Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Breach, Billy Ray, 2007


Ray's espionage yarn is an engaging, if workmanlike, rendering of America's most egregious security gaffe. Taut direction, efficient scripting, and an otherwise capable cast work to overcome Ryan Phillippe's uninspired lead performance.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Au Coeur du Mensonge (The Color of Lies), Claude Chabrol, 1999


This small town police procedural, centering on a set of strange murders in an otherwise quiet coastal village, is no more or less than another solid entry in the remarkably consistent Chabrol filmography.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Pocketcinephile 2006 Top 10 @ Senses of Cinema

Art Variables and Life Variables in La Belle Noiseuse


A tremendous examination of the Rivette film (recently profiled on pocketcinephile), can be found in the new issue of Senses of Cinema.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

La Belle Noiseuse, Jacques Rivette, 1991


Rivette, epic poet of the Nouvelle Vague and long an observer of the creative process, here trains his lens on a painter's stuggle with his masterwork. At nearly four hours, Rivette's is a decidely deliberate, yet remarkably focused work with Michel Piccoli and Emmanuelle Beart impressively inhabiting the respective skins of artist and muse.