NYC Film Critic

I’m Still Here
Directed by Casey Affleck
Starring Joaquin Phoenix
**

I haven’t had a chance to write much about it, but my favorite film of the year so far is Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop, a serio-comic documentary chronicling the rise of the street art movement over the past decade or so.  One of the reasons that I love the film so much is that it can be processed in two very different ways; if, on the one hand, you accept that everyone in the movie is on the level, than Gift Shop plays like a livelier version of one of those traditional “history of…” documentaries, giving viewers a detailed account of street art’s evolution from an after-hours activity to a booming business.  But if you, like me, believe that the movie’s central character (a French filmmaker who goes from documenting the exploits of real street artists to staging his own elaborate shows under the moniker Mr. Brainwash) is a creation dreamed up by the director and his cohorts, than the movie becomes a grand stunt that fits squarely into the street art tradition.  Either way you choose to view it—straightforward doc or prankish mock—Exit Through the Gift Shop is funny, insightful and truthful…even if it plays around with the exact definition of “truth.”

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Clear Blue Tuesday
Directed by Elizabeth Lucas
Starring Becca Ayers, Julie Danao-Salkin, Vedant Gokhale, Robi Hager, Erin Hill.
**

I hate to sound like a pessimist, but Elizabeth Lucas probably set herself up for failure with Clear Blue Tuesday, an indie movie musical that attempts to deal with the impact of September 11, 2001 on the lives of 11 New Yorkers.  For the record, the film’s chief problem isn’t its choice of subject matter.  While 9/11 may seem like an incongruous subject for a musical, I’m willing to bet that there’s a supremely talented composer out there who could find a way to effectively explore the events and feelings provoked by that day and its aftermath through song.  (After all, until Stephen Sondheim came along, who would have guessed that a great musical could be mined from the subject of presidential assassinations?)

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The Grindhouse trailer Machete becomes a full-length feature with mixed results.  Read my review over at Film Journal.

George Clooney teams up with photographer-turned-filmmaker Anton Corbijn to make a homage to the Euro-thrillers of yesteryear.  It’s a movie that has so much going for it–great locations, great cinematography, great pacing–and yet it never really comes together.  Read my review at Film Journal.