Appreciation coming.
Arts & Faith Lists:
2010 Top 100 — #94
2020 Top 100 — #69
Kon Ichikawa’s deeply humane, spiritually resonant masterpiece is routinely but reductionistically described as “pacifist” or “anti-war.” War, though, is the occasion for the central theme, not the theme itself, which is nothing less than the intractable mystery of suffering and evil, affirmation of spiritual values, and the challenge to live humanely in evil circumstances. Adapted…
Before he became an Oscar-winning filmmaker, Denys Arcand was an historian. And some of his first historical projects—such as a government-sponsored documentary about Samuel de Champlain, one of the founding fathers of Canada—got him into trouble with the powers that be, who felt he didn’t toe the official line as closely as he should have. …
A useful starting point when approaching Friedrich Wilhelm (F. W.) Murnau’s Faust is Rembrandt’s 1652 etching of the same name. In it, we see Faust alone in his library, poring through parchments, surrounded on all sides by scientific paraphernalia. But Rembrandt pays little attention to the things in the room and, instead, directs our focus toward Faust’s desperate…
As we discuss what makes a film spiritually significant, the concepts of truth and beauty are often at the center of our conversations. Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion is not just a film that presents truth and beauty; it is about truth and beauty. The film appears to argue that truth is absolute but so complex that it…
Review coming. Directed by: Charles Burnett Produced by: Thomas S. Byrnes Caldecot Chubb Michael Flynn Danny Glover Linda Koulisis Edward R. Pressman Darin Scott Ron Stacker Thompson Harris Tulchin Written by: Charles Burnett Music by: Stephen James Taylor Cinematography by: Walt Lloyd Editing by: Nancy Richardson Release Date: 1990 Running Time: 102 Language: English Arts…
“All creation groans” in the unforgettable, long shots that open and close Carlos Reygadas’ remarkable film. It’s hard to believe this movie was released in 2008—it has a quality that will make it a major event for film students for many decades to come. It’s set in a Mexican community of Old Order Mennonites, where…