Art with Strangers: Olafur Eliasson
May 9th, 2008
Take your time: Olafur Eliasson is currently at MOMA and P.S.1. More Art with Strangers.
Tribeca: Isild Checks Her Email
April 26th, 2008
Between that movie about the Egyptian anesthesiologist who loves fish and the one about the family eating couscous, the best thing I’ve seen at Tribeca 08 so far was Isild Le Besco checking her email during Thursday night’s party at the Apple Store. [more photos]
The Secret of the Grain. Abdel Kechiche, 2007. N/R
The Aquarium. Yousry Nasrallah, 2008. **
Two Mothers. Rosa von Praunheim, 2007. ***
Cleo from 5 to 7
January 21st, 2008
A woman director working in black and white on a limited budget, a capricious main character with a looming fate, a city that is playground and character at once, a summer’s day full of promise, distraction, and chance encounters, a cast of strangers whose snippets of overheard conversation work themselves seamlessly into the texture of the film, and a fresh New Wave approach to life and art — it’s thrilling to confirm how many similarities Agnès Varda’s celebrated Cleo from 5 to 7 shares with May Spils’ overlooked classic Zur Sache, Schätzchen.
Cleo is now being reissued as part of a shiny new Varda box set from Criterion. May Spils’ films are, so far, unavailable in the US. Zur Sache, Schätzchen is one of my all-time favorites, and I have translated and created English subtitles for the film in hopes of a stateside DVD release. There have been promising stirrings lately so keep your fingers crossed for Zur Sache.
Cléo de 5 à 7. Agnès Varda, 1961. *****
The trailer:
