documentary, the only constant is that you won't be bored.

Warhol's Screen Tests Get Dean & Britta Treatment

Dennis Harvey
Feb 2, 2009

13 Most BeautifulÉSongs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests offers a cherry-picking of the famous Warhol reels accompanied by live original-soundtracking.

'Scott Walker: 30 Century Man'

Dennis Harvey
Jan 21, 2009

In this documentary, Walker tells the tale of his delayed popularity the ever-more adventurous music with which he feeds his latterday cult.

Wim Wenders: Berlin & Beyond

Dennis Harvey
Jan 15, 2009

Wenders, one of the stellar directors of "New German Cinema," is this year's honoree at the 14th annual Berlin & Beyond festival.

Bruce LaBruce's 'Otto': Zombies With Heart

Dennis Harvey
Jan 13, 2009

A look at Otto; or, Up with Dead People, from a late arrival in the New Queer Cinema wave.

Autobio-Animation and the Horrors of War

Dennis Harvey
Jan 6, 2009

Waltz with Bashir is another animated feature that embraces a more grown-up story and audience than anything in the long history of "cartoons."

The Year in Film 2008: Oscar Odds

Dennis Harvey
Jan 2, 2009

Instead of breaking it down strictly category-by-category, Dennis Harvey meanders through some principal heat-seeking prestige films and their various chances.

Bursting with 'Button'

Dennis Harvey
Dec 23, 2008

Dennis Harvey reviews The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Season's Gleanings, a Holiday Preview

Dennis Harvey
Dec 15, 2008

Dennis Harvey reviews some of 2008's year-end sobering dramas.

Québec Film Week's Unprovincial Pleasures

Dennis Harvey
Dec 10, 2008

Québec's thriving regional cinema is showcased in San Francisco Film Society's latest mini-festival addition to the annual Bay Area movie calendar.

Genuflection: 'Pray the Devil Back to Hell'

Dennis Harvey
Dec 9, 2008

Gini Reiticker's fine documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, opens at SF's Red Vic Movie House and Berkeley's Shattuck Cinemas.

'Discovering Teuvo Tulio'

Dennis Harvey
Dec 4, 2008

The Pacific Film Archive shows Discovering Teuvo Tulio, a four-film retrospective of works from Finland's master of over-the-top melodrama in the 1930s and '40s.

Another Ingmar Bergman in 'Monika'

Dennis Harvey
Nov 6, 2008

A newly restored print of Bergman's Monika, which deals with underage, guiltlessly unfaithful femininity, plays the Red Vic.

SF360 Film+Club: 'Silver Jew'

Dennis Harvey
Nov 5, 2008

Michael Tully's 51-minute documentary Silver Jew proves semi-revealing as it records the Jews' tour dates in the Holy Land itself.

Supernaturalism with 'Let the Right One In'

Dennis Harvey
Nov 4, 2008

Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel, Let the Right One In is a poignant, nuanced, original addition to the cinematic vampire canon.

'Christmas on Mars' Non Halloween

Dennis Harvey
Oct 30, 2008

Wayne Coyne's Flaming Lips movie extends a long, lately rising number of narrative features made by musicians.

SFFS Screens 'Delwende'

Dennis Harvey
Oct 28, 2008

Veteran Burkina Faso director S. Pierre Yameogo's new film shows an isolated society still vulnerable to superstition.

Crossing Borders with 'Fraulein'

Dennis Harvey
Oct 21, 2008

A director who lives in both Switzerland and New York leads a Swiss-German coproduction about two women from former Yugoslavian territories who meet in Zurich.

Carnival of Nonfiction Filmmaking

Dennis Harvey
Oct 16, 2008

The extreme, the strange, the silly and surreal all have big seats at the SF DocFest table.

Dead Channels 2008 Comes Alive

Dennis Harvey
Oct 3, 2008

Those inclined toward healthy doses of sleaze, gore, and retro-shlock can rejoice that it's time for the second annual edition of Dead Channels.

