Tally of current & ongoing series & festivals, plus some handy-dandy links for those who missed the screening of Carl Michael von Hausswold and Thomas Nordanstad’s short film Hashima, Japan 2002, about the abandoned isle & mining mini-town that’s been decaying under the raw elements for the past 30 years. Also of note: link to Rue Morgue’s interview with Mark Miller, who championed the restoration of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed.
Early tally of current film festivals at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (Robert Bresson, Nicholas Ray, wacky Soviet era sci-fi), the imminent Human Rights Watch Film Festival, AND Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale at The Projection Booth to help launch Anchor Bay’s Battle Royale megaset, plus the world premiere of Richard Powell and Zach Green’s short film Familiar.
Classic films & Cageian extremes continue at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, ballet tiptoes to the NFB Mediatheque, authentic Japanese kabuki is broadcast in HD at Cineplex’s Front Row Centre Events, the Bloor Cinema is set to reopen in March, and Abel Gance’s Napoleon returns to the big screen in a 4-day engagement because Francis Coppola saw the widsom.
As the TIFF Bell Lightbox begins its latest retro – a full-on salute to French filmmaker Robert Bresson – I’ve added a review of A Man Escaped (1956). Also noted: screenings in town, those that ‘hate’ Toronto, Rob Ford’s ‘irrelevant’ fixation, and the latest Lucasified indulgence that no one seems to care about.
Quick recap of this weekend’s interesting (to me) screenings, plus NASA’s video of the Dark Side of the Moon, and the Ontario Government’s decision to shut down most of Ontario Place forthwith, henceforce, herewith, and now, with the future of world’s first permanent IMAX theatre – the Cinesphere – up in the air.
Now Where Were We? Right. Let’s go back to LAST NIGHT (1998)
Don McKellar’s LAST NIGHT (1998) is the first review after a long pause in activities at KQEK.com
Gothic Steele: An Angel for Satan (1966)
Review of AN ANGEL FOR SATAN / UN ANGELO PER SATANA (1966), Barbara Steele’s last Italian Gothic, on Blu-ray from Severin Films
Spanish Giallo I: When a Cannibal is not a Cannibal, but When a Scream is Indeed a Scream
Severin Films showcases the work of Eloy de la Iglesia via two fine Spanish gialli entries: NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973) + CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
ArtScopeTO 10: Interview with Abstract Painter Donna Wise
For my occasional podcast series ArtScope TO, Abstract Painter Donna Wise discusses her unique techniques, and working during the 2020-2021 pandemic.
Podcast: Jason Pichonsky on Restoring Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + PHOBIA (1980)
Alongside a podcast with CanCon film historian Jason Pichonsky are revised reviews of Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + John Huston’s PHOBIA (1980), both from KINO Lorber / Unobstructed View.
Podcast: ANNE WITH AN E composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner
Podcast interview with ANNE WITH AN E’s composing team Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Assorted characters collide and interact in the lead-up to Earth’s demise at precisely midnight.
BR: Angel for Satan, An / Un angelo per Satana (1966)
Had Barbara Steele remained in Europe – especially Italy – during the early 1970s, she may well have appeared in giallo thrillers…
BR: Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino / Apartment on the 13th Floor, The (1972)
Cannibal Man has a palpable crime-drama feel – the events unfold after daily title cards – and one can sense Hitchcockian sensibilities…
BR: No One Heard the Scream / Nadie oyó gritar (1973)
After the grisly thriller Cannibal Man (1972), Spanish auteur Eloy de la Iglesia opted for a far less graphic thriller which is part giallo…
DVD: Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films, The (2014)
Produced and released around the same time as Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), the approach by director Hilla Medalia is a more authorized chronicle…
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