There’s a story I heard long ago about a particularly outrageous circus sideshow attraction. I don’t remember the promised spectacle, but in any event, what happens is that ticket-buyers are let in one at a time to see the fantastical attraction. Upon seeing it, and realizing they’ve been suckered, the patrons walk out wearing mysterious […]
David Fellerath
Bio: David Fellerath is INDY Week's culture and sports editor.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/dfellerath
Posted inNews
in wild wings
Opening this weekend is the new documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. It tells the story of a homeless, failed musician in San Francisco, and how his life changes when he begins feeding a non-native flock of wild parrots. With its breathtaking meditations on the fragility and persistence of life in a corrupted environment, […]
Posted inNews
in what’s on the horizon
Ever look back and wonder what might have been with that person you met in your youth, for a fleeting hour or two, while traveling abroad? Richard Linklater has taken that conceit and spun two marvelous films out of it. The first, Before Sunrise, was made in 1995 and it introduced us to Ethan Hawke’s […]
Posted inNews
in summer films
For eight years running, a small coterie of Orange County-based lovers of experimental film has brought us the Hi Mom! Film Fest. This year’s program includes half a dozen fine Triangle films mixed in with a very strong lineup of international entries. Always still a loose and unpretentious affair, this year’s program includes a heavier […]
Posted inFilm & Television
A beautiful fight
Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man is a welcome bit of Hollywood counter-programming, a period boxing epic that comes in the brief respite afforded us between The Revenge of the Sith and Batman Begins. The film is a pugilistic Seabiscuit, a film that was released successfully in the middle of 2003’s blockbuster season. And like Seabiscuit, Cinderella […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Not your mother’s film festival
Hi Mom! Film Fest gets serious while retaining its low-fi irreverance In its eighth year running, and wisely relocating on this go-round to a spot on the calendar farther away from Full Frame and Riverrun, Chapel Hill / Carrboro’s Hi Mom! Film Fest continues to strengthen its programming. After its undergraduate origins, the festival is […]
Posted inGuides
After sunset
When we talk of family movies, we usually refer to children’s movies–often animated and free of violence, sex and profanity. But how often do families actually go out to see movies together? In some countries, the presence of a movie projector in a community is a great luxury, and screenings are held outdoors in the […]
Posted inNews
in evil empires
Chewco. Death Star. Yes, these are terms that have their origins in a certain blockbuster movie franchise that unveils its sixth and final episode Thursday. But you’ll have to wait until Friday to see how Enron henchman Andrew Fastow hid the company’s bad debt in companies named for his favorite movies. Alex Gibney’s finely researched […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Breaching the wall
On March 9, 1966, two well-known American communists came to speak to UNC students. But this was no ordinary campus lecture. For starters, 3,000 people attended. And then, it wasn’t even “on campus.” The students gathered on the old quad bounded by Franklin Street to the north. The speakers, however, had been barred from the […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Numbers sanctify
“That’s the history of many a big business: wars, conflicts, it’s all business. One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. Numbers sanctify, my good fellow.” –Charles Chaplin in Monsieur Verdoux The same day that I watched Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, I also watched Monsieur Verdoux, a 1947 release in which Chaplin […]
