By Cathleen Rountree

Upon first meeting one of the great humanist filmmakers, Hirokazu Kore-eda, last September at the Toronto International Film Festival, I was struck by his modesty and peacefulness, characteristics embodied also by Soza (Junichi Okada), the reluctant swordsman/hero in Kore-eda.s most recent film Hana, screening this week at SFIFF. An aficionada of his four previous films: Maborosi (1996), After Life (1999), Distance (2002), and Nobody Knows (2004), I was ecstatic at the opportunity to meet and speak with this foremost world cinema director, who, as far as I.m concerned, should be considered one of Japan.s Living Treasures.

Continue Reading Hirokazu Kore-eda: Syncing Up with the After Life

By Jonathan Marlow

On the occasion of the U.S. Premiere of Les Blank.s latest documentary, All in this Tea, at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Jonathan Marlow spoke with the remarkably accomplished filmmaker about his legendary career. What follows is the first of two parts.

The San Francisco International Film Festival is underway! Click here for more info.

Continue Reading Les Blank: Tea for Two

By Sean Axmaker

"'Everyone has his reasons,' that famous quote from the inexhaustible 1939 masterpiece The Rules of the Game, has been the standard critical stamp on the work of Jean Renoir. Every individual in a Renoir film is a unique person whom Renoir attempts to understand, or at least make understood to us," says Sean Axmaker in his article about the French master's films and characters. A special three disc Collector's Edition featuring some of Renoirs finest works is now available on DVD.

Continue Reading Jean Renoir: Master of the Game

Helen Mirren won a well-deserved Oscar for her fully dimensionalized portrayal of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II during the Princess Di years, while Michael Sheen will make you wish he really were Tony Blair. It's a "politically shrewd, unexpectedly funny yet immaculately tasteful docudrama," wrote LA Weekly's Scott Foundas.

(Read on:)

Continue Reading The Queen: Mirren rules

The absolutely bonkers Thai melodrama-Western Tears of the Black Tiger, finally out in a legit DVD release after a few years of bootlegs, "has a tendency to overextend its outrageous arias," noted Sean Axmaker in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "but this pop-art confection both spoofs and celebrates the crazy conventions of movie melodramas and genre cinema with pure affection."

It's a "a delightfully unabashed affair, conceived in such good, giddy spirits it might have been called Blissfully Yours," adds Nathan Lee of the Village Voice.

Continue Reading Tears of the Black Tiger: Fit to be Thai

You take the good, you take the bad, and there you have the... DVDs for this week. But any week offering both an Oscar winning performance and two (!) releases by the Brothers Quay is a good week.

It's also a good week for docs, political and otherwise, as you'll see.

Read on, MacDuff.

Continue Reading New on DVD: April 24, 2007

Overlord is just on DVD today, and here's Criterion with more: "Seamlessly interweaving archival war footage and a fictional narrative, Stuart Cooper’s immersive account of one twenty-year-old’s journey from basic training to the front lines of D-day brings all the terrors and isolation of war to life with jolting authenticity. Overlord, impressionistically shot by Stanley Kubrick’s longtime cinematographer John Alcott, is both a document of World War II and a dreamlike meditation on man’s smallness in a large, incomprehensible machine."

Continue Reading Overlord: Overlooked

Last King of Scotland: Forest Whitaker won an Oscar for his absolutely riveting portrayal of the charismatic Ugandan president-dictator Idi Amin. Based on the book by Giles Foden, it centers on the Scot who would gradually learn the horror of Amin's ways while serving as his doctor. "The film is phenomenally well directed by Kevin MacDonald and edited by Justine Wright to bring out every bit of scary volatility in the most casual interactions," wrote David Edelstein on Slate. ...

Continue Reading Last King of Scotland: A Forest Whitaker tour de force

Whether it's the film business' way of helping alleviate the pain of Tax Day, or just a coincidence, today is a good day for new releases.

Two interesting crime titles (one older, one newer) from Criterion, who also brings us an undeservedly obscure war film; a film based on a real life heroic teacher; an Oscar winning actor's unforgettable performance as Idi Amin; two Oscar-nominated actresses in one "scandalous" film, and hey now! One of the funniest American shows of the 90s. And don't forget a collection of previously unreleased documentaries by Louis Malle.

All this and much more, in today's new (and coming) release list.

Continue Reading New on DVD: April 17, 2007

New York Times critic Bowsley Crowther called The Jackie Robinson Story, back in 1950: "A frank and familiar pursual of the old pluck-and-luck routine, with the hero smacking a grand-slam off Jim Crow in the ninth. What is surprising, however, is the sincerity of the dramatization and the integrity of Mr. Robinson playing himself... [It is] re-enacted with manifest fidelity and conspicuous dramatic restraint. And Mr. Robinson, doing that rare thing of playing himself in the picture's leading role, displays a calm assurance and composure that might be envied by many a Hollywood star." Now, in honor of the anniversary of one of the most important days in the American civil rights movement, when Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier, GreenCine is proud to offer The Jackie Robinson Story, on-demand, on GreenCine.

Also available to rent.

Continue Reading 60 years ago today: The Jackie Robinson Story