{.}

The new Jean-Pierre Jeunet film, more formally known as Micmacs à tire-larigot, was a last-minute closing night substitution at IFF Boston. To quote Brad Searles, “upgrade.”
From the outset, Micmacs is classic Jeunet, set in a world just a bit off-kilter from ours. Like Amélie, Micmacs stacks improbable coincidences as part of its plot. Like City […]

Gil Reyes’ biography of doomed indie rocker Smith is very interesting in how it embraces constraints: there’s not much film footage of Smith, and much of what there is isn’t technically good — so Reyes embraces the slacker aesthetic, using techniques like deliberately awkward cuts and mildly obnoxious microphone pops to make his footage match […]

If you’re a fan of The Magnetic Fields, you’re going to love Strange Powers, directors Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara’s love-letter to the singular genius of Stephin Merritt (not to mention his longtime manager/collaborator Claudia Gonson). The film’s decade-long gestation means that viewers are treated to footage of Merritt and his merry crew working on […]

I’m a little baffled at my reaction to Orgasm Inc. It’s specifically about the creation of the medical condition “Female Sexual Dysfunction,” a.k.a. FSD, and the pharmaceutical quest for the “female Viagra” to treat it. (This theoretical elixir — or snake oil, if you prefer — would enable women to climax without clitoral stimulation.) More […]

I love this movie so much, it’s a struggle to write about it coherently. The many thoughts it provokes are stumbling over each other between my head and my keyboard. What’s the best way to convince you that you should see 9500 Liberty? (You can significant chunks of it on the 9500 Liberty YouTube channel, […]

The parts of Anne Perry: Interiors that I liked best concerned Perry’s career as a best-selling mystery novelist. They provide some insight into her creative process, and a lot of detail on the operational process of producing books. (A scene with Perry and her transcriber both puzzling over an unclear word was perhaps my favorite.)
But […]

Confession: by the time I saw Drones, I was really tired. I had high expectations from the nerd dream-team cast and crew, including directors Amber Benson and Adam Busch (a.k.a. Tara and Warren from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and actors Samm Levine (Freaks and Geeks) and James Urbaniak (The Venture Bros., American Splendor, and assorted […]

It’s tricky to summarize Lovers of Hate in a way that indicates some of what makes it so interesting while avoiding spoilers. It’s fundamentally a story of two brothers’ sibling rivalry. Paul (Alex Karpovsky) is the very successful author of a Harry Potter-like children’s book series. Rudy (Chris Doubek) is, well, not doing so hot: […]