Mill Valley Film Festival's Maher Moment

Dennis Harvey
Oct 2, 2008

Religulous is a desperately awaited and already vehemently decried film by Bill Maher and director Larry Charles.

'Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 23, 2008

Whether you dig jazz or not, O'Day's charisma and story make this movie riveting.

The Fantastical Imagination of 'Wind Man'

Dennis Harvey
Sep 9, 2008

When Wind Man appeared on the SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas' schedule, moral crisis ensued.

Rob Nilsson on Himself

Rob Nilsson
Aug 27, 2008

SF360.org asked this veteran indie auteur for his thoughts, which he gamely and intelligently offers here.

'Days and Clouds' Finds Changes in the Weather

Dennis Harvey
Aug 26, 2008

Economic troubles reveal the true depths of a couple's long-taken-for-granted bond in a film by Italian director Silvio Soldini.

In Spain with 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'

Dennis Harvey
Aug 12, 2008

Woody Allen's latest is a superb travel guide in addition to being an amusing, intelligent if not exactly profound meditation on fate, chance, and romance.

'The Dark Cinema of David Goodis' at the PFA

Dennis Harvey
Aug 7, 2008

The Pacific Film Archive screens a survey of Goodis-related works from both the big and small screen, spanning nearly five decades.

Jacques Nolot and 'Before I Forget'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 31, 2008

Dyspeptic rather than tragic, Jacques Nolot's Before I Forget may be the best gay feel-bad movie ever.

'The Exiles,' a Return Engagement

Dennis Harvey
Jul 30, 2008

A film from 1961, The Exiles is a long-in-making unvarnished look at 12 hours in the lives of a group of American Indians who have come to Los Angeles.

'CSNY: Deja Vu'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 16, 2008

Those attracted to the new film CSNY: Deja Vu simply expecting an opportunity to recall the old days might be in for a surprise.

Swinging '60s suburbs in 'Viva'

Dennis Harvey
Jul 8, 2008

Viva's cautionary tale is aptly encapsuled by the poster line: 'They were housewives seeking kicks, in a world of swingers, orgies, booze, and sin.'

'The Gits,' the Movie

Dennis Harvey
Jul 2, 2008

The Gits offers both an appreciation of a unique quartet's too-brief career and consideration of Mia Zapata's death.

Herzog's 'Encounters at the End of the World'

Dennis Harvey
Jun 26, 2008

Eternally fascinated with extremes of location, Werner Herzog's latest documentary, Encounters at the End of the World, finds the filmmaker exploring life on the edge in Antarctica.

Critic's Notebook: Frameline32

Dennis Harvey
Jun 24, 2008

Critic Dennis Harvey reviews select films screened at the 32nd San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.

'Mongol's' Mr. Nice Guy: Genghis Khan

Dennis Harvey
Jun 20, 2008

Dennis Harvey reviews Sergei Bodrov's Mongol, a distinctive look at the early life of the conqueror.

Critic's Notebook: Hole Head, Week One

Dennis Harvey
Jun 17, 2008

Dennis Harvey covers the first week of low-budget geeks, weirdos and gore on display at the Another Hole in the Head Festival.

The List: Michael Lumpkin Looks Back

Dennis Harvey
Jun 13, 2008

Michael Lumpkin's mini-retrospective of features that highlight some personal favorites that made waves at the Frameline Festival (and sometimes in the larger cinematic world).

Review: 'Surfwise'

Dennis Harvey
Jun 10, 2008

In 'Surfwise', documentarian Doug Pray examines the eccentric Paskowitz clan, whose patriarch and nine children have been legends in the surfing world for decades.

Travel Guide Through Another Hole in the Head Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
Jun 5, 2008

The Hole Head Festival takes audiences back to terrifying locales and dangerous situations that should be pleasantly familiar to horror aficionados.

San Francisco Black Film Festival's 10th

Dennis Harvey
Jun 4, 2008

In 2008 the San Francisco Black Film Festival marks its 10th anniversary with the most expansive program yet, flagging the theme "10 Years, 10 Days, 100 Films."

