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ReelPolitik
A blog about cinema, politics and sticking it to the Man. Anthony Kaufman is a film journalist and critic, who has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Village Voice and Slate, and contributes regularly to Variety, indieWIRE, the Wall Street Journal Online and the Utne Reader.
[Email Me]
Articles
- The Decline of Indies on Netflix (indieWIRE, Sept, 2011)
- "Secretariat" Isn't Hollywood's Only Secretly Conservative Blockbuster" (IFC News, October 2010)
- "Giving Audiences the War They Want" (IFC News, June 2010)
- "Absurdistan: The New Iraq War Cinema" (Village Voice, April 2008)
- Is Foreign Film The New Endangered Species? (New York Times, January 2006)
ReelPolitik
Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna Attacking Social Issues with Genre Fare
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- February 9, 2012
A production announcement about a new English-language genre franchise coming from Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna's Mexico-based Canana Films caught my eye this morning for a number of reasons. While the use of genre--and horror, in particular--to attack contemporary social issues isn't new ("Night of the Living Dead" anyone?), I'm particularly intrigued by what's going on in Mexico right now, and Canana, specifically, as they also backed Gerardo Naranjo's narco-thriller "Miss Bala," which is really a thinly veiled scathing indictment of Mexico's culture of violence and superficiality.
"The Island President" Forced Out of Office at Gunpoint; Doc Filmmakers Respond to Unrest in Maldives
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- February 8, 2012
The star of upcoming documentary favorite "The Island President," charismatic Maldives president and climate change crusaser Mohammed Nasheed, was forced to resign from office at gunpoint on Tuesday, according to an Op-Ed written by Nasheed that was published by the New York Times today. Along with his producers Bonni Cohen and Richard Berge, filmmaker Jon Shenk ("The Lost Boys of Sudan"), who directed "The Island President" and spent two years following Nasheed around the world, offered this response to the news:
"Iron Sky" Space Nazis Land in Berlin; Crowd-Funding Giant Could Impact Indies
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- February 8, 2012
"Iron Sky," a Finnish sci-fi epic about Nazis who have been hiding out in the moon since WWII, is finally having its world premiere, at the Berlin Film Festival this Saturday, and according to the The Guardian newspaper, it's the second most popular selling film at the festival. While researching an article on crowdfunding a couple of years ago, I first stumbled upon "Iron Sky," and its successful efforts to generate fans and funders pre-release. So far, according to their website, they have received nearly 45,000 screening requests--lead by cities like Helsinki (913), Berlin (523) and Moscow (374), with the biggest U.S. interest expressed in Brooklyn (182).
From Sundance to Eastwood, Detroit as Emblem of America's Collapse (and Recovery?)
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- February 6, 2012
Once you start looking, it's amazing how much media you can find being made these days about America's most beleagured city: Detroit. As a microcosm for the country's economic depression and collapsed manufacturing sector, it seems there's no better example than the Motor City. At Sundance, there were two films: "Detropia," Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing's impressionist look at the state as some kind of near-extinct relic of bygone prosperity, and "Searching for Sugar Man," a portrait of a forgotten musician, which includes glimpses of the city's industrial vistas and poverty-stricken areas. Together with Clint Eastwood's much ballyhooed Chrysler Superbowl ad (“They almost lost everything. But we all pulled together, now Motor City is fighting again"), Detroit is back on the media's map.
Will "A Separation" Oscar Win Hurt or Help Iranian Cinema?
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- February 6, 2012
It's practically a forgone conclusion that "A Separation," Asghar Farhadi's incisive examination of domestic and class struggle in Iran, will win the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the forthcoming Oscars. As I've mentioned before, the film reveals universal truths about fidelity and concealing it that transcends borders, and as of last weekend, I believe the movie became the top-grossing Iranian film in the U.S. ever (CORRECTION: Not yet, it's still got half-a-million to go to beat Majid Majidi's 2000 release "Color of Paradise"). It's a strong film, worthy of its screenplay nomination, as well, and by all measures, such success and accolades should be cause for celebration in the Iranian film industry. But it's not.
America's Dubious War on Drugs: Pot Busts and Eugene Jarecki's Sundance Winner "The House I Live In"
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- February 3, 2012
Yesterday, news broke that New York City police had arrested more than 50,000 people on low-level marijuana charges last year despite being told dubious tactics--such as "stop-and-frisks"--should not be used. According to reports, marijuana-possession arrests account for about 1 in every 7 cases in the city's courts, and not surprisingly, the vast majority of those stopped are black or Hispanic (about 87% vs. only 10% white, despite the fact that "young whites use marijuana at higher rates than young blacks and Latinos,” according to sociologist Dr. Harry Levine. If you saw Eugene Jarecki's new documentary "The House I Live In," which continues to be a talking point for me with family and friends, this latest data continues to prove several of the film's theses:
New Doc "Windfall" Takes Sails out of Wind Power
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- February 2, 2012
If you're like me, you probably thought wind turbines offered one of the best possible solutions for our global energy crisis. Turns out they're not the green panacea we've all been waiting for. In the tradition of past important social-issue docs ("Food, Inc," etc), “Windfall," which opens theatrically in New York on Friday, could make an important difference in how we think about sustainability issues.
How Overrated is "Beasts of the Southern Wild"?
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- January 31, 2012
One of the best films to play at Sundance in two decades? I don't think so. Admittedly, I'm no Manohla Dargis, who made such a pronounced vote of confidence for the rough-and-tumble fantastical indie feature, "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which was a triple threat at this year's Sundance, winning the Grand Jury Prize, a Fox Searchlight deal, and was ranked the number one film of the fest by many critics. Consider this the beginning of the backlash.
In Defense of "Compliance," Sundance's Most Divisive Movie
- By Anthony Kaufman
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- January 25, 2012
I can't get Craig Zobel's "Compliance" out of my head. Like a migraine that won't go away, this nasty enervating movie is really sticking. It's the only movie I saw at Sundance that has compelled me to write about it. I don't have an assignment to review it; I just need to exorcise it from my mind. And while it might be an unpleasant experience, it's a testament to the power of this little, low-budget claustrophobic nightmare of a movie. After it ended, I actually let out an audible "oomph" noise as if someone had just hit me in the gut.
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Recent Comments
On state TV, Masoud Ferasati, an Iranian writer, said: "The image of our society that A
it's an alligator garfish.
Just watched Amir Bar-Lev's new doc "Re:Generation," which features a section in
Anthony -- As you know, I've been to Iran several times to report on its cinema. From my
Good sense dude. And that's funny Looking For Sugar Man was made by a Swedish guy.
As the police officer that took the initial "real life" call, it will be intetesting to
Yeah. That's not a crocodile. A more apt title for this piece: "Hater Hates on Movie
That's not a crocodile, douchebag.
What didnt realise, till my Chinese wife told me, was it was the Kuomintang (who eventually fled to
I'm very happy to learn that u r alive and well and survived the earthquake Jorgen.