Twentyfour seven
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is shaping up as some sort of Prozac exorcist for the evil decade that was Thatcherism. The grasping, atavistic individualism that Old Dutch Reagan peddled to Maggie’s shore now seems a distant memory. And in its place is a rising sense of community spirit, even in communities where the spirit…
Galicja
Spacey without being ethereal, meandering without wandering, eclectic without being cluttered, gentle with a constant presence of forboding: Galicja walks the musical line between cerebral beauty and rock viscera and does it in fine, emotive style employing guitars, cello and a fine touch of rhythm.
Morsel
Ann Arbor’s Morsel has an unusual approach to both electronic and organic music. But the group seems just as savvy manipulating one as the other. On I’m a Wreck, tribal beats pound inside buzzing samples, and doctored vocals pump out of a web of deep bass and airy flutes. The result is no uplifting pop…
Hope Orchestra
Fronted by vocalist Asta Jurgutis, Hope Orchestra sets its sights for beyond the feigned nostalgia of heartland poseurs with songs that embody strength of place and character.
Colours
On paper, drum ‘n’ bass’ promise of a rhythm collision between breakbeat’s rapid-fire fury, reggae’s blunt bass boom and techno’s manic pace sounds almost too good to be true. And, for the most part, it has been. Lukewarm albums by Springheel Jack have proven that, stretched out over an LP (as opposed to freebasing the…
Mother and Son
Russian director Alexander Sokurov’s Mother and Son belongs to and extends the great tradition of the meditative art film as exemplified by the works of Bresson, Antonioni and Tarkovsky — moviemakers with an abiding belief that the exploration of visual qualities intrinsic to the medium yields more elusive (if not profound) meanings than could such…
A Friend of the Deceased
A Friend of the Deceased by Ukrainian director Vyacheslav Krishtofovich marks the end of a six-year hiatus since his acclaimed Adam’s Rib received kudos at Cannes. Unfortunately, Krishtofovich’s choice of material doesn’t show much reflection during that dry spell which mirrors economic and spiritual upheaval in the Ukraine. While registering much of the disaffection that…
He Got Game
For many seasons, filmmaker Spike Lee has seemed content to cast his net of subjects widely, without great focus or even much human interest. He has often trailed gems such as She’s Gotta Have It and Do the Right Thing with flotsam such as Crooklyn or, God forbid, the unbearable Clockers. As Lee’s career approaches…
Les Miserables
Sometimes one asks too much of a film. By the time Valjean (Liam Neeson) and Cosette (Claire Danes) reach a Paris rife with street urchins and toothless peasants on the eve of an uprising, a big musical number seems in order. Fantine (Uma Thurman with British accent and spritzed bust) has just died and Javert…
Village of Dreams
In the suburbs of Kyoto, two fiftysomething artists, identical twins Yukihiko and Seizo, are designing a children’s book. Their illustrations recall their own childhoods in a distant village just after World War II. As the camera moves over the bright colors of the drawings, Village of Dreams begins its evocation of a way of life…
Sliding Doors
In his debut film, writer-director Peter Howitt takes a small, seemingly insignificant moment in a woman’s life and proposes a big “what if?” After getting fired from her posh job at a London public relations firm, a slightly dazed Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) heads for home via the subway. From the stairs, she spies a train…
The art of politics
Sculptor-mayor Gary Zych combines aesthetic vision with a community plan for Hamtramck….
The Big Hit
Hong Kong director Che-Kirk Wong’s The Big Hit hits all of Hollywood’s major marketing foibles at the same time. Wong is the newest action director from John Woo’s hometown to make his North American debut. His superbad producers Woo, Terence Chang and Wesley Snipes turn out the stiffest in multicultural cool with a hugely diverse…
General Chaos: Uncensored Animation
As any thoughtful Akira fan will tell you, animation’s greatest virtue is its ability to do what film cannot. Most animation festivals tend to be jumbled displays of sexual repression and dementia, and Manga Entertainment’s General Chaos: Uncensored Animation isn’t much different. The 21-title collection mostly forgoes technical flashiness and depth to focus on bodily…
Open Your Eyes
Welcome to intellectual science fiction, where a parallel universe isn’t the usual, special effects-created alien landscape, but is comprised of an even more exotic and murky terrain: the untapped recesses of the human mind. In Open Your Eyes (Abre Los Ojos), Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar follows the handsome, callow César (Eduardo Noriega) as his privileged…
Two Girls and a Guy
By paring his latest film down to its basic elements — one set and three actors — writer-director James Toback (Fingers, The Pick-Up Artist) may have been aiming for a kind of emotional directness, a way to strip his characters down to their bare psyches. But what he ends up with is one phenomenal performance,…