Review: 'Love Songs'

Dennis Harvey
Jun 3, 2008

'Love Songs', a truly gay musical utterly devoid of camp, causes critic Dennis Harvey to reassess France's take on the genre.

Review: "Postal"

Dennis Harvey
May 27, 2008

It may not be easy being Uwe Boll, but it must be fun. He's a boundlessly energetic fanboy-turned-maker who thinks large.

Jimmy Stewart at 100

Dennis Harvey
May 22, 2008

For all his lasting wholesome appeal, Stewart was an oddity: Gangly, stammering, Pennsylvania-drawling and not particularly attractive by 1930s studio standards.

Review: 'The Living End,' remixed and remastered

Dennis Harvey
May 13, 2008

Gregg Araki's "irresponsible" movie was the first to respond to the AIDS crisis with ACT UP-style radical rage rather than lamentation or case-pleading.

Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy World

Dennis Harvey
Apr 29, 2008

SF Film Society’s Founder’s Directing Award winner Mike Leigh's work has created a distinctive insider’s portrait of working-to-middle class English life.

I [heart] Jason Lee

Dennis Harvey
Apr 25, 2008

The star of My Name Is Earl is (alongside Grindhouse superstarlet Rose McGowan) the recipient of this year's SFIFF Midnight Award.

Asia Argento, In Full Flower

Dennis Harvey
Apr 23, 2008

Motherhood has supposedly had a slowing-down effect on Asia Argento, though at present evidence points rather wildly to the contrary. Not only does she star in this week’s San Francisco International Film Festival official opener, Catherine Breillat’s costume intrigue The Last Mistress, she also figures heavily in two other SFIFF features. Both are programmed in the culty "Late Show" section: Go Go Tales, Abel Ferrara’s most acclaimed film in years, and The Mother of Tears, a latest horror opus directed by her own fan-idolized gorehound dad Dario Argento. A couple weeks ago yet another vehicle opened commercially, Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate, which is entirely dominated by her feverish and highly physical performance.



Conventional logic might suggest all this visibility means it’s "breakthrough" time for Asia Argento, that moment when an actor goes from being a familiar face to a marquee name that can singlehandedly draw folks into the multiplex, or at least the arthouse. (In Europe she’s already quite well-known.) But as her project choices among other things bear out, Argento probably isn’t very interested in becoming a "star" in the conventional sense. In fact, she seems the girl most likely to run from any such fate.

Review: "Boarding Gate"

Dennis Harvey
Apr 8, 2008

Boarding Gate is raw, silly, bloody, funny, carnal, intricate, coarse and self-conscious. It all suggests Olivier Assayas has a lot more surprises in him yet.

Review: "Shotgun Stories"

Dennis Harvey
Mar 31, 2008

Small-town "heartland" America that once held our majority populace is now seldom seen on screen. Jeff Nichols debut feature Shotgun Stories is an exception. 

SFMOMA's "Nonwestern Westerns" Series

Dennis Harvey
Mar 26, 2008

A series of films at SFMOMA present an outsiders take on the outmoded American staple, the Western.

"Shelter"

Dennis Harvey
Mar 24, 2008

Writer/director Jonah Markowitz's Shelter is a romantic gay surfer that more than earns its spurs in terms of real-world credibility and psychology.

Ira Sachs on "Married Life"

Dennis Harvey
Mar 11, 2008

Ira Sachs' third feature Married Life is both a crime thriller and a satire of complacency and intrigue in the restless climate of Eisenhower-era suburbia.

"Paranoid Park"

Dennis Harvey
Mar 11, 2008

Just when Gus Van Sant seemed on the verge of turning into just another Hollywood selloutÑhe did a total about-face. His four features since have been true art films

Cinequest's surprises

Dennis Harvey
Mar 7, 2008

A "discovery" festival from Day OneÑmeaning they premiere a lot of films, including many other fests might pass overÑSan Jose's Cinequest actually adopted "Discover" as motto for its 16th year.

