Film
Another Dead Broad in the World of Men
By Sarahjane BlumBlack Dahlia opens by announcing the logic governing its universe. In the midst of the notorious Zoot Suit riots (conveniently repositioned into the late 1940s), two Anglo Los Angeles police officers beat the shit out of some Mexicans and become allies. They then beat the shit out of each other and become friends.
Docs In Sight
A Thing to Celebrate: 10 Years of Soros/Sundance at Film Forum
By Williams ColeCall me naive but sometimes I am still astounded at the amount of money spent to produce Hollywood films that don’t even amount to mindless entertainment.
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Ode: Bobbie Lee and Billy Joe Are Still Teenagers
By Erin DurantA campsite in the woods, strewn with an orange couch, a gold Volvo station wagon, and three people, each involved in their own action, but working together—the composition of a photograph, of a film being made.
In Conversation
Robert Gardner with Brian L. Frye
A revered anthropological filmmaker who has for four decades managed to balance the two tendencies between the sensibility of the artist and the discipline of the ethnographer, Robert Gardner discusses his life and work with the Rail’s contributing editor, Brian L. Frye.
Andy Warhol Silver Screen
By Nora GriffinAndy Warhol’s fear of death as “the most embarrassing thing that can happen to you,” appears to be unfounded in the wake of Ric Burns’ operatic four-hour film.
Separated at Birth
By Sara MayeuxIn Capote—last year’s filmic recreation of Truman Capote’s sojourn to Kansas to write what became In Cold Blood—the lisping diminutive man in fedora and furs wins over the skeptical middle Americans in khakis and crewcuts with the help of a childhood friend, the novelist Nelle Harper Lee. In Infamous, 2006’s recreation of Capote’s sojourn, Harper Lee comes along, but she isn’t much help.
Elephants & Ass-Kicking: Tony Jaa & Jet Li
By David WilentzAction director Panna Rittikrai toiled away in the Thai film industry for over twenty years before scoring big with the martial arts opus Ong Bak: Thai Warrior. Rittikrai (who describes his previous cinematic efforts as low-grade B action films popular among taxi drivers and food vendors) formed his own stunt team, Muay Thai Stunt, in 1979, placing an emphasis on fight choreography.
