Recent protests have finally ousted longstanding local monuments to Rizzo. The 1978 documentary Amateur Night at City Hall draws out a history of resistance to his brand of white authoritarianism.
Author Archives: Tanner Tafelski
Tanner is a freelance film critic based in New York. You can read his writing archived on his blog, The Mongrel Muse, and you can give him a holler @TTafelski.
Amidst a Global Crisis, Stories of Refugees Striving for Normalcy
Abbas Fahdel’s documentary Bitter Bread turns a compassionate eye on the hardscrabble lives of migrants in Lebanon.
A Director Who Brings New Immediacy to “Fly-on-the-Wall” Filmmaking
Kazuhiro Sôda, whose films are now streaming on OVID, is a key contemporary maker of observational cinema — a stripped-down aesthetic that immerses the viewer in the action unfolding onscreen.
Chantal Akerman’s Painful Final Memoir
Almost four years after her death, My Mother Laughs, the last book by the pioneering director, has been translated into English.
The Knotty Legacy of Weirdo, R. Crumb’s Underground Comix Magazine
A new book chronicles the decade-long run of Weirdo, an oddball magazine founded by the comix world’s enfant terrible.
The Refugee Crisis Seen Through a Heat-Detecting Camera
Richard Mosse’s video installation Incoming gives migrants anonymity while emphasizing their humanity.
How Agnès Varda Continually Reinvented Herself and Her Work
It’s a blow to both the art and film worlds that there will be no more work from this tireless artist.
A Filmmaker’s Journey Through His Mother’s Jamaica
Khalik Allah’s Black Mother looks at maternity as a symbol, using it to understand various subjects in Jamaica.
A Documentarian Who Recorded Nature’s Tiniest Creatures
For his debut film, Minute Bodies, musician turned director Stuart A. Staples has chosen to highlight an all but unknown British documentarian and naturalist.
A Chronicler of Soviet and Post-Soviet Life Blurs Fact and Fiction
At the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look festival, audiences will get to see different sides of Sergei Loznitsa, who examines the past, the present, and where they intersect.
Chris Marker’s Little-Known TV Series on Ancient Greece
Marker’s The Owl’s Legacy presents a complex portrait of Ancient Greece in 13 episodes that revolve around single words.
Jean-Luc Godard’s Latest Film Pushes the Limits of Montage
Godard’s most recent film uses jagged visual and sonic cuts to connect to world and cinematic history.