Danny Glover, "Honeydripper," and Us

Dennis Harvey
Feb 27, 2008

In Honeydripper it will no doubt be pleasure to see Danny Glover play a familiar character: The good man trying to gain a leg-up when fortune has rained on his hopes.

Noise Pop Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
Feb 26, 2008

In addition to practically every extant band you’d want to see, an art exhibit, and comedy shows, there are movies at Noise Pop.

Review: "The Signal"

Dennis Harvey
Feb 19, 2008

An idea so vivid yet simple you've got to wonder why more movies haven't used it: Something happens that turns the populace into irrational maniacs.

Undying Love for George A. Romero

Dennis Harvey
Feb 14, 2008

It probably wasn't Romero's original dream to become semi-famous for movies about the flesh-eating undead.

"Shrooms" Screams Bloody Horror

Dennis Harvey
Feb 8, 2008

The Irish flick might put the leper back in leprechaun, but it's still at heart a reassuringly formulaic hunk of bloody commercial horror.

Review: "Taxi to the Dark Side"

Dennis Harvey
Feb 5, 2008

Praise any god you like for Alex Gibney, who has quietly risen from stellar PBS series to a run of exceptional theatrical-release docs.

Sundance, In Stitches

Dennis Harvey
Feb 1, 2008

Sundance is like being in a car accident: Everything seems to be in slow-motion, but later you can hardly remember what happened.

"The Medieval Remake" at the PFA

Dennis Harvey
Jan 31, 2008

A five-week series features an assortment of some of the less commercially-minded, artistically imaginative, philosophically thoughtful treatments the era has gotten.

Heath Ledger, a Loss

Dennis Harvey
Jan 23, 2008

Heath Ledger's death was sad not just because any young death is sad, but because we'd only just begun to know Heath Ledger as a real artist.

Cassandra's Dreamer, Woody Allen

Dennis Harvey
Jan 17, 2008

Even when just stringing gags together in his early comedies, Woody raised the level of the game, making humor intellectual and the intellectual humorous.

"Joy Division" on Screen

Dennis Harvey
Jan 15, 2008

Anton Corbijn's Control is a dramatization of the book written by the frontman's widow, chronicling their romance and marriage, his eventual infidelity, and his mental health issues.

Review: "The Violin"

Dennis Harvey
Jan 8, 2008

Francisco Vargas' first feature has won a pile of international awards to date, and might have garnered more had it arrived on the scene earlier.

Les Blank's "All in this Tea"

Dennis Harvey
Dec 20, 2007

His enthusiasm practically radiates from the screen; he doesn't seem to be interviewing or investigating his subjects so much as amiably hanging out with them.

Reviews: "Walk Hard"; "Charlie Wilson's War"

Dennis Harvey
Dec 18, 2007

Judd Apatow has come to so dominate American comedy that I often find myself thinking, "If only this movie had been written by Apatow..."

Review: "Diva"

Dennis Harvey
Dec 4, 2007

How does Jean-Jacques Beineix's breakthrough hold up a quarter-century later, duly remastered and freshly subtitle-translated?

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks's Midnight Movie Empire

Dennis Harvey
Dec 3, 2007

Midnites for Maniacs unearths populist yet esoteric genre and exploitation flicks that have mostly disappeared into the netherworld of discarded VHS rental tapes.

"Holly," an Unseasonably Sobering Drama

Dennis Harvey
Nov 28, 2007

U.S.-Cambodian co-production Holly might easily have gone straight to DVD, which would be a pity because it's well worth rushing to the theatre for.

"Hannah Takes the Stairs"

Dennis Harvey
Nov 27, 2007

A perfect example of the emerging genre of improv-based, digitally shot, minimally budgeted seriocomedies about twentysomethings stumbling through, you know, relationship stuff.

"RKO Lost & Found" at the Roxie

Dennis Harvey
Nov 23, 2007

Six features in the week-long series had not been seen in 50 (and in one case 70) years due to legal complications.

