Author: Doug Cummings

One of my offshooting interests in film is its thematic interplay with religious traditions and “spirituality”–which not only happens more often than is generally recognized, but also typifies a great many of the most highly esteemed films and filmmakers of the medium.

However, it’s the sort of thematic context that is difficult to discuss in intelligent ways without forcing theological paradigms or destroying some of the mystery and affect of many of these films.

Accordingly, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has come up with a solution: it will examine the “hidden” or “absent” spirituality in its new …

The New York Times ran an article today entitled Greatest DVD’s Never Made: A Most Wanted List that’s worth a peek to remind us how many films we’re still missing in prime video quality. But between the article’s type-o’s (the films of “Uzo”) and no mention of non-region 1 options (like the region 2 The African Queen), the article leaves a bit to be desired. On the other hand, it levels some good criticisms at the way commerical policies continue to restrict our viewing:

The confusion brought on by media mergers and acquisitions has been a common cause of

As long as we’re singing the praises of Rialto Pictures this week, I should note they’ve not only announced a strong New York/Los Angeles/Chicago/Washington, DC opening for The Battle of Algiers (1965) on January 9, but have also released a very good trailer for the film, which can be seen via the Film Forum’s website.

Given the fact that Rialto’s trailer for Balthazar was not exactly the most creative piece of advertising I’ve seen (in short, a few “minor” scenes cut together without any sense of the film’s importance or thematic concerns), I’m very pleased to see their Algiers…

“That Robert Bresson‘s 13 features remain largely unknown and unavailable in this country (only one is available here on DVD) is a measure of our impoverished film culture and a reason why one of the heroes of the movie year is Rialto Pictures, the New York distributor reissuing Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar. The film opens today at the Nuart and there is no more important a movie in theaters.”

Read Manohla Dargis’ full review here.…

I’ve been meaning to write about my experience last Thursday of seeing Mikhail Vardanov‘s new documentary Parajanov: The Last Spring at–of all places–the Hollywood Entertainment Museum just down the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was a slightly surreal experience watching the passionate, contemplative film about the life of the persecuted Georgian-born Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov projected on a screen perched between Roman costumes from Ben-Hur (1959) on the left and a life-sized statue of Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) on the right. Nevertheless, the screening room was packed …

Given my eclectic approach to film appreciation, it’s funny how various events surprisingly coincide. On Friday, I travelled to the University of California in San Diego to attend a colloquium given by filmmaker and academic Babette Mangolte, who discussed her latest research project connecting the ideological dots between French avant-garde filmmakers of the ’20s and the film theories of Robert Bresson in the ’50s, whose Au hasard Balthazar opens Friday here in L.A.

Paris in the ’20s was a hotbed of artistic movements–particularly surrealism and impressionism–a myriad collection of modern aesthetics promoted by filmmaker-theorists such as Abel Gance, Marcel …