Films

The revolution introduced me to art, and art, in its own turn, brought me to the revolution.

Sergei Eisenstein

Sunday, 25 July 2021 08:35

Civilising the feminist icon: Wonder Woman (2017)

Written by Charlotte Dick

in Films

Charlotte Dick criticises the 2017 film Wonder Woman, a troubling example of how 'feminists' are civilisng women, black and brown bodies to suit white, male fantasies Ravenously scanning streaming platforms, I spy Wonder Woman (2017) – brawny women demolishing men with golden whips, what’s not to love? The film’s prelude…

Feminism Sexism

Monday, 19 July 2021 15:33

Cannes and Covid go together like a horse and carriage

Written by Dennis Broe

in Films

Dennis Broe concludes his review of the Cannes Film Festival Another Cannes Film Festival is in the books and this one, which Variety labelled “Red Carpet Done Right” and The Hollywood Reporter hoped would “kick off a global comeback” for the film industry in a return to a “New Normal,”…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 11 July 2021 17:32

Artwashing at Cannes film festival: 'The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity'

in Films

Written by Dennis Broe

Dennis Broe is unimpressed by the artwashing at this year's film festival at Cannes. Image above: Lou Reed et. al. in Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground It may be a bit cruel starting with Yeats’ criticism of his era in his epic poem The Second Coming but unfortunately it is…

The Velvet Underground Lou Reed Gravedigger's Wife Murina Annette The Employer and The Employee

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 04 March 2021 11:42

'Towards a social order worthy of the human race': Rosa Luxemburg's 150th anniversary

in Films

Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell presents and discusses Margarethe von Trotta’s film about Rosa Luxemburg On 5 March 2021, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg’s birth. No one who wishes to get a sense of Rosa Luxemburg as a person, both political and private, will regret watching Margarethe von Trotta’s meticulously…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 02 November 2020 20:51

The Dialectical Image

in Films

Written by Mike Wayne

Mike Wayne introduces his new film essay The Dialectical Image is a film essay about experience and the aesthetic. I say 'the' aesthetic because I am not so much concerned with the variety of aesthetic strategies that one can find in say a given medium, like film, as the kind…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 20 July 2020 08:31

Building a dissident film culture

in Films

Written by Deirdre ONeill

Deirdre O'Neill, in the latest in the series of Culture Matters/Morning Star articles on the effects of Covid-19 on culture, sketches out the argument for developing a new, dissident approach to film-making ‘For us, film is the most important of the arts’ - Lenin in 1919 The Covid-19 pandemic has…

Monday, 22 June 2020 09:18

Da 5 Bloods: Black Lives Matter Meets Rambo

Written by Dennis Broe

in Films

Dennis Broe reviews Spike Lee's new film Spike Lee’s new film for Netflix, Da 5 Bloods, about the effects of the Vietnam War on African-American soldiers, opens spectacularly. A documentary sequence begins with Muhammed Ali detailing why he chooses not to fight: “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my…

Spike Lee Netflix

Thursday, 04 June 2020 18:18

Allegories of the end of capitalism

Written by Mike Wayne

in Films

Mike Wayne reviews Allegories of The End of Capitalism: Six Films on the Revolutions of Our Times, by Milo Sweedler, Zero Books 2020 Milo Sweedler’s book is an unfailingly interesting and indeed fun read from start to finish. Focusing on six films which conjure with various images of revolt against…

Wednesday, 03 June 2020 15:28

Back in Old New York

Written by Rita Di Santo

in Films

Rita di Santo reviews Woody Allen's new film, A Rainy Day in New York, with a good deal of scepticism “Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here.”…

Woody Allen Not very good lost the plot

Monday, 04 May 2020 11:41

Challenging and politically-minded: the Visions du Réel documentary film festival

Written by Phil Hobbins-White

in Films

Phil Hobbins-White reports on the Visions du Réel documentary festival Switzerland’s Visions du Réel is one of the country’s oldest film festivals, yet this year, like many other film festivals, it needed to move online in order to happen at all. Featuring films from all over the world, Visions is…