The Many Faces of Dylan

Dennis Harvey
Nov 21, 2007

Todd Haynes' I'm Not There both replicates and examines the hazy landscape of fact, fiction, art and myth comprising Dylanology.

Reverend Billy on Missionary Mall Work

Dennis Harvey
Nov 19, 2007

The documentary What Would Jesus Buy? makes bad news go down easy, thanks largely to its "star," Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping.

Phil Chambliss, Arkansas Auteur

Dennis Harvey
Nov 15, 2007

Meet Phil Chambliss, a 54-year-old, recently retired gravel pit nightwatchman who makes what might be termed cinematic folk art.

"Redacted"

Dennis Harvey
Nov 13, 2007

Sometimes even presumably good intentions can warp into artistic misdeeds most foul.

"Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten"

Dennis Harvey
Nov 6, 2007

There are a lot of Strummer stories to tell, and a good share of them are in Julien Temple's terrific new documentary.

"Lars and the Real Girl"

Dennis Harvey
Oct 16, 2007

This wisp of a movie shouldn't be able to sustain its gimmicky concept, yet miraculously does, thanks not just to Gosling, but to his fellow actors and measured direction.

Mill Valley Film Festival 30

Dennis Harvey
Oct 15, 2007

Mill Valley retains its genuinely alterna-vibe and local (rather than professional outta-towner) audience after 30 years.

Nine Questions for Rob Nilsson

Dennis Harvey
Oct 5, 2007

SF360.org caught up with the filmmaker, who has been extraordinarily prolific since abandoning celluloid for the lighter, cheaper, more flexible digital realm.

Mill Valley Film Festival at 30

Dennis Harvey
Oct 4, 2007

The Mill Valley Film Festival turns 30 years young this year, sporting none of the girth and wobbly ankles suffered by other way-out-west fests that began life in 1978.

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"

Dennis Harvey
Oct 2, 2007

Slow your rhythms down to this film's idiosyncratic tempo, and you'll get a striking, authentic-feeling epic that's often rivetingly tense.

"Punk's Not Dead"

Dennis Harvey
Sep 18, 2007

The freshing thing about Susan Dynner's new documentary ÔPunk's Not Dead' Ñ beyond the fact that it's not the 9,482nd recap of The Early Years (circa 1976-85) Ñ is its unabashed if not uncritical acknowledgment that punk is here to stay.

"From the Tsars to the Stars: A Journey Through Russian Fantastik Cinema"

Dennis Harvey
Aug 23, 2007

The Pacific Film Archive offers a three-week sampling of Russian sci-fi films stretching from the silent era to the end of Communism.

"The King of Kong;" "2 Days in Paris"

Dennis Harvey; Kristi Mitsuda
Aug 21, 2007

SF360.org reviews a masterpiece of train-wreck voyeurism and "Sunset" stripped.

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Dennis Harvey
Aug 16, 2007

S.F.Ôs Italian Cultural Institute is launching an extensive if not quite exhaustive retrospective of Pasolini's features.

"Crossing the Line" and "Death at a Funeral"

Dennis Harvey and Kristi Mitsuda
Aug 14, 2007

One film takes us from the American South to the Korean North, another to Frank Oz's last gasp.

"This is England;" "Rocket Science"

Dennis Harvey and Anthony Kaufman
Aug 7, 2007

SF360.org reviews Shane Meadows' finest directorial effort yet and an offbeat coming-of-age comic-drama.

Bruce Fletcher, Dead Channels and the Living

Dennis Harvey
Aug 6, 2007

Fletcher explains what will hopefully be an annual event that encompasses all kinds of worldwide cult-skewing fun.

"Private Property;" "One to Another"

Dennis Harvey and Michael Koresky/indieWIRE
Jul 31, 2007

A non-rich family is torn apart by money matters, and young actors lie atop, next to, and around each other with youthful, sexual abandon.

