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Raúl
Ruiz tries to capture Klimt's world
Los Angeles Times
Nobody Knows
Although its premise sounds more like the stuff of after-school
specials than art house cinema, Nobody Knows skirts melodrama
to present a nuanced and sympathetic picture of childhood.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on February 4, 2005]
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Vol. 02
The story can be read as an oblique critique of mass media: brain-hacking literalizes the process by which our experiences are constructed by the powers that be.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com on October 18, 2004]
Dead Leaves
Beyond the gross-out factor, Dead Leaves is a self-consciously stylish orgy of animation aesthetics and techniques.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com on October 13, 2004]
Last Life in the Universe
The soothing, rhythmic drone of language instruction tapes -- speech out of context -- becomes a symbolic soundtrack for Noi and Kenji's relationship.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com on October 1, 2004]
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
By subtly subverting our assumptions about the opposition of nature and technology, Oshii suggests that the two may not be so different after all.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com on September 23, 2004]
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Vol. 01
What is consistent from episode to episode (besides the characters) is a multi-faceted investigation of the relationship between humans and machines.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com on August 30, 2004]
The World of Suzie Wong
Originally released in 1960, The World of Suzie Wong still elicits both fond remembrance and complete revulsion.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com on June 28, 2004]
The
Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
Rather than simply paying homage to the original series, this latest
installment showcases its own artifice and theatricality.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on June 3, 2004]
Choose
Your Own Adventure: The 47th San Francisco International Film Festival
At the San Francisco International Film Festival, it's entirely
possible to assemble your own festival within a festival, to choose
your own adventure. Like life in San Francisco, you can forget about
the next big thing in favor of doing your own thing.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on May 6, 2004]
When
We Were Waiters: Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's
The real stars are not the stars. They are the "United Nations"
of Chasen's staff, most of whom worked there for over 30 years.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on May 3, 2004]
Land of the Lost
Lost in Translation one-ups its peers with better music,
prettier shots, and a more charismatic lead, but its racism is all
the more insidious for being wrapped in a pleasing package.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on February 23, 2004]
Revenge of the Nerds:Spellbound
Merriam-Webster defines "nerd" as: "an unstylish,
unattractive, or socially inept person; especially one
slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits." Studying
as much as eight or nine hours a day, the contestants are indeed
"slavishly devoted" to spelling. In their braces, frumpy
hairdos and ill-fitting clothes, they show us what pure devotion
looks like.
[An edited version of this essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on February 23, 2004]
Santa in Drag
Tokyo Godfathers is a yuletide tale with all the trimmings:
a trinity of homeless people, an infant foundling, the glittering
lights of a snowy metropolis, Tokyo-cum-Bethlehem.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on January 16, 2004]
[The DVD review
appeared on PopMatters.com
on April 12, 2004]
Anywhere But Here
Aspiration is the only thing Anything But Love has plenty
of.
[This essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on December 5, 2003]
Truth or Fiction
The recall election is just the latest and perhaps most tragically
hilarious example of the ever-blurry line between truth and fiction.
It’s not surprising, really. I mean, California is home to
Hollywood, which has always been pretty surreal. And critics and
philosophers have been arguing truth’s mutability for eons,
but it’s only recently that pop culture has really dared to
wear its artifice on its sleeve...
[An edited version of this essay appeared on PopMatters.com
on December 1, 2003]
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