films
Frederick Wiseman’s ‘City Hall’: Let us now praise democracy
December 15, 2020Director Frederick Wiseman has gifted us with a movie for our times. City Hall is all about democracy—how it works, who does it, and why it is so vital.
Read more
Film, communism, radical politics: A conversation between Boots Riley and Charisse Burden-Stelly
December 1, 2020Simply calling oneself an “anti-capitalist,” Boots Riley reasons, isn't enough. You've got to stake out a position when it comes to an alternative. For him, that alternative is communism.
Read more
Documentary ‘Hopper/Welles’: When ‘Easy Rider’ met ‘Citizen Kane’
October 29, 2020The documentary Hopper/Welles, which screened at the 34th annual AFI Fest, is to film history what 1989’s When Harry Met Sally is to romcoms.
Read more
Modern-day China through Chinese eyes: reviews from Toronto International Film Festival
October 28, 2020U.S. relations with China are possibly at an all-time low, although Washington has opposed the government since the victory of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.
Read more
LGBTQ, homelessness, family, prison at 2020 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
October 26, 2020In what is likely my final report from this year’s Festival, here are more capsule reviews of short films from Hawaii being screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, which is taking place through...
Read more