Fabulous Fashion in Film

Dennis Harvey
Jul 26, 2007

Elegant screen sartorial highs and garishly campy lows alike will be well-represented in an eight-day series on fashion at the Castro.

Saul Bass, "Phase IV"

Dennis Harvey
Jul 25, 2007

Few people not employed as directors, producers, cinematographers, costume or production designers have had as much impact on the "look" of movies.

"Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox;" "Ten Canoes"

Dennis Harvey
Jul 10, 2007

Reviews: Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox and Ten Canoes

Parker Posey's return in "Broken English"

Dennis Harvey
Jul 5, 2007

Parker Posey: one more-than-worthies in an often less-than-worthy medium. It's particularly exciting when they get a rare expansive part in a good movie.

Frameline31

Dennis Harvey
Jun 14, 2007

Now past its third-decade anniversary, SFILGBTFF — the producing organization keeps trying to change its public-recognition name to something more manageable, which this annum would be Frameline31 — now has filmmakers and distributors banging on its door.

San Francisco Black Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
Jun 7, 2007

Nine years' vintage makes the SFBFF a newcomer by Bay Area standards. In terms of programmatic diversity and premieres, it's got old-soul depth.

Fred Astaire, "Also Dances..."

Dennis Harvey
May 31, 2007

SFMOMA offers plenty of chances to appreciate Astaire's feather-light charm this month in Also Dances: The Films of Fred Astaire.

Live from Fog City

Dennis Harvey
May 9, 2007

While the SF International Film Festival has always had celebrity guests, the 50th edition featured a particular concentration of unique one-offs.

Spike Lee

Dennis Harvey
May 3, 2007

When then-unknown Spike Lee premiered She's Gotta Have It at the SF International in 1986, there was an instance of filmus interruptus.

A Rob Nilsson 10

Staff
Apr 27, 2007

The List: An Amerindie helmer well before the term was invented, Nilsson names 10 films which deeply affected him.

SFIFF50

Dennis Harvey
Apr 26, 2007

A decade might be long enough in dog years, but in film festival terms it takes a bit more time to impress.

Dead Channels : The San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film

Dennis Harvey
Apr 19, 2007

Taste a bit of the vintage grindhouse experience at the last of Dead Channels' Month of Sleazy Sundays triple bill of under-the-radar movies.

Reviews: "Police Beat"; "The Page Turner"

Dennis Harvey
Apr 3, 2007

It's taken over two years for Police Beat to go from one of the most praised films at Sundance to a theatre near you.

Reviews: "Color Me Kubrick" and "Pride"

Dennis Harvey
Mar 20, 2007

One film shows how an inspirational movie can actually inspire; the other that a con sometimes looks better on paper.

The Eye Candy of 'Tears of the Black Tiger'

Dennis Harvey
Feb 6, 2007

Tears of the Black Tiger is Thai eye candy, an exercise pastiche where color just about leaps off the screen, and a star-crossed love story.

'Seraphim Falls': Myth in the Western Canon

Dennis Harvey
Feb 6, 2007

The new western isn't really about violence, it's about Myth, in a symbolic, sort of Old Testament-meets-Sergio Leone way.

"The Lubitsch Touch"

Dennis Harvey
Jan 18, 2007

The Pacific Film Archive retrospective on Ernst Lubitsch encompasses 21 features, including many seldom-seen silent movies.

Berlin & Beyond 2007

Dennis Harvey
Jan 11, 2007

Rock&Roll, romantic comedy, fantasy and adventure, among the themes of this year's festival.

A "Backstage" Breakdown

Dennis Harvey
Jan 4, 2007

Teenager Lucie's (Islid Le Besco) encounter with her idol, the pop diva Lauren Waks (Emmanuelle Seigner), turns into a twisted and creepy psychological relationship.

A Whole Lotta Holiday Film

Dennis Harvey
Dec 21, 2006

Hollywood is the Santa that bestows gifts every Yuletide,; but you have to pick which ones you want, then pay for them.

