Monthly Archives: September, 2011

Coming in thirteen years after his masterful Last Days of Disco, there's a reason why this under-appreciated filmmaker has most of his limited oeuvre in the Criterion Collection. For those familiar with his movies, there isn't a better writer of dialogue alive today.

Opening Venice's Orizzonti section before shipping out to Toronto, this marks a noteworthy new direction for one of the most important figures in New Iranian cinema of the 70's and 80's. After working as an American filmmaker for a pair of decade, Amir Naderi has gone all "The Five Obstructions" on his career by ordering his latest work to be all things Japanese. With collaborations from Shinji Aoyama (2000's Eureka) who helped co-write the film and Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2003's Bright Future) who served as special consultant, this should be a standout item in Naderi's filmography.

Bringing us almost a film a year since his earth-shattering debut Titicut Follies in 1967, Wiseman's signature observational documentary style has been more influential than even most classic fictional directors. Insulted by the pejorative term 'fly on the wall', Wiseman will be the first to admit that his insights into his subjects are packed with supreme intelligence and meticulous precision.

The guy known for the longest average film-length of any active filmmaker may have actually lowered said average with this relatively modest six hour-long film, but it's awfully dismissive to simply write him off as a high-brow spectacle. Combining performance art, an utmost humanism, and the frankest portrayals of duration that the cinema has ever seen, Lav Diaz is the Thanksgiving meal of film festival offerings.

With his origins and legacy primarily dating back to the latter years of Italian Neorealism, Olmi has gone on to further iconic status via a Palme d'Or for The Tree of Wooden Clogs and his Golden Lion for The Legend of the Holy Drinker. He vowed that his 2007 film One Hundred Nails would be his final fictional feature, but lo and behold, here he is again.