FEATURES
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
By Geoffrey O’Brien
In Wes Anderson’s fantasia of Old Europe, the sun sets on continental cosmopolitanism, and dark shadows fall
NYMPHOMANIAC
By Jonathan Romney
The two-part chronicle of a female sex addict is the latest vehicle for master provocateur Lars von Trier’s formal explorations
ALBERT SERRA
By Manuel Yáñez-Murillo
Spain’s mischievous cinematic alchemist once again transforms classical literature into Modernist minimalism with Story of My Death
THE SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHY LAB
By Irina Leimbacher
An innovative Harvard University program’s dynamic audiovisual experiments from Sweetgrass to Manakamana
AUTEUR THEORY 2014
By Kent Jones
Debunking some critical fallacies of post-Sarris auteurism
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS & A HIJACKING
By Chris Norris
You are there: two fundamentally different and equally gripping treatments of modern-day piracy
THE 39TH ANNUAL GROSSES GLOSS
By Donald Wilson
Show us the metrics! The inexorable advance of video on demand continues, but the revenue figures remain elusive.
Plus: Michael Berry on China and Hollywood
DEPARTMENTS
Editor’s Letter
OPENING SHOTS
News, Hot Property: Aleksei German’s Hard to Be a God by Nicolas Rapold, Alex Cox’s 10,000 Ways to Die: Le Deuxième Souffle, Site Specifics: The Seventh Art by Violet Lucca, Trivial Top 20®: Best Night Movies, Restoration Row by Max Nelson
READERS’ POLL
Your top choices from 2013
CRITICS’ CHOICE
Eight critics rate 25 new releases
OLAF’S WORLD
Yves Boisset by Olaf Möller
ENCORE
Raúl Ruiz’s Life Is a Dream and The Blind Owl by Jonathan Robbins
SOUND & VISION
Michael Snow by Amy Taubin and Matthew Barney’s River of Fundament by Margaret Barton-Fumo
FESTIVALS
Sundance by Amy Taubin and Laura Kern and Rotterdam by Gavin Smith
SCREENINGS
The Unknown Known by Jennifer Dworkin, Interior. Leather Bar. by Nathan Lee, Journey to the West by Grady Hendrix, Enemy by José Teodoro, Only Lovers Left Alive by Amy Taubin
SHORT TAKES
Blue Ruin by Laura Kern, Cheap Thrills by Violet Lucca, It Felt Like Love by Violet Lucca, The Missing Picture by Nicolas Rapold, Under the Skin by Nicolas Rapold, Le Week-End by Eric Hynes
HOME MOVIES
The Counselor by Amy Taubin, The Postman Always Rings Twice by Frank Ombres, The Fantastic Mr. Fox by David Filipi, Nostalghia by Chuck Stephens, The Year of the Cannibals (I cannibali) by Michael Chaiken, A Brief History of Time by Morgan Wilcock, Many Wars Ago (Uomini contro) by Jared Eisenstat, The Stuart Hall Project by Patrick Friel, Foreign Correspondent by Max Nelson, Deseret & Four Corners by David Gregory Lawson
READINGS
Joe Dante edited by Nil Baskar and Gabe Klinger, reviewed by Leah Churner; Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins by Noah Isenberg, reviewed by Michael Joshua Rowin; The Sky Between the Leaves: Film reviews, essays & interviews 1992-2012 by David Walsh, reviewed by Michael Pattison; Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store by Daniel Herbert, reviewed by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
GRAPHIC DETAIL
Anselmo Ballester by Adrian Curry
