Eric Kohn
Defending 'Vertigo' From…Myself.
- By Eric Kohn
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- May 2, 2012 5:20 PM
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- 2 Comments
I love "Vertigo." But when faced with the limitations of a top 10 list, tough decisions must be made.
Brief Reaction to the Cannes 2012 Lineup: Start Salivating...
- By Eric Kohn
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- April 19, 2012 10:08 AM
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- 2 Comments
The more you attend Cannes, the more you know Cannes.
Triumph of 'The Artist': Why the Independent Spirit Awards Need a Wake Up Call
- By Eric Kohn
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- February 26, 2012 1:55 PM
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- 9 Comments
With all these discussions of rules and stipulations, the award season can sound like a terribly cold, mechanical affair. Setting aside whether or not "The Artist" was qualified to win Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards yesterday, the question remains of whether the movie deserved it.
On the Importance of Brian Brooks, Eugene Hernandez and the Indiewire of the Future.
- By Eric Kohn
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- December 24, 2011 12:09 PM
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- 13 Comments
The first time I met Brian Brooks and Eugene Hernandez, then Indiewire's managing editor and editor-in-chief, was at a bagel shop in the East Village. They had no office. Or, rather, the absence of an office was their office.
Robert Koehler Defends "Margaret," Variety Exec Makes a Bad Joke.
- By Eric Kohn
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- December 15, 2011 7:07 PM
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- 3 Comments
The whole "Team Margaret" campaign took an odd turn recently when the esteemed film critic and sometime programmer Robert Koehler (known to many as "Bob") allegedly sent an email to members of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association complaining that the group's awards weren't valid...
Steven Spielberg On "Russian Ark" And "Intimate Movies"
- By Eric Kohn
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- December 12, 2011 1:07 PM
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- 0 Comments
If the great French critic André Bazin lived long enough to see a few Steven Spielberg movies, he probably would have loved them. A pioneering theorist in the field of realism, Bazin wrote adoringly of the long take as the ultimate realization of cinematic potential. Spielberg also loves the long take, and while in "Tintin" (opening later this month) he departs from the photographic reality at the root of Bazinian realism, the use of motion capture technology means he still has a camera at his disposal, and it does incredible things. A lengthy action sequence that finds Tintin on the lam from some henchman follows his journey across a variety of surfaces on a roadbike, at one point flipping it upside down and riding it along a clothesline before regaining his balance and barreling ahead. The camera never blinks.
Parsing Tablet's Top 100 Jewish Movies.
- By Eric Kohn
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- December 9, 2011 7:09 PM
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- 5 Comments
Today, Tablet magazine published a list of the "100 Greatest Jewish Films," the kind of divisive round-up that will obviously invite scrutiny for its rankings and omissions. So the magazine has the chutzpah to avoid the obvious, giving its number one slot to…"E.T.: The Extra-Terrestial"? Followed by…"Sunset Boulevard"?
Wow. Where to begin?
Nowhere, really. The list is a terrific read, and definitely includes some viable contenders, especially when you consider the entire idea of Jewishness as an expansive concept. I certainly did when I programmed a weekend film series for Heeb magazine a few years back. It was easy enough to justify "My Mexican Shivah," but "My Mother's Garden" only qualified because its subject, a woman suffering from hoarding disorder, could easily merit description as a nebbish. She wasn't a certifiable member of the tribe.
Still, putting "E.T." at the top of the list pushes any kind of boundaries one might impose on a Jewish film list. I love the movie for all the obvious reasons--its magical synthesis of childhood awe, sci-fi creepiness, and suburban iconography. But I'm not totally sold on Jody Rosen's valiant attempt to explain the movie's treatment of "Jewish exilic longing" or that the "unguarded enchantment" of the climax is a particularly Jewish conceit.
Why Do Review Embargoes Exist?
- By Eric Kohn
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- December 5, 2011 10:07 AM
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- 8 Comments
Over the weekend, word got out that New Yorker film critic David Denby decided to break the embargo on David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," reviewing the movie in this week's issue of the magazine, several weeks before the release -- and well ahead of the Decemmber 13 embargo requested (demanded?) by the film's studio.
What Does It Mean To Be A "Sundance Rock Star"?
- By Eric Kohn
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- December 1, 2011 8:35 PM
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- 5 Comments
That's the question I asked myself shortly after assembling the gallery of filmmakers featured in several recent Indiewire articles about the festival's upcoming lineup. The term sprang to mind because I immediately started compiling a list of notable directors in this year's program. The myth of the Sundance breakout tends to dominate the festival's reputation, just as the usual cast of acclaimed auteurs usually define Cannes.
However, Sundance has its own roster of regulars precisely because it discovers a lot of emerging talent. It's also commonplace to dismiss Sundance for favoring red carpet glamour, which is sometimes merited when the movie associated with said carpet utterly blows. But the truth is that Sundance can and does attract first-rate filmmakers, both from its so-called "family" and beyond--from the Duplass and Zellner brothers to So Young Kim and Quentin Dupieux. Does that mean that they'll deliver? Well, that's a different question we'll have to wait until next month to answer. Needless to say, just because you're a rock star doesn't mean you can always rock out.
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Recent Comments
I wholeheartedly agree. The problem in this case was that the poll asked critics to justify their
So VERTIGO isn't on your top ten, fine. It's not like you're trying to burn the
shoot, you're so right. corrected. thanks!