FEATURES
THE HOLY GIRL
By Kent Jones
Lucrecia Martel’s second offering
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
By Chris Norris
The Marathon Man, still running
HIROKAZU KORE-EDA
By Chuck Stephens
A closer look at Japan’s gentle iconoclast
JOHNNY STACCATO
By J. Hoberman
John Cassavetes’s eccentric 1959 TV vehicle resurfaces
BULLE OGIER
By Gary Indiana
A French icon of the unconventional
AMITABH BACHCHAN
By David Chute
Bollywood’s ultimate superstar
2004 GROSSES GLOSS
By Donald Wilson
Our annual box-office postmortem
DEPARTMENTS
EDITOR’S LETTER
OPENING SHOTS
News, Distributor Wanted: Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Café Lumière by Amy Taubin, Guy Maddin’s Jolly Corner: Midnight, Guilty Pleasures by Simon Pegg & Nick Frost
CRITICS’ CHOICE
Eight critics review 25 new releases
READERS BEST FILMS OF 2004 POLL
Plus: your comments
FADE OUT
Elliot Schulman and Susan Sontag by Joanne Koch
FIRST LOOK
The Case of the Grinning Cat by Chris Darke
SOUND & VISION
Su-Mei Tse’s Echo by Chris Chang & Paul Pfeiffer’s Empire by Nathan Lee (plus: an interview with Pfeiffer)
OLAF’S WORLD
Rogério Sganzerla by Olaf Möller
FESTIVALS
Sundance by Amy Taubin (plus: online-only coverage), Rachel Rosen, Alice Lovejoy, and Gavin Smith; Rotterdam by Chuck Stephens, Olaf Möller
SCREENINGS
Gunner Palace by Paul Arthur, Melinda and Melinda by Nathan Lee, Kung Fu Hustle by Sam Ho, Save the Green Planet by Chuck Stephens
READINGS
The Whole Equation by David Thomson, reviewed by Thom Andersen
IN BRIEF
Splendor in the Short Grass: A Grover Lewis Reader edited by Jan Reid and W.K. Stratton, reviewed by Chris Chang, It’s Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock: A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler, reviewed by Elise Mac Adam; Fassbinder über Fassbinder edited by Robert Fischer, reviewed by Olaf Möller
HOME MOVIES
L’Eclisse by Gavin Smith, The House Is Black by J. Hoberman, Incident at Loch Ness by Chris Chang, Moloch by Kent Jones, Angel Guts collection by Travis Crawford, Hanzo the Razor: The Longest Arm of the Law by Chuck Stephens
CLOSING SHOTS
Who’s who at recent Film Society Events
