Indiewire Browse the indiewire network

Press Play

 "The best video essay source on the web." (Roger Ebert) This web site is built on a mix of original video essays and critical, personal writing about film, TV, and their connection to broader cultural concerns. Co-founded by Matt Zoller Seitz, TV critic for New York Magazine, and Ken Cancelosi, it is overseen by Editor-in-Chief Max Winter.

Video Essays

  • CANNES 2013: Joel and Ethan Coen's INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
  • Attention Red Wedding Crashers: Get a Grip, Sit Back, a...
  • BIG PRESS PLAY NEWS!
  • RAISED IN FEAR: Who Can Kill a Child?
  • RAISED IN FEAR: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and the Horrors of ...

THE REGULARS

Monthly Archives

Press Play

CANNES 2012: Wes Anderson's MOONRISE KINGDOM

Festivals
"Moonrise Kingdom" is a great success, both within the context of Wes Anderson's body of work and as a work unto itself. Initially, however, its Wes- Anderson-y-ness is almost off-putting.
Read More »
  • By Simon Abrams
  • |
  • May 16, 2012 9:18 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Cannes Film Festival, Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Bob Balaban, Simon Abrams

FESTIVALS: True/False 2012, Day Four: Destroy Your Safe and Happy Lives

Festivals
The movies I saw on the last day of True/False continued to intersect with the other movies I've seen this weekend. The festival taken as a whole functions as a kind of mosaic, in which the individual pieces add up to a larger whole. This is the first year I've really noticed this, even though I'm sure that past festivals have been similarly constructed. I just never saw enough movies in past years to get the full effect. I saw thirteen movies this year, counting Secret Screenings. My second favorite film of the festival was secret. So was the lone film I didn't really like. It's probably just as well that I don't get to write about that one.
Read More »
  • By Christianne Benedict
  • |
  • March 6, 2012 2:11 PM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: True/False Film Festival, Festival Dispatch

FESTIVALS: True/False 2012, Day Three: Strange Intersections

Festivals
There's a strange sense of connectedness between the films I'm seeing at this year's True/False festival. Whether that's accidental or because of the way True/False is curated, I can't say, but some of the movies I'm seeing seem to be rhymes of other movies. Sometimes it's visual. Sometimes it's thematic. Often, it's both. This year's films seem to be grouped around intersections of race, healthcare, art, queerness, and activism. Having said this, I can't actually support this observation as well as I'd like, because the keystone film that ties all of this together in my own mind is one of those secret screenings I can't talk about. Listening to the buzz around the fest, I get the feeling that more than one of those secret films would supply the glue for this feeling of intersectionality.
Read More »
  • By Christianne Benedict
  • |
  • March 5, 2012 11:11 AM
  • |
  • 2 Comments
More: True/False Film Festival

FESTIVALS - True/False 2012, Day Two: The Influence Machine

Festivals
"The thing is, directors and studios don't really like each other." Graphic designer Erik Buckham ought to know. He has a ringside seat. He designs movie posters. The nature of the business means that he deals with both studio marketing departments and control freak directors, but not always in equal measure. This comment explains a lot about why American movies look the way they do and a lot about why Buckham prefers to work on small films rather than big.
Read More »
  • By Christianne Benedict
  • |
  • March 4, 2012 10:10 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Festivals, True/False Film Festival

FESTIVALS: True/False Day One: The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Festivals
EDITOR'S NOTE: The True/False Film Festival, one of the leading showcases for nonfiction filmmaking in the US, unspools its ninth edition this weekend in Columbia, Missouri. We'll be featuring daily reports on the festival from film writer Christianne Benedict, a Columbia native who has attended and reported on the film festival since its beginning.
Read More »
  • By Christianne Benedict
  • |
  • March 2, 2012 7:08 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments

FESTIVALS - Berlinale 2012 Final Report: The Tantalizing and the Taboo

Festivals
What does it take to get your film into a world class festival? That's the question asked with gleeful irreverence by "The Woman in the Septic Tank," which screened at the recently concluded 2012 Berlinale, one of the world's foremost festivals. This hilarious satire of international art filmmaking finds two aspiring auteurs sitting in a Manila café, jealously regarding a rival's Facebook photos taken at the Venice film fest. They vow to devise the ultimate movie to win festival audiences and prizes: a single mother of five suffering in the slums is forced to sell her son to a rich pedophile. But like Mel Brooks' "The Producers," the project gets out of hand, and before we know it we're watching a musical version with the pedophile singing "Is this the boy / who'll bring me endless hours of joy?" It's one of many delightful detours taken by these filmmakers seeking the road to art house glory.
Read More »
  • By Kevin B. Lee
  • |
  • February 21, 2012 6:46 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Berlinale, Kevin B. Lee

FESTIVALS: Berlinale Decision Points Part 4: Golden Slumbers and Golden Showers

Festivals
Part four (and the last) of my Berlinale coverage, focusing on decision points: the moment when I pretty much made up my mind about a film, and how that moment reflects on the film as a whole, capped by my Indiewire grade. Look for a summary report to follow on RogerEbert.com.
Read More »
  • By Kevin B. Lee
  • |
  • February 15, 2012 9:48 PM
  • |
  • 0 Comments

FESTIVALS: Berlinale Decision Points Pt. 3: Billy Bob Thornton and Melissa Leo play to their own tune

Festivals
Part three of my Berlinale coverage, focusing on decision points: the moment when I pretty much made up my mind about a film, and how that moment reflects on the film as a whole, capped by my Indiewire grade.
Read More »
  • By Kevin B. Lee
  • |
  • February 14, 2012 10:50 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Berlin International Film Festival, Kevin B. Lee, Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Duvall, Melissa Leo

FESTIVALS: Berlinale Decision Points Pt. 2 - Paul Dano, Zellner Brothers and the first great film of the festival

Festivals
Part two of my Berlinale coverage, focusing on decision points: the moment when I pretty much made up my mind about a film, and how that moment reflects on the film as a whole, capped by my Indiewire grade. Read Part One
Read More »
  • By Kevin B. Lee
  • |
  • February 12, 2012 5:29 AM
  • |
  • 3 Comments
More: Kevin B. Lee, Berlin International Film Festival

FESTIVALS: Berlinale Decision Points Pt. 1: Herzog on DEATH ROW and Lesbian Marie Antoinette

Festivals
At what point do you make your mind up about a movie? It's an especially pressing question at a festival like "Berlinale," where you can watch as many as seven or eight films a day. There’s a risk of just letting these films wash over you and, to borrow a French phrase, “fall from your eyes,” so that you leave the theater with just a vague impression of what you’ve seen and few specifics to say. To fight this I’ve decided to shape my "Berlinale" coverage around decision points: the moment where I pretty much made up my mind about a film, and how that moment reflects on the film as a whole, capped by my Indiewire grade:
Read More »
  • By Kevin B. Lee
  • |
  • February 10, 2012 7:47 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Kevin B. Lee, Berlinale

Follow Us

Blog Roll

Most "Liked"

  • CANNES 2013: Joel and Ethan Coen's INSIDE ...
  • Attention Red Wedding Crashers: Get ...
  • BIG PRESS PLAY NEWS!
  • RAISED IN FEAR: Who Can Kill a Chil ...
  • RAISED IN FEAR: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER ...
  • CANNES 2013: Images, Part III
  • RAISED IN FEAR: LET'S SCARE JESSICA ...
  • The Dangers of An Empty Suit: Marvel ...
  • CANNES 2013: An Interview with James ...
  • CANNES 2013: James Gray's THE IMMIG ...

Around The Network

the network

indiewire

categories