Directors and Their Muses

The relationship between director and leading man/woman, is one that has fascinated me for quite some time.  There are several that I was aware from the beginning of my film awakening.  But the idea became most prevalent while watching Ingmar Bergman’s oeuvre.  I was in awe of the fact that Bergman chose to stick with the same actors for the most part, and it worked.  It worked really well. Liv Ullman, Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson,... Read More

Elegy

With a name like Elegy, it’s unfair to expect anything but sadness.  For a lot of people, sadness equates to gravitas, or grandeur.  This is true to an extent.  Films like Atonement, Million Dollar Baby, Gladiator, they manage to express feelings of sadness in a beautiful way.  Other films want to beat you to death with the idea, but never can, it comes across as faux-self pity.  Elegy falls somewhere in the middle.  There are brilliant... Read More

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

There’s something slightly frustrating (and yet comforting at the same time) about a filmmaker who refuses to change. But when Woody Allen’s old time font shows up on the screen at the beginning of the film, I know that I’ll be taken care of for the next two hours. Vicky Christina Barcelona is no different. And it’s one of Allen’s best. A European friend of mine once told me that if I watched an Almodovar film, even... Read More