Brian Perkins didn’t go to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, with the intention of making a film, but when he came across a small Buddhist monastery in the countryside, that changed. When I spoke with Perkins via Skype on June 17, 2016, it’s one of the topics we covered, along with his struggles with the… Read More »
Géza Röhrig and László Nemes on SON OF SAUL
When I spoke with actor Géza Röhrig and director/co-writer László Nemes on December 12, 2015, I knew it was going to be a serious conversation. I also knew that it was going to be as insightful as their film, SON OF SAUL. We started the interview with my asking why these two would want to immerse themselves… Read More »
Brian Sloan has A WTC VIEW
WTC VIEW was the first play from The New York International Fringe Festival to make the leap to the big screen in 2005, but playwright Brian Sloan resisted the temptation to fundamentally change the nature of his play by opening it up beyond the one apartment in which it takes place. The metaphor of a… Read More »
Perry Blackshear, MacLeod Andrews & Evan Dumouchel Insist that THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE
THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE is a first-rate existential horror film, as well as a psychological thriller. I got the same vibe watching it that I had gotten watching PI and BRICK, the maiden efforts of Darren Aronofsky and Rian Johnson respectively. Writer/director Perry Blackshear understands more than just how to create evocative, even sumptuous, visuals, he knows… Read More »
Shlomi Elkabetz Records GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM
GETT, the Hebrew word for a bill of divorce, is the third film in a trilogy made by brother-and-sister filmmakers Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz. The theme, as Shlomi explained to me on October 6, 2014, is freedom, specifically women’s freedom in the modern world. Inspired by their mother’s life, it’s a contemplation on the nature… Read More »
Tom Dolby — LAST WEEKEND
It was only right that when I spoke by phone with Tom Dolby about LAST WEEKEND on September 12, 2014, he was on his porch overlooking a lake. LAST WEEKEND, which Dolby co-directed with Tom Williams from his own script, is set on Lake Tahoe during an emotionally tumultuous Labor Day Weekend for the affluent Green family. One of the… Read More »
ATONEMENT
ATONEMENT is as close to perfection as mere mortals can aspire to. This translation to the screen of the Booker Prize-winning novel by Ian McEwan flawlessly captures the complex and powerful play of emotions that propel the story while annotating it with a visual component that amplifies rather than distracts. The plot hinges on what… Read More »
Tom McCarthy Introduces THE VISITOR
Tom McCarthy is not a man to be rushed, hence the five years between his debut as a writer/director, THE STATION AGENT, and his second effort, THE VISITOR. In between he continued his flourishing career as a working actor until the right inspiration struck. When we spoke on April 7, 2008, the conversation ranged from… Read More »
The ATONEMENT of James McAvoy & Joe Wright
The power of words, the questioning of received wisdom, and the reasons behind a recurring porcine motif were all on the table when I talked with James McAvoy and Joe Wright about ATONEMENT on November 28, 2007. They were by turns philosophical and whimsical while discussing how to use naughty words in an elegant film, filming the… 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 »