Apocalypse Now
Posted in Year in Film

1979 in Film: Seeing Apocalypse Now, Final Cut on the Big Screen

If you haven’t seen Apocalypse Now, you simply haven’t lived. I mean it, it’s truly one of those must-see films, a true classic. This doesn’t…

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Posted in Uncensored

Last Tango in Paris and the Context of Memory

What started with I am Curious Yellow in the late 60s begat 1971’s challenging jamborees such as A Clockwork Orange, WR: Mysteries of the Organism, Ken Russell’s The Devils. 70s auteurs pushed the envelope without remorse – or fear. To experience Last Tango in Paris in the same context in which it first appeared is simply impossible now, but we were ready back then.

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Posted in Genre

Genre Blast: The Play’s the Thing – From Stage to Screen

When a powerful play is adapted to incorporate some of the technical features possible with film, the end result can be transporting. A savvy director and crew will mine the dramatic work for opportunities to maneuver the camera in such a way as to take the audience out of their seats and place them in the middle of the action (just as one would with any other film genre). The playwright’s words should not be treated as a wall that defines the boundaries of the film, but as a door that opens into another medium of expression.

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