Paterson – Review

Oliver Hargreaves on Paterson

Written by Oliver Hargreaves

Paterson is a film released in 2016, starring Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani and Barry Shabaka Henley. The film is directed by Jim Jarmusch.

Paterson takes place in the town of Paterson, in New Jersey, USA. The film follows a week (Monday through to Monday) in the life of someone called Paterson (Adam Driver), who is a bus driver in the area, and his partner Laura (Golshifteh Farahani). Paterson often writes poetry, and keeps his poems in his private notebook (which Laura wishes he would make copies of for safety reasons). Every night Paterson walks his and Laura’s dog, Marvin, taking him to the bar, where Paterson has one drink before returning home for work the next day.

As is the case with a lot of Jarmusch’s films, this is a very meandering watch for the audience, with a focus on the quotidian aspects of the lead…

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Gremlins 2: The New Batch – Review

Harry Russell on Gremlins 2

Written by Harry Russell

Set in the sleepy town of Kingston Falls, Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984) sees Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) accidentally unleash the murderous gremlins when he fails to follow the key rules of the mogwai. After finally dealing with the threat Billy must return the initial mogwai, Gizmo, and learn a lesson in responsibility spurred by his father’s unthinking gifting. Gremlins is a Christmas film first and foremost. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Joe Dante, 1990) is not.

Gremlins 2 sees Billy and his now fiancé Kate (Phoebe Cates) living in New York, both working different jobs in the high-tech Clamp Center, when one day Billy stumbles across Gizmo in a genetics laboratory, having been abducted after the death of his owner. Inevitably Gizmo ends up spawning more mogwai, who are of course unabashedly evil and immediately seek out food so as to reach their most destructive gremlin…

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In Conversation with Gary Needham on Cruising (William Friedkin, USA, 1980)

I can think of no one who knows more about Cruising (William Friedkin, USA, 1980) than Gary Needham. He’s already written extensively on Warhol, Queer TV, Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) and many aspects of Queer Histories from various historical perspectives, and has recently published, ‘CRUISING IS A PICTURE WE SINCERELY WISH WE DID NOT HAVE TO SHOW’ United Artists, ratings,... Continue Reading →

In Conversation with Deborah Shaw on The Daughters of Fire (Albertina Carri, Argentina, 2018.

https://soundcloud.com/user-766042506/daughters-of-fire-with-music-and-loop2-mixdown If you want to see what a female gaze looks like, what queer cinema by women might feel like to see, what a combination of porn and poetry might evoke, have a look at Albertina Carri´s 'The Daughters of Fire,' currently playing on @mubi. 'it´s so sensational that I asked Professor Deborah Shaw, a specialist... Continue Reading →

Ginette Vincendeau – Part II

Below is the second part of a two-part podcast with Ginette Vincendeau on Jean Gabin, which picks up a little before the first part ended. Once Gabin returned to top stardom in France in ´54/55, what values did he represent/signify? Does he mean something different in France than abroad? What is it and why? Is... Continue Reading →

Ginette Vincendeau – Part 1

The first of two podcasts with the great Ginette Vincendeau on the great Jean Gabin. I´ve always been a fan of Gabin´s but my interest in him was revived by the 'Jean Gabin: The Man With Blue Eyes' retrospective curated by Edouard Waintrop at the 1919 Il Cinema Ritrovatto  in Bologna,  where aside from more... Continue Reading →

John Gibbs

https://soundcloud.com/user-766042506/interview-with-john-gibbs-on-mise-en-scene-and-videographic-criticism   I´m an admirer of  John Gibbs' work on the ´Long Take,´on mise-en-scène, and on style-based criticism; on his careful consideration of the implications of various choices on film style; on the ways style and meaning intersect. It´s work that often requires reading of the text in conjunction with viewing, usually before and after,... Continue Reading →

Catherine Grant

Catherine Grant is one of the scholars working in the area of video essays and videographic criticism I most admire. Her work ranges from fan videos to explorations of form, the transnational, queering, interventions into theory, materialising criticism and artistic self-expression. I very much wanted to talk to her about her work and the result... Continue Reading →

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