Resources for November 7, 2016

Blakeslee, David, et al. "Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monica." CriterionCast #174 (July 25, 2016) ["Inspired by the earthy eroticism of Harriet Andersson, in the first of her many roles for him, Ingmar Bergman had a major international breakthrough with this sensual and ultimately ravaging tale of young love. A girl (Andersson) and boy (Lars Ekborg) from working-class families in Stockholm run away from home to spend a secluded, romantic summer at the beach, far from parents and responsibilities. Inevitably, it is not long before the pair are forced to return to reality. The version initially released in the U.S. was reedited by its distributor into something more salacious, but the originalSummer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika), presented here, is a work of stunning maturity and one of Bergman’s most important films."]

Costa, Cassie Da, et al. "Mondo, Mondo." Film Comment (July 26, 2016) ["This month, at Anthology Film Archives, FILM COMMENT contributor Nick Pinkerton has programmed a variety of shockumentary-style works ranging from the notorious Mondo Cane(an Academy Award nominee, for Original Song) to Thierry Zéno’s Des Morts. Many of these films aim to shock and titillate, sometimes purporting to document actual deaths, but they become politically and culturally revealing texts. None of this problematic entertainment holds a candle, however, to the real-life horror that has become a fixture of 21st-century visual culture: recordings showing police brutality—grim evidence of actual violence that is used in calls for justice. In a wide-ranging discussion that moves from the cinema of taboo to the complexities of recordings of police violence, FC Digital Editor Violet Lucca spoke with Pinkerton, critic and programmer Ashley Clark, and New Yorker video producer (and former FC intern) Cassie da Costa."]

Gores, Jared, Michael Neelsen and Joe Pudas. "Favorite Political Films." Reel Fanatics #439 (November 6, 2016)

Koski, Genevieve, et al. "Ghostbusters (2016) / Ghostbusters (1984), Pt. 1" The Next Picture Show #37 (July 26, 2016) ["The strange controversy over Paul Feig's gender-reversed GHOSTBUSTERS has us looking back at the original 1984 GHOSTBUSTERS to see what about it has inspired such strong feeling. In this half of the conversation, we focus on the then-and-now of Ivan Reitman's original, while trying (unsuccessfully) to dodge the dreaded "N" word: "nostalgia.""]

---. "Ghostbusters (2016) / Ghostbusters (1984), Part 2." The Next Picture Show #38 (July 28, 2016) ["Our GHOSTBUSTERS discussion turns its attention to Paul Feig's new remake, which was made with obvious affection for (and cameos from) the 1984 version, and replicates certain character types and plot points. But it also breaks from it in significant ways we'll discuss, as well as thoughts on the effects, the villains, New York City, blockbuster culture, and more."]

Maclay, Willow. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Johnnie To, 2011)." The Vulgar Cinema (April 9, 2014)

McCalmont, Jonathan. "Nothing Beside Remains: A History of the New Weird."  The Big Echo #2 (Autumn 2016)

Palmer, Landon. "Ida: Almost Too Stunning For Its Own Good." Film School Rejects (May 2, 2014)

Riccobono, Jack Pettibone. "The Seventh Fire." Film School (July 23, 2016) ["From executive producers Terrence Malick, Natalie Portman, and Chris Eyre comes this haunting and unflinching debut feature, THE SEVENTH FIRE, directed by Jack Pettibone Riccobono. When gang leader Rob Brown is sentenced to prison for a fifth time, he must confront his role in bringing violent drug culture into his beloved American Indian community in northern Minnesota. As Rob reckons with his past, his seventeen-year-old protégé, Kevin,dreams of the future: becoming the most powerful and feared Native gangster on the reservation."]

Schamus, James. "The Tall T." The Cinephiliacs #82 (July 25, 2016) ["How does one reconcile the ideas of artistry in cinema, the kind of magic of cinephilia that we see each time we look up at the screen, with the business practices that often painted as limiting it? James Schamus has somehow made a career of toeing this (likely constructed) dichotomy, helping produce some of the early independent films of the 1990s before becoming the co-founder of Focus Features, which made films like The Pianist,Atonement, Brokeback Mountain, and Moonrise Kingdom, as well as a collaborator of Ang Lee, writing the screenplays for The Ice Storm, Ride With The Devil, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. James discusses this work between the politics of making art for specialty audiences, as well as his interest in the very nature of art through his work as a theorist and professor at Columbia University. They then turn to his directorial debut, an adaptation of Philip Roth's Indignation, and what it means to modulate performance.Finally, the two discuss Budd Boetticher's 1957 hostage western The Tall T, and what a specialty art house producer can learn from watching Randolph Scott contemplate existence in this low budget western."]

Talbird, John Duncan. "The Sound of Cool: Jim Jarmusch's Gimme Danger."  Film International (November 3, 2016)