Lady Murasaki Shikibu has bestowed upon readers a true masterpiece: the world’s first novel. She painted a florid yet sardonic picture of courtly life in Heian-Era Japan, particularly among the concubines of one Genji Hikaru. The son of Emperor Kiritsubo and his favorite consort, Genji is your typical spoiled brat with mommy issues. Symbolically, he manages to outdo Oedipus, himself. Why symbolically? By sheer fate, … Continue reading The Prince You Love to Hate
Mishima Yukio’s final body of work is his most famous and arguably, the most controversial. The Sea of Fertility meticulously outlines the author’s intentions to restore the order and glory of Japan. Mishima took upon himself the task of what he believed to be saving the nation from corruption and decay. The second book, Runaway Horses, reads like a manifesto, especially through the eyes of Isao … Continue reading The Biblical Allegory of Mishima’s *Runaway Horses*
Zhang Yimou’s wuxia epic, Hero, draws parallels between a fictionalized conflict in Zhou-dynasty China and the Orion myth. Nameless: The orphaned wuxia master, who attempts, then thwarts, the assassination of Qin Shihuangdi. Emperor Qin is a composite expy of Zeus and of Onopion: Merope’s father and Orion’s father-in-law. Flying Snow and Broken Sword: wuxia champions, former classmates, trained assassins, lovers pitted against each other. Emperor Qin … Continue reading Allusions to Greek Mythology in Zhang Yimou’s *Hero*
Feature Film Prize Goes to The Pod Generation, Grantees Honored at Reception during the 2023 Sundance Film Festival at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance Institute Science-in-Film initiative with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation celebrated this year’s Feature Film Prize winner The Pod Generation directed by Sophie Barthes and the recipients of three artist grants for three projects in development at a reception following the Appetite for Construction panel at Filmmaker Lodge. The … Continue reading Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Sundance Institute Award Recipients for Science in Film Initiative
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today the co-chairs for The Costume Institute Benefit on May 1, 2023, in New York. Michaela Coel, Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, and Anna Wintour will serve as the evening’s co-chairs. The dress code for the event will be “In honor of Karl.” The Benefit (also known as The Met Gala®) takes place annually on the first Monday … Continue reading The Met Announces Co-Chairs for the Spring 2023 Costume Institute Benefit
Additional Institute and Partner Programming to Round Out Public Offerings at Festival The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the lineup for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival Beyond Film conversations, all of which are open to the public. Made up of three series called Power of Story, Cinema Café, and The Big Conversation, Beyond Film rounds out the Festival experience, providing a place for the community to engage through artist … Continue reading 2023 Sundance Film Festival To Go “Beyond Film”Lineup of Conversations Announced
Razzennest Rating: 7/10 Director: Johannes Grenzfurthner Writer: Johannes Grenzfurthner Style: Comedy/Horror/Satire Time: 81 minutes Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIuF40DRsXI Review by Mike Szymanski Just when you think all the innovative stuff was done involving found-footage films, or all-devices movies, there comes something truly unique and innovative that will bite you in the fettasna and tickle your roligben. That’s this movie “Razzennest” which is German for “rat’s nest” but it also incorporates Swedish … Continue reading ‘Razzennest’ Is the Funniest, Scariest Movie You’ll Ever Listen To
Detective Knight: Independence Rating: 9/10 Director: Edward John Drake Writer: Edward John Drake Style: Action/Crime Thriller Time: 90 minutes Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt-hyQE-sIA Rated: R Review by Mike Szymanski This crime thriller trilogy of the Detective Knight series is a fitting finale to Bruce Willis’s action movie career. Of course, everyone hopes and expects Willis to conquer his aphasia, which is a language disorder that affects a person’s … Continue reading Capping Off Bruce Willis’s Action Career with Satisfying ‘Independence’
Take Care of Yourself Philip Martin Gallery is proud to present, “Take Care of Yourself,” a solo exhibition of new oil-on-canvas paintings by New Orleans-based artist Sophie Treppendahl. With a keen sense of observation and stillness, Treppendahl’s work creates a narrative on the passage of time. These vivid depictions of simple moments are sourced from the artist’s own life experiences, photographs and drawings. Treppendahl’s lush use … Continue reading Artist Sophie Treppendah
The lineup for Narrative Features Competition, Documentary Features Competition, Breakouts, and Unstoppable features for the 29th Slamdance Film Festival. With titles hailing from all over the globe and jam-packed with premieres, the 2023 festival continues the legacy of discovering fresh and influential new voices. NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION: The Girl Who Was Cursed – (The Netherlands) North American PremiereDirector: Zara Dwinger; Screenwriter: Zara Dwinger; Producers: Layla Meijman & … Continue reading Feature Lineup for Slamdance 2023
