Soundtracking: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

by Chris Feil

Martin Scorsese is perhaps one of the more discussed directors in terms of movie music - how could he not be on his many music documentaries alone? His filmography is one accented with rock and roll iconography, most recognizable for its big band era details and Rolling Stones fanaticism. But while the recurring “Gimme Shelter” may be the most obviously iconic example of Scorsese’s musical insights, his ability to unleash character detail through song has a mightier narrative impact in some more unexpected places. Like Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, a film where its heroine and its music are caught between tradition and the turbulent now.

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TIFF: "Lucy in the Sky" Flung Out of Taste

by Chris Feil

Fargo and Legion’s Noah Hawley makes his big screen directorial leap with Lucy in the Sky, a loosely transcribed true story stripped of its sensationalism. But despite this diaperless retelling of the infamous story of an earthbound astronaut’s struggles with mental illness and her eventual attempt on her lover’s life, Hawley still flattens the drama for this would-be intense character study. Even with Natalie Portman at its forefront, doing another of her signature bold, safety-net-free characterizations, Hawley’s more pseudo-humane vision is defined by its inertia. It’s too boring to be embarrassing...

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A Reflection on "The Tale"

By Spencer Coile 

I intended for this to be a formal review of Jennifer Fox’s autobiographical HBO film, The Tale. I was going to dive into the Sundance darling and discuss it, celebrate it, and critique it the way we do most movies. I was going to conclude with the film’s Emmy chances, where it will no doubt be a worthy contender for Best Made for TV Movie and Laura Dern in Leading Actress. And it’s no wonder – it was critically lauded as a timely reflection of the #MeToo movement.  

But a "review" would be doing Fox’s story a disservice. This is, first and foremost, a personal story about Fox's reconciliation with the past as a means of understanding her present and future. The Tale was acclaimed coming out of Sundance, and was quickly scooped up by HBO. Gone were Dern’s Oscar chances, but this decision ensured that the film would reach an audience, which according to Fox, was the point all along.

Dern plays Jennifer Fox at 48-years-old – a documentarian, a professor, engaged. On the surface, she seems to be living a completely fulfilling life. But when her mother (Ellen Burstyn) finds a story that Jennifer wrote at 13, her world begins to crumble...

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The Martyr Mothers of Darren Aronofsky

by Jorge Molina

With his latest film mother!, Darren Aronosfky immerses us in a hellish landscape of biblical allegories, nightmarish house parties, and scenery-chewing performances. It's his most polarizing film so far, and he takes the audience to emotional and visceral places he hasn’t before (hello, newborn baby).

And yet, something remains hauntingly familiar about it. Aronofsky has mommy issues. Throughout his filmography, mothers are figures of unflinching and painful devotion. Women who lose themselves in the love they have to give, a trait which ultimately becomes their doom. They are designed to bestow upon...

 

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Tweetweek: Pink Typography and Tough Pizza

Tweets of the Week. If we couldn't joke about movies the current political climate would be enough to drive us all off the ledge wouldn't it? So here are two tweets that most helped me get through the week by LOL'ing instead of crying.

congrats to france for electing a not crazy president but you still let anne hathaway die a penniless prostitute

— Matt Bellassai (@MattBellassai) May 7, 2017

Quick while we don't have a FBI Director, copy all the VHS tapes you have! No one can stop you! pic.twitter.com/zxUvnPWMtW

— Sarah Fox (@SarahFoxes) May 10, 2017

After the jump: Depp's "technique", ongoing Kidmania, Jessica Chastain, Isabelle Huppert, flat earth, fun photos... and Dick

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