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Introspective Ramblings by Eric Kohn.

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Eric Kohn

On the Importance of Brian Brooks, Eugene Hernandez and the Indiewire of the Future.

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • December 24, 2011
Blogs
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.
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More: Brian Brooks, Eugene Hernandez, Indiewire

Anatomy of a List: My Top 10's In 2 Places

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • December 22, 2011
Off the top off my head, I can think of two movies I neglected to put on my top 10 list for 2011, and they couldn't be more dissimilar. Federico Veiroj's paean to cinephilia, "A Useful Life," and the vibrant homage to '80's blockbusters and the power of the green screen, "Manborg." But these omissions are neither here nor there. I was lucky enough to sing the praises of both films at different times of the year. So: Let's get to the movies that made the cut.
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More: Blogs, Awards, Film criticism, Critics' Poll

Robert Koehler Defends "Margaret," Variety Exec Makes a Bad Joke.

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • December 15, 2011

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 because he didn't get a chance to see "Margaret," Kenneth Lonergan's sleeper hit, in time for the voting process. I like the movie quite a bit, but I'm nearly as smitten with the near-religious fervor that has cropped up to support the movie during a frenzied period when a lot of critics are catching up on movies they missed earlier in the year. It makes me wonder if the marginalization of "Margaret"--largely the result of Fox Searchlight's problematic relationship with the director, its multi-year post-production and its tiny, inconspicuous theatrical release--has actually helped solidify its following, catapulting the movie to a cult status unseen since Terrence Malick's "The New World" launched an army of defenders a few years back.
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More: Awards

Steven Spielberg On "Russian Ark" And "Intimate Movies"

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • December 12, 2011

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.
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More: Steven Spielberg, Tintin, Duel, Russian Ark, Alexander Sokurov

Parsing Tablet's Top 100 Jewish Movies.

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • December 9, 2011

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?
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More: Tablet, Steven Spielberg, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, Jewish, Heeb Magazine

Why Do Review Embargoes Exist?

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • December 5, 2011
Blogs
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.
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More: David Denby, The New Yorker , Film criticism, Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Scott Rudin, Embargo

What Does It Mean To Be A "Sundance Rock Star"?

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • December 1, 2011

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.
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"Beginners"? "Tree Of Life"? Nevermind. The Real Winner of the 2011 Gothams Was Patton Oswalt.

  • November 29, 2011

Patton Oswalt and Charlize Theron at the Gothams.
I had the privilege of serving on two nominating committees for the Gotham awards this year: Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Ensemble. That meant I played a role in narrowing the field down to five contenders in each of those categories, although I didn't know who won until the names were announced at last night's ceremony. I would say it doesn't really matter, that everyone nominated was a winner and equally deserving and should feel like they got a prize just by winding up in those category...but I'm already on the record as a huge fan of "Beginners," Mike Mills' delicate sophomore feature that landed both the ensemble prize and tied for Best Feature with "Tree of Life." Without saying much more, I will say that I'm glad that worked out.

Still, the real performance worth celebrating at this year's Gothams ceremony had nothing to do with any of the nominated films. Patton Oswalt, onstage to introduce his "Young Adult" co-star Charlize Theron for a tribute award, owned the evening.
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More: Patton Oswalt, Charlize Theron, Awards

In Praise Of Woody Allen: A Personal Ode.

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • November 25, 2011

Woody Allen is less known for any specific filmmaking practice than for a state of cinematic being.
Like many Americans reared on eighties pop culture, I first discovered the potential of cinema by way of Steven Spielberg. The escapism of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," derivative as it may have been to viewers more readily familiar with the matinee serials that inspired it, brought an exotic world of possibilities to life for these relatively sheltered eyes. But I don't want to give Spielberg all the credit for revving up my movie engine; while Spielberg's refined spectacles introduced me to a new world, I was equally excited by the discovery of a familiar one by way of Woody Allen.

I've had Allen on the mind a lot this week, having just watched Robert Weide's terrific two-part PBS documentary about the 75-year-old director for the network's "American Masters" series. Weide's refined survey touches on everything you wanted to know about Woody but never had the opportunity to ask, from his lovably arcane insistence on tapping everything out on the same typewriter he's had for 30 or so years to the slight but usually effective approach he brings to coaching performances. While Allen has moved through various "periods," his technique and outlook have remained fairly stable. Even though I haven't been entirely thrilled by his last few movies, the Allen drug--the neuroses that felt like home--retains its vibrancy in his comedies, and takes on a deliciously grim finality in his thrillers. Even when he strikes out, he's still true to himself.
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More: Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, Robert B. Weide, Manhattan, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Woody Allen, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony Classics

A Socialist Nightmare: Revisiting "Martha Marcy May Marlene" By Way Of "The Crowd."

  • By Eric Kohn
  • |
  • November 22, 2011

"Martha Marcy May Marlene." Fox
When I was an undergraduate at NYU, I attended a career lecture by Garrison Keillor in the journalism department, where the "Lake Wobegon" overseer made his ascent to "A Prairie Home Companion" look easy. "I'm here to encourage you to keep writing," he told the room. Keillor's secret? Freelancing! "I've never had a boss," he said.

Easier said than done, GK. The lovable old timer must have known as much but didn't want to admit it. To a roomful of aspiring writers and reporters facing an industry with fewer jobs than one-off gigs and unpaid internships, not to mention a media landscape with an overall questionable future, the paternal Keillor looked like a beacon of hope.

I was thinking about this conflicting experience over the weekend, when I had the chance to watch "Martha Marcy May Marlene" for the second time. I liked the movie just as much I did when I saw it at Sundance, but during this time through I felt more cognizant of the way the vaguely-defined cult that Martha escapes from serves as a microcosm of society. By breaking away in the first scene, Martha demonstrates her realization, on some fundamental level, that her allegiance to a bunch of lunatics did her no good. It's her Garrison Keillor moment. Which is to say: Easier said than done.

Since most discussions about "Martha" revolve around how it attempts to replicate the trauma of living through a brainwashing experience, its larger significance as a story about growing up and fighting assimilation in general has been largely ignored. This angle occurred to me during my latest viewing experience not only because I had seen it once before, but also because I recently watched King Vidor's classic 1928 silent "The Crowd," which also deals quite eloquently with the struggle between capitalist pursuits and freedom of thought. The balance between assimilation and individualism lies at the root of modern human experience, and both movies tap into it with provocative results.
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More: Elizabeth Olsen

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