With NINE DAYS, we are offered a metaphysical cosmology that reconciles why there is evil in the world with a need to believe that someone or something, somewhere, is watching over us and cares about what he or she or it sees. It is a devilishly complicated question, but filmmaker Edson Oda tackles it with… Read More »
SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION You Will Be Glad to Have Made
Seymour Bernstein is a one of a kind. A brilliant pianist who preferred composing to performing. A teacher who brings out the genius in his students, and a philosopher whose life only appears to be a Spartan one. When we spoke by phone on March 11, 2015, I was delighted to be able to ask… Read More »
COFFEE AND CIGARETTES
Are you a bug, Bill Murray? It’s an odd question, but in the context of Jim Jarmusch’s brilliant consideration of human interaction, COFFEE AND CIGARETTES, there is both genius and poetry to it. This series of vignettes filmed in glossy, nostalgic black and white examines ten different conversations that on the surface have nothing in common… Read More »
Brit Marling Considers ANOTHER EARTH
ANOTHER EARTH is a film that sets the synapses firing with its consideration of identity, reality, and redemption as it posits a reality where the sky is suddenly filled with a duplicate of our home planet. When I spoke with co-writer and co-star Brit Marling on July 14, 2011, the conversation reflected that as it… Read More »
The LEVITY of Ed Solomon
Making his directorial debut filming his own script wasn’t the only break Mark Solomon made with his previous work. Unlike the broad comedy he’s done before, LEVITY is a thought-provoking film that isn’t afraid to examine matters religious and moral in a world that offers few absolutes when it comes to right and wrong. It was… Read More »
Jim Jarmusch Serves COFFEE AND CIGARETTES
COFFEE AND CIGARETTES is a playful, complex film and so is its maker, Jim Jarmusch. And, fittingly, so was the conversation we had about that film, which opened the San Francisco International Film Festival after playing to sold-out crowds at the Toronto Film Festival. Tesla, metaphysics, and the putative collective consciousness of pigeons all had their moments… Read More »