Dear Cinephiles, “You must have heard surely of movie magic. You should be a stunt man, who is an actor, who is a character in a movie, who is an enemy soldier. Who’ll look for you amongst all those? People like to believe in things, and policemen are just...
A gorgeous coffee table showpiece, our book CINEMA IN FLUX was created as a fundraiser for SBIFF,a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization. CLICK HERE TO ORDER On March 16, 2020, we were told we were going into lockdown. That first day, reeling,...
Dear Cinephiles, “I’m always struck by the bent figures in the valley.” The 36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival is here. The idea of cancelling never crossed my mind. Delaying until today (our dates are usually late January) gave us a chance to succeed with...
Dear Cinephiles, “This is no job for you. You’re always by yourself. You see a film 100 times. You’ve nothing else to do. You talk to Greta Garbo and Tyrone Power like an idiot. You work like a dog. Even holidays, Easter, Christmas.” Alfredo, the...
Dear Cinephiles, Anthony: “You’re abandoning me. What’s going to become of me?” Seeing the spellbinding and heartbreaking “The Father” (2020), which just received six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, reminded me of a well-known film by Stanley Kubrick. In...
Dear Cinephiles, “I cry a lot too. I’m a big crier…I cry all the time. Any little thing. All my brothers, my brothers-in-law – they’re – they’re always telling me what a good-hearted guy I am. You don’t get to be good-hearted...
Dear Cinephiles, Mrs. Pretty: “We die, and we decay and we don’t live on.” Basil: “We’re part of something continuous, so we don’t really die.” We’re in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk County in 1939, and what we’re about to see is based on a true story. Basil Brown (Ralph...
Dear Cinephiles, “A lot of people say that an octopus is like an alien. But the strange thing is, as you get closer to them, you realize we’re very similar in a lot of ways.” When the Oscar nominations were announced for Best Documentary, “My Octopus Teacher” (2020)...
Dear Cinephiles, “There are certain questions I can’t answer.” I tell my students to look out for figurative comparisons that help the filmmaker navigate deeper themes and ideas. Once uncovered, these ‘visual aids” help the viewer arrive at a greater appreciation of...
Dear Cinephiles, “You will be sent to a home of our choosing.” Although it came out in October, I had not gotten around to writing about “His House” (2020). Two weeks ago, when the British Academy of Film Television and Arts (BAFTA) announced its influential list of...
Dear Cinephiles, Emma: “I have been unpardonably vain, and insufferably arrogant. I have been inconsiderate, and indelicate, and irrational, and unfeeling.” For someone who is not fond of romantic comedies, I am obsessed with Jane Austen. I’ve read all of her comedy...
Dear Cinephiles, “You’ll find that life is still worthwhile If you’ll just Smile” How many times have the lyrics of the song “Smile” gotten us through hard times? I certainly have listened to it several times over the past twelve months. Did you know that the music...
Dear Cinephiles, Charlie : “You remember that day. Was I there? Where was I?” Raymond : “You were in the window. You waved to me, ‘Bye bye Rain Man, Bye bye.’” There’s a scene in the Oscar winning “Rain Man” (1988) that always gets to me. It takes place in a...
Dear Cinephiles, Clare : “I’m not your nightingale, your little bird, your dove. I’m not your anything. I belong to me and no one else!” I warn you, I’m a big fan of “The Nightingale” (2018) and this write up comes from my fervor for writer/director...
Dear Cinephiles, Jerome : “This is too much madness to explain in one text!” Talk about not judging a book by its cover. When the movie starts you’re in modern day south London in a council state (housing projects) on “Guy Fawkes” night, a shower of fireworks lighting...
Dear Cinephiles, Dr. Erin Mears : “The average person touches their face 2- or 3000 times a day. Three to five times every waking minute. In between, we’re touching doorknobs, water fountains, elevator buttons and each other. Those things become fomites.” As a...
Dear Cinephiles, Rocky: “I’m dumb, and you’re shy.” I hadn’t seen “Rocky” (1976) since it first came out. I saw all the sequels, including the spin-off of the series, Ryan Coogler’s “Creed” (2015). I had forgotten how tender and poignant the original film is. It has...
Dear Cinephiles, Ticket Seller : “Something wrong with your eyes?” Roger Thornhill : “Yes, they’re sensitive to questions.” One of my favorite moments in the ever buoyant “North by Northwest” (1959) directed by the master himself, Alfred Hitchcock, takes place...
Dear Cinephiles, “And maybe just for tonight we can escape our troubles and hear the great changes that are happening out there.” I’ve mentioned to you before, back when I recommended it, that I’m obsessed with John Ford’s “The Searchers” (1954). I have taught it now...
Dear Cinephiles, “In this country you’re not the first, and you won’t be the last.” There’s something sad that happens to you when you migrate. You’ve worked so hard as a young person to hold on to a sense of individuality and to stop feeling like you don’t belong in...
Dear Cinephiles, “I wanted to tell you something that’s very important to me….” “Two of Us” — written and directed in his debut by filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti — is France’s submission to the International Feature Oscar race, and it’s on the shortlist of...
Dear Cinephiles, Iris: “When face to face with a policeman, I should keep my mouth shut, say nothing unless asked, answer questions with ‘yes, sir, no, sir,’ unless they violate my civil rights. Then put my hands on my head where they can clearly see them and ask for...
Dear Cinephiles, Gaz : “So, uh, Horse… What can you do?” Horse : “I dunno, really… Let’s see, there’s the, uh… the bump, the stomp, the bus stop… My breakdancing days are probably over, but there’s always the funky chicken.”...
Dear Cinephiles, “You guys are soft. You know what makes you that way? You’re up to your necks in IOUs. You’re suckers. You’ve always had it good, so you’re soft.” “The Hitch-Hiker” (1953) is a taut, nerve-rattling seventy-one minutes of pure cinematic pleasure....
Dear Cinephiles, “…Fear is like a giant fog. It sits on your brain and blocks everything – real feelings, true happiness, real joy. They can’t get through that fog. But you lift it, and buddy, you’re in for the ride of your life.” A few weeks...
Dear Cinephiles, “It feels like something important is happening around me, and it scares me.” I don’t know if you ever been surrounded by a set of coincidences and events that feel unexplainable. Exactly three years ago while on vacation, my partner and I went to...
Dear Cinephiles, “What’s in the past is in the past.” The past plays an essential part in Jayro Bustamante’s impressive “La Llorona” (2019) which is Guatemala’s official selection for the Oscars Best International Feature, and has made the shortlist of fifteen films....
Dear Cinephiles, “Well to make it in this country, you need to be brave. And stupid, and ruthless, and focused, because playing fair, being scared, that gets you nowhere. That gets you beat.” She’s one of the most striking characters you’ve seen in a long time. When...
Dear Cinephiles, “We doctors are no longer human. It’s all about money.” “Collective” (2019) is one of the best documentaries. Scratch that, it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. In gripping fashion, it attentively follows the efforts of a heroic group of...