Evening To Celebrate Independent Storytelling and Raise Funds for the Institute’s Year-Round Work; Tickets On Sale Now The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the Grammy Award-winning folk rock duo Indigo Girls will perform at Opening Night: A Taste of Sundance presented by IMDbPro on January 19 in Park City. The band will also premiere their new documentary, It’s Only Life After All at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Opening Night: A Taste of Sundance … Continue reading Indigo Girls to Perform at Sundance Institute’sOpening Night: A Taste of Sundance Presented by IMDbPro
Very few movies cut you open so finely so soon just by knowing the downward drop of the third act. This is one of them. And what’s for better and for worse is that it’s a documentary. The real evidence of a young life, crashing into the colorless void, not because it was time but because the passing of time was too much. By Austin … Continue reading My Sister Liv: Exactly What We Need More of In Film
January 26–April 16, 2023Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, Galleries 691–693, The Charles Z. Offin Gallery, Karen B. Cohen Gallery, and Harriette and Noel Levine Gallery Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art explores the period formerly known as the Danish Golden Age, a name that belies the economic and political hardships the dwindling Danish Kingdom experienced in the nineteenth century. Denmark suffered through the Napoleonic … Continue reading Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art
The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the comprehensive slate of independent films selected across the feature film categories for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The 2023 Festival will take place January 19–29, 2023, in person in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, along with a selection of films available online across the country January 24–29, 2023. Festivalgoers will once again return to theaters … Continue reading 2023 Sundance Film Festival Lineup of 99 Feature Films
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.~ Albert Einstein Wishing you and yours health, prosperity, and happiness in the New Year ahead. The past year has had its fair share of ups and downs, but good or bad, these experiences have shaped who we are today and who we will be in the future. As a wise person once said, “Life isn’t about … Continue reading Wishing You A Very Happy New Year
64 Short Films and 4 Indie Episodic Projects to Debut at the FestivalSchedule of In-Person and Online Screenings Now Live! the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the Short Films and Indie Episodic projects selected for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. For in-person attendees, Indie Episodic works will have individual premieres and Shorts will screen in curated programs. Beginning January 24, all Indie Episodic projects and selected Shorts … Continue reading 2023 Sundance Film Festival Announces Short Film and Indie Episodic Program Lineup
Now though September 10, 2023 Afro-Atlantic Histories charts the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies in the African diaspora. Through a series of dialogues across time, the exhibition features artworks produced in Africa, Europe, and the Americas in the last four centuries to reexamine—from a global perspective—histories and stories of enslavement, resilience, and the struggle for liberation. The exhibition is organized around six groupings: Maps and … Continue reading Afro-Atlantic Histories
Evening will Celebrate Independent Storytelling and Raise Funds for the Institute’s Year-Round Work; Tickets on Sale Now The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced that Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino will receive the International Icon Award at Opening Night: A Taste of Sundance presented by IMDbPro on January 19 in Park City. Guadagnino will join previously announced honorees of the evening, Ryan Coogler, W. Kamau Bell, and Nikyatu Jusu. The 2023 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 19–29, 2023, … Continue reading Sundance Institute Announces Luca Guadagnino to Receive International Icon Award at Opening Night: A Taste of Sundance Presented by IMDbPro
Exhibition will reunite iconic paintings—including Wheat Field with Cypresses and The Starry Night—and other rarely, if ever, lent works to offer an unprecedented perspective on Van Gogh’s fascination with the flamelike trees The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that a groundbreaking exhibition of some 40 works by Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) will be on view at The Met Fifth Avenue from May 22 through August 27, 2023. Van … Continue reading The Met Announces First Exhibition to Focus on Vincent van Gogh’s Cypresses
Toxic Impulses Rating: 8/10 Director: Kyle Schadt Writer: Kyle Schadt Style: Thriller Time: 89 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peAqVQjqspU Review by Mike Szymanski “Toxic Impulses” is truly one of the best examples of a modern film noir thriller than any movie that has been made in a long time. Film noir (or “dark film” in French) is characterized by stark lighting, unkempt anti-heroes, twisting plot lines, and heavy … Continue reading You Will Want to Give in to These ‘Toxic Impulses’
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