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November-December 2016

40th anniversary of the Steadicam, Molly Haskell on Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, LGBT characters in American cinema, the hidden art of VFX, Kent Jones on the marginalization of cinema, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

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Featured Articles

Issue Details

FEATURES

Steadicam I: Interview
By John Bailey
Garrett Brown, inventor of the body rig that changed the way we see movies—and maybe our world—walks the veteran cinematographer through its legacy

Steadicam II: Essay
By Eric Hynes
It’s not just about smooth moves: from Goodfellas to Boogie Nights to Before Sunset, the device has proven a versatile tool for expressing states of being

Jim Jarmusch on Paterson
By Amy Taubin
Routine matters: the filmmaker reflects on his tale of a bus driver poet and on finding the lyrical in the everyday

Elle
By Molly Haskell
Paul Verhoeven and Isabelle Huppert push their propensity for funny games to its logical endpoint in their latest provocation

Pablo Larraín on Jackie and Neruda
By José Teodoro
The Chilean auteur discusses his new films on the arduous aftermath of JFK’s assassination and the dreamy ambitions of his own country’s star poet

Manchester by the Sea
By Michael Koresky
Kenneth Lonergan returns to the deep well of sadness that informs his singularly grief-stricken American cinema

The Marginalization of Cinema
By Kent Jones
Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated—and miss the thorny truths about how movies are changing

The Art of VFX
By Violet Lucca
Working in the shadows of nearly all the movies you watch are digital craftspeople—an entire class of artisans awaiting recognition

Gay Film Today
By Mark Harris
More Americans are in support of gay rights than ever before. So why are representations of gay characters in contemporary cinema at a withering low?

Poetry and Cinema
By Andrew Chan
Movies are often called poetic, but what does that really mean? Three new films about poets present new readings

Bresson’s Writings
By Dan Sullivan
The ascetic French master showed that his philosophies were as clear on the page as they were on the screen

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS

THE PRE-SHOW | News, views, conversations, and other things to get worked up about
News, Inspired: James Gray on The Lost City of Z, Release Me: Julia Ducournau’s Raw by Nicolas Rapold, Directions: Warren Beatty by Nicolas Rapold, Restoration Row: Albert Lewin’s The Living Idol by Max Nelson, and Peevish

CRITICS’ CHOICE
Five critics rate and comment on new releases

OFF THE PAGE | The art of getting from book to screen
Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women by Durga Chew-Bose

FINEST HOUR | One actor, one performance
Sally Kirkland in Anna by Nick Davis

INSIDE STORIES | Redefining the boundaries of the new-media age
Interactive films by Tyson Kubota

ART AND CRAFT | Filmmaking according to the makers
Sound designer Tom Paul

THE BIG SCREEN | Reviews of notable new films opening in theaters (hopefully near you)
Reviews:
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Nicolas Rapold, Things to Come by Nick Pinkerton, The Love Witch by Violet Lucca, I, Daniel Blake by Michael Koresky

Short Takes: Arrival by Devika Girish, Nocturnal Animals by Genevieve Yue, Old Stone by Mark Asch, The Illinois Parables by Nick Pinkerton, Peter and the Farm by Chris Boeckmann

HOME MOVIES | Cinema spun, streamed, and beamed
Robert Frank Film Works by Nick Pinkerton, The Executioner by José Teodoro, Douglas Sirk x 2: A Scandal in Paris and Lured by Farran Smith Nehme, Anthropoid by Steven Mears, It’s About Time: The Cinema of Lav Diaz by Jonathan Romney, Kubo and the Two Strings by Max Nelson, Slugs by Violet Lucca, the current state of horror streaming by Margaret Barton-Fumo

READINGS | Books about all aspects of filmmaking and film culture
Mary Astor’s Purple Diary by Edward Sorel, reviewed by David Thomson; The Ordinary Man of Cinema by Jean Louis Schefer, translated by Max Cavitch, Paul Grant & Noura Wedell, reviewed by Paul Fileri; Fashion in Film by Christopher Laverty, reviewed by Violet Lucca

GRAPHIC DETAIL | The art of the movie poster
Wiktor Górka by Adrian Curry