I, Spy

Dennis Harvey
Dec 19, 2006

Spies are frequent movie characters, in part because we know so little about them. Nonetheless, The Good Shepherd is an unusual Hollywood project.

"Candy" keeps up with the Joneses

Dennis Harvey
Dec 14, 2006

"Candy," an Australian film an accent-less Aussie Heath Ledger, follows the downward spiral of a Heroine addict - by now a time-tested narrative conceit.

Otto Motives, A Preminger Perspective

Dennis Harvey
Nov 30, 2006

The director, producer and sometime actor enjoyed a painless ride from well-off circumstances to well-connected beginnings to one of Hollywood's biggest names for decades.

Teshigahara at The Castro

Dennis Harvey
Nov 23, 2006

Filmmaking was just one among many creative outlets for Japanese multimedia artist Hiroshi Teshigahara.

Reopening "Pandora's Box"

Dennis Harvey
Nov 7, 2006



Many stars are forgotten for a while, then “rediscovered” and newly appreciated by a later generation. But the case of Louise Brooks is somewhat unique — she was, really, only a “star” in retrospect. Her Hollywood profile was headed that-a-way when she foolishly (according to the industry) abandoned it to make a couple European movies. When she returned, her moment had passed.



A paltry if promising career and early dead-end-at the time, it constituted barely a blip on the radar. Yet those European films grew in stature over ensuing years, and with that the gradual realization that Brooks had been one of the great screen presences, however briefly. Her striking look — porcelain skin, alert features, sleek jet-black flapper bob — and naturalistic acting haven’t dated at all.



As a result, it seems there’s more interest in her with each passing year. The latest evidence is critic and historian Peter Cowie’s new book “Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever,“ published in time to commemorate the centenary of her birth. He’ll be signing copies and presenting a special commemorative film program at the Balboa this Sunday. The evening promises a rarely screened feature, a short and trailers showcasing Brooks, as well as “special guests, door prizes and more.” (Cowie will also appear the prior night at the Smith Rafael Film Center to screen a new 35mm print of her best-known vehicle “Pandora’s Box.”)



Why the fuss? Why, indeed, is there such a thing as The Louise Brooks Society (which is co-presenting this event with The Booksmith)? The explanation is all on-screen, in any role where she wasn’t entirely wasted.



Kansas-born Brooks started out as a dancer, first in touring troupes and then in Broadway revues. This led to Hollywood in 1925, where bit parts led steadily to larger ones, finally female leads in two good 1928 Paramount releases: Howard Hawks’ rollicking “A Girl in Every Port” and William Wellman’s more delicate “Beggars of Life.”



She hadn’t set the world on fire yet, but was certainly expected to graduate from starlet to star. Paramount was not pleased, however, when she chose — just as “talking pictures” were becoming the rage — to end her contract and accept a silent-film offer in Germany. This was G.W. Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box,” drawn from Franz Wedekind’s play “Lulu,” and with beguiling lack of affectation she played that titular seducer/destroyer of both men and women, herself finally destroyed by Jack the Ripper. Perhaps even better (if less shocking) than that famous classic was a second Pabst movie, “Diary of a Lost Girl,” in which her victimized innocent is indelibly touching. She also starred as an exploited beauty-contest winner in a French film, 1930’s “Prix de Beaute.” These are all wonderful movies in which she was superb. But for a long time they were little seen outside their home countries — particularly in the U.S., where silent cinema was already stone-cold-dead.



Returning to Hollywood, Brooks was now — at age 24 — a has-been. She unwisely turned a couple good offers and accepted a handful of humiliatingly poor ones, including bit parts. Those few who remembered her considered her “difficult” and past expiration date. Her last movie role was a nondescript heroine in a nondescript 1938 “Z” western, “Overland Stage Raiders” — one of a zillion such that John Wayne starred in before becoming an “A”-list star.



