About halfway through Sarah Polley’s 2013 documentary Stories We Tell, Michael Polley turns to his daughter and asked, “What is this documentary about?” Well, it’s about stories and, as Melissa Tamminga adds, “Storytelling.” In addition to writing film criticism for Seattle Screen Scene, … Continue reading STORIES WE TELL
Adapted from the novel by Miles Franklin (the pen name for Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin), My Brilliant Career is the Australian story of one woman, two suitors, and a passion for the pen. Both men want marriage, and Sybylla (Judy Davis) … Continue reading MY BRILLIANT CAREER
It’s been 10 years since the Social-Democratic War of Liberation: “The most peaceful revolution the world has known.” So opens director Lizzie Borden’s incendiary 1983 film, Born in Flames—a guerrilla-style collage of archival footage, documentary, and scripted narrative that’s as relevant … Continue reading BORN IN FLAMES
Made in 1967, Homeland of Electricity is the second of three 30-minute segments commissioned by the government to celebrate the October Revolution’s 50th anniversary. But when Larisa Shepitko and her comrades turned in their work, authorities rejected them for not being patriotic … Continue reading HOMELAND OF ELECTRICITY
Sara (Seret Scott), a middle-class philosophy professor, is looking for something a little more ecstatic than what’s she got. Her husband, Victor (Bill Gunn), is a painter—not to mention a philanderer—who wants to relocate to a summerhouse for the season. … Continue reading LOSING GROUND
For more than 30 years, Kirsten Johnson has seen the world from behind the camera. “[It’s] taught me to be quiet,” she says. “To wait for things. And listen and look at people’s bodies and the way they move as … Continue reading CAMERAPERSON
If Denzel Washington only acted in one movie, and that movie was Malcolm X, then Washington would still be one of the greatest actors of his generation. Washington fills every inch of the frame with explosive fury and words that cut … Continue reading MALCOLM X
It’s the story of boy meets girl, but it’s all mixed up. He’s Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a married man with kids. She is Marianne (Anna Karina), the babysitter. But they are not strangers; they’ve known each other for years: Four … Continue reading PIERROT LE FOU
Multi-hyphenate Armando Iannucci might be the best working satirist today (all seven seasons of Veep are streaming on HBO Max and DirecTV). His take on the transfer of power in the USSR circa 1953 is so loaded with jokes you have to … Continue reading THE DEATH OF STALIN
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