Film
Eye on the Prize
By Tessa DeCarloRed Road starts off like a revenge thriller with a sophisticated visual style. Jackie (Kate Dickie), wearing the butch shirt-and-tie uniform of law enforcement, sits in a dark room in front of a huge bank of television screens, her eyes scanning an endless array of nothing in particular.
Transgression a’Go-Go
By David N. MeyerNicholas Roeg’s directorial debut is a Borgesian, Britnoir, rock and roll fable on the uncertainty of self and the uneasy friendship between madness and art. Why it took all this time to get to DVD has been one of the great frustrating questions of the age.
Brute Force 1947 Criterion Collection
By David WilentzSo one can’t help wondering what prison in 1947 was really like. Surely it was no cakewalk, yet as grungy and low-life as the inmates might seem, they’re stand-up guys who stick their neck out for a buddy. I
A Black and White Movie
By Guy GreenbergLa Haine is the “hate” of forgotten young men. Hubert, Saïd, and Vinz are no Benetton poster. African, Arab and Jewish, they connect decisively through hip-hop and the constant threat of the racist state.
DVD Culture
True Confessions
By Karl O'TooleRemember back in the day before De Niro became a slapstick artist?
Machuca
By Naomi DaremblumIn Machuca, an award-wining Chilean film released to critical acclaim and a short New York run in 2004, co-writer/director Andrés Wood delivers a powerful and touching story about friendship—its importance, its potential for redemption, and its ability (or inability) to withstand pernicious influence.
