A driven perfectionist and a kitchen tyrant, Charlie Trotter was known for putting Chicago on the fine dining map in the 1990s and for never serving the same dish twice—and that’s over 25 years of service, 10 courses a night. … Continue reading LOVE, CHARLIE: THE RISE AND FALL OF CHEF CHARLIE TROTTER
Fifteen-year-old Olga (Anastasiia Budiashkina) isn’t sure where she belongs. Her mother is a Ukrainian journalist covering the unrest and revolution building in Kyiv. The year is 2013, and things are getting testy in the streets and harder for Olga to … Continue reading OLGA
It opens in an African coltan mine. Black bodies dig through the rocks for precious metals. “Metal precious currency,” the narrator intones. “Third and First world currency. Black market currency… That old black-bodied currency.” Men with guns demand the workers … Continue reading NEPTUNE FROST
Like most love stories, this one begins at the movies. London, 1971: A young actor goes to see the latest release, A Clockwork Orange, and is transfixed. The garish colors, the violence, the sex, the terror, Malcolm McDowell’s theatrical performance; the young … Continue reading FILMWORKER
It’s only a paper moon. Sailing over a cardboard sea. But it wouldn’t be make believe if you believe in me. —Billy Rose and Yip Harburg “Paper Moon” The names Harold and Lillian Michelson are not synonymous with cinema, but … Continue reading HAROLD AND LILLIAN: A HOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY
Drawing on the structure from One Thousand and One Nights—where a reluctant bride, Scheherazade, enchants her murderous husband, the Sasanian King, with tales to stay her execution—director Miguel Gomes provides commentary on modern-day cultural and political crises in Portugal. Dealing with … Continue reading ARABIAN NIGHTS
Directed by Swiss filmmaker Werner Penzel, Zen for Nothing takes place in a small Antaji Zen monastery on Japan’s western coast, though you wouldn’t know that from the movie—there is little context about the monastery and the German-born man who runs it, … Continue reading ZEN FOR NOTHING
There’s a bit of fairy tale when it comes to Benedetta Barzini. As the story goes, it was 1963 when Barzini was discovered on the streets of Rome by American-born Italian countess Consuelo Crespi, the editor of Vogue and Vogue Italia. Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Diane … Continue reading THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY MOTHER
Not every movie survives the baptism of time. Even award winners and those end-of-the-year Top Ten movies become buried under years of obsolescence. That’s why the restoration of a classic is always of note. Here is a work that refuses … Continue reading UNDERGROUND (Подземље)
Michael J. Cinema 
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