Film Journey – Page 24 – world cinema in Los Angeles and beyond

Chris Ware on Yasujiro Ozu

December 15, 2008 Doug Cummings Commentary, Texts

I don’t know how I missed this until now, but the wonderful Cinefamily revival group–presenting “interesting and unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films” at the Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood–commissioned famed comic artist Chris Ware to illustrate the cover of their current Nov/Dec calendar, a beautiful tribute to Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story (1953).

The Theatre’s co-owner, Sammy Harkham, is a comic artist who also owns the nearby Family graphic arts bookstore. Cinefamily’s calendars are always visually striking and the film descriptions are equally evocative even if, given their highly eclectic programming, I often go through extremes of …

New Points of Entry for Dreyer

December 13, 2008 Doug Cummings Texts

The last few weeks, I spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices, which wasn’t good for my blogging but was good for my reading, and fortunately my love for the films of Carl Theodor Dreyer. For cinephiles familiar with the lack of resources on Dreyer, the last few months have offered a bonanza:

• The Masters of Cinema label I helped form and Criterion have released Martin Koerber’s beautifully restored Vampyr (1932) on DVD with a lot of shared supplementary materials. MoC includes a commentary by Guillermo del Toro; Criterion includes Dreyer’s original script. I managed to see the …

Bernardo Rondeau at LACMA

November 20, 2008 Doug Cummings Uncategorized

I’m still trying to post some reviews from AFI FEST, but my baby has been in the hospital for “minor” surgery this week and everything else has been put to the side.

In the meantime, I was able to attend a few Festival screenings with the LACMA film program coordinator Bernardo Rondeau, which became a highlights of my Festival experience, and he has just posted a “Best of AFI” write-up at the LACMA blog, Unframed.

Los Angeles is famous for its diversity and dispersal, and while its film culture doesn’t benefit from the kind of concentrated public transit and …

AFI FEST repeats

November 9, 2008 Doug Cummings Uncategorized

The Class

In case you missed some of the higher profile films at AFI FEST this week, here’s a list of some of the films that will have upcoming screenings or distribution in Los Angeles:

• Slumdog Millionaire (LACMA preview on 11/11; Landmark release on 11/12; Laemmle release on 12/21)
• Gomorrah (American Cinematheque screening on 11/11; Laemmle release on 12/19)
• A Christmas Tale (Landmark release on 11/14; Laemmle release on 11/14)
• Lion’s Den (American Cinematheque screening on 11/22)
• Hunger (Nuart release on 12/5)
• Wendy and Lucy (Laemmle release on 12/12)
• The Wrestler (LACMA preview…

More AFI FEST picks

October 30, 2008 Doug Cummings Film festival

Robert Koehler (Cineaste, Cinema Scope, Variety) sent this list in regarding his picks for this year’s AFI FEST, which starts today. -Doug

Here are the AFI films I think are worth checking out. I’m leaving out films like THE WRESTLER,which are going to be readily available for viewing after the festival….this list illustrates why this is the best AFI FEST in at least 20 years…

Desplechin’s A CHRISTMAS TALE
A superb, sprawling, typically Desplechinian drama-comedy, with Mathieu Almaric leading what yet again another fabulous Desplechin ensemble–it’s an ideal third film companion with MY SEX LIFE and KINGS …

Cats Go Barack

October 22, 2008 Doug Cummings Commentary

It’s not often that you can get t-shirts designed by major figures of world cinema, and even less often for a better cause: Chris Marker invokes his trademark character, Guillaume-en-egypte, for Barack Obama at Wexner Center for the Arts.…