Film Matters Magazine

Howie (Edward Woodward) in the stolen Punch the Fool costume. The costume is highly symbolic, reflecting his unwitting manipulation at the hands of the people of Summerisle in The Wicker Man (British Lion Films, 1973)

Many accomplished horror films utilize restricted locales to evoke suspicion, anxiety, and dread. The claustrophobic space of the starship Nostromo appreciably contributed to the petrifying mood in Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979). In Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Roman Polanski centered the filmic action on an affluent New York apartment block, heightening our fears and suspicions. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), in all probability, is the paradigmatic example of this kind of horror film. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a failing writer, accepts the winter caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, enveloped by deep forestry. The hotel itself is a hulking edifice, composed of myriad rooms, halls, and public sitting areas. Despite this, the locale of the Overlook Hotel retains a feeling of inescapability, of incarceration, especially for Jack’s eventual prey: his son Danny (Danny Lloyd), endowed with remarkable mental powers; and Jack’s neurotic wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall). Continue reading →

L’avventura Criterion Blu-ray Review from Liza Palmer

Contributors: Catherine Colson, Jamie Foley, JT Fritsch, Sean Gallagher, Danet Grabbe, Breanna Grim, Matthew Johnson, Garrett Neal, Cheyenne Puga, Austin Grey, Ethan Schneier, Anthony Wilson, and K. M. Wise.

Groundhog Day (Columbia Pictures, 1993)

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”
–Steve Jobs

Phil Connors (Bill Murray) brings a whole new meaning to this carpe diem sentiment in Groundhog Day (1993). Self-centred TV weatherman Phil is tasked with covering the annual February 2nd Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania; the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, is roused and scrutinized to see if he will perceive his shadow. If he does, that signals another six weeks of winter. Due to inclement weather, Phil gets delayed in Punxsutawney and falls victim to an inexplicable time loop which forces him to relive Groundhog Day: indefinitely. Each iteration of the day is marked by his clock radio striking 6:00 a.m. as he awakens in his Punxsutawney bed-and-breakfast to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” with the radio commentator inevitably announcing “It’s Groundhog Day!” As the only person affected by this anomaly, Phil is compelled to confront his biggest fear: himself.    Continue reading →

The Club (Music Box Films, 2015)

Pablo Larraín’s unorthodox drama The Club (2015) centers on a company of dishonored parochial members that live just outside a small beach community named La Boca (The Mouth) in central Chile. While the setting of the film may be unfamiliar to many Western audiences, the sins of the former members of the clergy are all too recognizable. Reminiscent of Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight (2015), these shunned sacerdotal individuals have committed heinous crimes ranging from pedophilia to child kidnapping. Ironically, these former church leaders appear to live in a sort of peaceful exile. Continue reading →

La La Land (Lionsgate, 2016)

How many times have we had to decide between two seemingly equal opportunities? Probably a great many! Such is the case with the life of the two main characters in the Oscar-winning musical La La Land. The movie was released initially on November 9, 2016. It stars Ryan Gosling as Sebastian and Emma Stone as Mia. The soundtrack includes “City of Stars” by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, “Another Day of Sun” by Justin Hurwitz, “Someone in the Crowd” by Emma Stone, etc. Filming took place in 2015 in Los Angeles; and, this year, the movie received fourteen Academy Awards nominations, making the director Chazelle the youngest filmmaker to win the best director award at his age. Continue reading →

“My poor, un-white thing! Weep not nor rage. I know, too well, that the curse of God lies heavy on you. Why? That is not for me to say, but be brave! Do your work in your lowly sphere, praying the good Lord that into heaven above, where all is love, you may, one day, be born – white!” (Du Bois 18)

Near the midpoint of the diegesis of Andrés Wood’s film entitled Machuca (2004), we witness to an emotive scene between three young Chilean friends in close-up (or what Gilles Deleuze in Cinema 1 fittingly terms the affection-image) — a cinematographic decision typical of the film. In this lust-filled moment, teenagers Gonzalo Infante (Matías Quer) and Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) share kisses full of condensed milk with their female friend Silvana (Manuela Martelli). Gonzalo – the only fair-skinned and bourgeoisie member in the troika – received the condensed milk as a part of his family’s rations. Such allotments were not even available to his two impoverished friends during Chile’s food shortage. Yet, in this scene, Andrés Wood is showing us more than just three youths exploring their sexuality as their milk and saliva amalgamate. Instead, the talented Chilean director is showing us the raison d’être of his film: economic and social divisions are learned realities; altruistic and caring behaviors are what come naturally. At the fons et origo of the film, these young characters instinctively overcome socioeconomic and color differences. But, instead of encouraging friendship across lattices of class and ethnicity, the Chilean society around them works throughout the film to tear their relationship asunder. Continue reading →