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November-December 2011

Alexander Payne, Kim Longinotto, film novelizations, François Truffaut, British miserablism, George Kuchar, Ruben Östlund’s Play, Wim Wenders's Pina, reviews of The Artist, The Skin I Live In, Tomboy, Shame + Sleeping Beauty, Edward L. Cahn

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Featured Articles

Issue Details

FEATURES

ALEXANDER PAYNE
By Scott Foundas
A connoisseur of discontent and mid-life crisis American-style outdoes himself with The Descendants

PINA
By Deborah Jowitt
Wim Wenders captures the convulsive choreography of the late Pina Bausch

KIM LONGINOTTO
By Nicolas Rapold
In Pink Saris, her portrait of a women’s rights activist in rural India, this English filmmaker continues to represent the underrepresented

MISERY CINEMA
By Graham Fuller
British cinema’s ongoing fixation with wretched lives, bleak circumstances, and all things depressing

FILM NOVELIZATIONS
By Grady Hendrix
A brief history and consideration of a singularly cinematic literary genre

FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
By Richard Combs
Delving into the dark side of the Novelle Vague’s poster boy

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR’S LETTER

OPENING SHOTS
News, Hot Property: Ruben Östlund’s Play by Chris Chang, Alex Cox’s 10,000 Ways to Die: Basil Dearden’s All Night LongSite Specifics: Art of the Title by Jesse P. Finnegan, Carrie Fisher’s Guilty Pleasures

FADE OUT
George Kuchar by Chuck Stephens

SOUND & VISION
Dragonslayer by Chris Chang & James Franco by Wesley Morris

CRITICS’ CHOICE
Eight critics rate 25 new releases

FURTHER RESEARCH
Dave Kehr on Edward L. Cahn

FESTIVALS
Venice by Olaf Möller, Vancouver by Chuck Stephens, Toronto by Marc Olsen, Nicole Armour, and Gavin Smith, and Locarno by Chris Darke

SCREENINGS
Coriolanus by Tony Pipolo, The Artist by Laura Kern, Pariah by Ina Archer, The Skin I Live In by José Teodoro

SHORT TAKES
Carnage
by Nicolas Rapold, Eames: The Architect & the Painter by Chris Chang, Into the Abyss by Nicolas Rapold, Shame + Sleeping Beauty by Laura Kern, Tomboy by Chris Chang

HOME MOVIES
Ken Loach at the BBC by Graham Fuller, The Nickel Ride by R. Emmet Sweeney,  Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown by Jonathan Robbins, Island of Lost Souls by Margaret Barton-Fumo, Three Amigos! by Sarah Mankoff, Brighton Rock by David Louis Zuckerman, Limitless by Chris Chang, Identification of a Woman by Violet Lucca, Sleep Furiously by Nicolas Rapold

READINGS
Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow, reviewed by Phillip Lopate; Believing Is Seeing (Observations on the Mysteries of Photography) by Errol Morris, reviewed by Chris Chang; Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares by John Landis, reviewed by Laura Kern

CLOSING SHOTS
Who’s who at recent Film Society events

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES

Interview: Paddy Considine by Graham Fuller

Festivals: Reykjavik by Laura Kern