Meet Marlon Brando (1965; Albert and David Maysles) Grade: B By Mike Dub In the introduction to last year’s ESFS Festival about the “Dark Ages” of Marlon Brando, we discussed the unrelenting stream of box office bombs that afflicted Brando throughout the 1960s. Hamstrung under a difficult contract […]
Love in the Afternoon (1972; Eric Rohmer) GRADE: B+ By Mike Dub In each of his Six Moral Tales, Eric Rohmer presents a character at a different stage in his life, in various evolving stages of a relationship. Though basically unrelated, his films follow the evolution of a single love life […]
The Piano Teacher (2001; Michael Haneke) GRADE: B By Mike Dub Throughout his well-regarded and controversial career, Michael Haneke has specialized in disturbing violence. With unnerving precision, Haneke unfurls stories that build delicately to sudden, shocking explosions of blood and death. In The Piano Teacher, based on a novel […]
The Three Faces of Eve (1957; Nunnally Johnson) GRADE: B- By Mike Dub The Three Faces of Eve, the true story of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder, debuted at an interesting crossroads. Released in 1957, as psychiatry was growing both in terms of practice and social […]
One-Eyed Jacks (1961; Marlon Brando) Grade: B By Mike Dub As the 1950s drew to a close, Marlon Brando was about to enter the next decade about as hot as anyone has ever been. In the seven years leading up to his directorial debut (and finale), One-Eyed Jacks, […]
CHINESE ROULETTE (1976; Rainer Werner Fassbinder) GRADE: A- By Mike Dub A precocious adolescent concocts an elaborate plan to expose the secrets of her family in Chinese Roulette. It sounds like it could be the plotline of a heartwarming Christopher Columbus movie, but this is a film by […]
