FEATURES
THE DECALOGUE
By Michael Wilmington
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s monumental 1988-89 series inspired by the Ten Commandments gets a US video release at last.
MANNY FARBER
By Kent Jones
He used to argue movies with James Agee, can still go toe-to-toe with Pauline Kael, and has influenced every American film critic with a pulse in the past half-century. His landmark collection Negative Space was reissued last year in an expanded edition. And when he made a rare trip to Gotham recently, he accepted an award from the New York Film Critics Circle, the guy he most wanted to talk with was our own Kent Jones.
AL PACINO
By Kathleen Murphy
Sidney Lumet, who directed him to two of his eight Oscar nominations in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, recalls that “if the day’s work demanded a lunatic, he was a lunatic all day long.” For its 27th annual Gala, the Film Society of Lincoln Center honors Michael Corleone and Richard III, Lowell Bergman and Ricky Roma, Carlito Brigante and Tony Montana, Lion and Sonny and Lefty Ruggiero, and by all means Al Pacino.
JOHN FORD AND THE BLACK AMERICANS
By Armond White
Judge Priest, The Sun Shines Bright, Sergeant Rutledge: John Ford held America’s feet to the fire in matters of race consciousness. Plus, the DGA vs. D.W.G. (Griffith, that is.)
GROSSES GLOSS
By Jeffrey Spaulding
The inside story on the ’99 box office.
FEARLESS
By Andrew Lewis Conn
Remember Peter Weir’s great 1993 movie with Jeff Bridges as the survivor of an air crash? You should.
MONTE HELLMAN
By Chuck Stephens
Monte Hellman has been the stuff of cinematic legend since 1966 when, under the aegis of scholckmeister-general Roger Corman, he and Jack Nicholson collaborated on a pair of utterly unprecedented absurdist westerns, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, completing both in a matter of days and forever changing the genre, not to mention the artistic parameters of no-budget, on-location filmmaking. Alas, legends don’t necessarily show up even as a blip on the Hollywood radar, so such enigmatic, eloquent, often brilliant, always inimitable films as Two Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, China 9/Liberty 37, and Iguana have emerged sporadically, with limited-to-nonexistent theatrical release. Here’s what some of them are like.
OSCAR PREDIX
Kevin Spacey or Denzel? Brandon Teena or Teena Brandon? American Beauty on an enchanted wind, or is it that The Cider House Rules? Our fearless forecasters scope out what will (not necessarily should) bring home the gold come March 26.
IAN HART
By Mark Olsen
The End of the Affair boasts an unimprovable cast, yet ever in that exalted company many consider Hart, in the supporting role of the ineffably tender and haplessly diligent private detective, to be the standout. A remarkable, still-young career, submitted for your approval by Mark Olsen.
DEPARTMENTS
EDITOR’S CHAIR
Richard T. Jameson’s final editor’s note
CRITICS CHOICE
8 critics rate 25 new releases
DISTRIBUTOR WANTED
Martín Rejtman’s Silvia Prieto, a deliciously pixilated comedy from Argentina, by Robert Horton
FESTIVALS
Sundance by Gavin Smith and Rachel Rosen
LETTERS
QUICKIES
American Psycho by Gavin Smith, The Wind Will Carry Us by Kent Jones, The Virgin Suicides by Chris Chang, The Idiots by David Sterritt, Orphans by Justine Elias.
VIDI VIDI VIDI
Perfect Blue by Gavin Smith, Hot Boyz by Nicole Armour
FSLC “SEEN”
Who’s who at recent Film Society events