Found living in seclusion in the mid-‘50s, Brooks was surprised and delighted that latterday film buffs not only remembered but worshipped her. She returned the favor by writing very intelligently about her own movies and the art form in general (mostly famously in the essay collection “Lulu in Hollywood,” which is still in print). She admitted sabotaging her own career as readily as she enjoyed her new iconic status in retirement, dying at a no doubt satisfied age 80 in 1985 — secure in the knowledge that her legend would continue to grow.



[“Pandora’s Box” plays Sat., Nov. 11, at 7 pm, Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 4th St., San Rafael. $6.25-9.50. (415) 454-1222. “Celebrating Louise Brooks: An Evening of Rare Films,” issues Sun., Nov. 12, at 7:30 pm, Balboa Theatre, 2630 Balboa, SF. $6-8.50. (415) 221-8184.]

More Made Men

Dennis Harvey
Nov 3, 2006

The List: Lesser remembered and/or excellent Mafia films that might make you an offer you can't refuse.

The Mafia Doc "Excellent Cadavers"

Dennis Harvey
Nov 2, 2006

Who knows what the Mafia, or Cosa Nostra as it's called in Sicily, is really like? Marco Turco's really-real chronicle, Excellent Cadavers.

Mill Valley Film Festival 2006

Dennis Harvey
Oct 5, 2006

By the youth-rhetoric standards of another era, this is the last year we can trust the Mill Valley Film Festival. Next year, it turns 30.

A War Movie Lost to Time

Dennis Harvey
Oct 4, 2006

Though it won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1975, Overlord is one of those movies that mostly slipped through the cracks.

Bukowski By the Bunch

Dennis Harvey
Aug 24, 2006

The author's cult gets another buck-up from the release of Norwegian director Bent Hamer;s first English-language feature, Factotum.

Mary Woronov Visits Midnight Mass

Dennis Harvey
Aug 3, 2006

An appreciation of the great actress of cult and mainstream films, before her appearance at a Midnight Mass screening of Death Race 2000.

Visconti's Signature Features

Dennis Harvey
Jul 27, 2006

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura screens Visconti's signature features, from his 1942 debut Ossessione through 1976's The Innocent, which he died before completing.

Tracy Flannigan Watches Tribe 8 "Rise Above"

Dennis Harvey
Jul 10, 2006

SF360 spoke to the director of Rise Above: The Tribe 8 Documentary, showing at the Red Vic Movie House and an imminent DVD release.

Celebrating "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"

Dennis Harvey
Jul 6, 2006

The beloved cult classic will screen in conjunction with a live cast reunion at Peaches Christ's Midnight Mass series.

Critic's Notebook, Frameline30

Dennis Harvey
Jun 22, 2006

S.F. International LGBT Film Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary as a forum for the LGBT community to celebrate its own hard-won survival and progress. 

San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
Jun 15, 2006

Highlights from San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival's 30th annual edition.

Rare Horror

Dennis Harvey
Jun 8, 2006

Highlights from the 4th year ofAnother Hole in the Head, the S.F. Indiefest-produced celebration of horror, sci-fi, fantasy and just plain sick cinema.

"Songbirds" New Tune

Dennis Harvey
Jun 1, 2006

Songbirds is a "documentary musical" Ñ something that sounds like a pure contradiction-in-terms until you actually see it.

Creative Offerings at the Icelandic Film Festival

Dennis Harvey
May 21, 2006

The third annual Icelandic Film Festival offers just two features and one short, but it's all very, very good.

'Hot Fuzz' a Cheeky Riposte to H-wood

Dennis Harvey
Apr 17, 2006

This English comedy, the second feature made by the guys behind that genius horror spoof, 'Shaun of the Dead,' satirizes fake cinematic testosterone.

"Reel SF" Finds a Tough, Moody Kinda Town

Dennis Harvey
Apr 13, 2006

Until the 1960s, Hollywood cast S.F. as a city where everyone was too busy brawling, floozing,and plotting intrigue to exclaim,"Look at that view!"

Noise Pop: The Movie

Dennis Harvey
Mar 30, 2006

Audio and visual collide when Noise Pop hits the silver screen at the Noise Pop Film Festival.