Mike O’Connell’s introduction to coal mining culture came at an early age and in a most inauspicious way. “Growing up in Reston, Va., my family and I would often travel on the weekends to West Virginia,” remembers O’Connell. “When I was about 8 years old, we were visiting the Capon Bridge area, and I remember […]
Neil Morris
Posted inFilm & Television
No ha-ha’s in Funny Games; sensuality imbues Caramel
The so-called “American remake” of Austrian director Michael Haneke’s 1997 film Funny Gameswhich Haneke directed and filmed in the United Statesis a mere shot-for-shot reproduction of its predecessor, stars two English-born actors, and comes off like an elaborate swipe at reconfiguring original works to make them palatable for American ingestion. However, there is little palatable […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Love Lived on Death Row
Although Pittsboro filmmaker Linda Booker wasn’t actively hunting for an idea for her film, inspiration proved only a mouse click away. In 2005, Booker stumbled across a story on the WRAL Web site about four siblings fighting for clemency on behalf of their father, who was sitting on death row in North Carolina for murdering […]
Posted inFilm & Television
George Romero is back with Diary of the Dead
George Romero’s zombie films have, to his fans, assumed the rarified air normally reserved for, say, the latest Woody Allen comedy or Martin Scorsese gangster flick. Even as the undead genre winds its way through revival and parody, Romero’s imprimatur affords his ongoing work a certain level of cachet … and critical lenience. Diary of […]
Posted inFilm & Television
The Southern Documentary Fund celebrates a half-decade of documentary leadership
While the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has justly garnered accolades for its decade of achievement, another organization has quietly contributed to Durham’s ever-growing status as an epicenter for documentary filmmaking. It is fair to say the success of the Southern Documentary Fund (SDF) is partly due to its proximity to both Full Frame and […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Punk rock filmmaker Mary Harron visits the Triangle
When I interviewed filmmaker Mary Harron by telephone last week, she was preparing to depart her Brooklyn home for Utah and the Sundance Film Festival, where she was joining Marcia Gay Harden, Diego Luna, Sandra Oh and Quentin Tarantino on the Dramatic Competition grand jury. “It should be fun,” said Harron. “Plus, I’ve never met […]
Posted inFilm & Television
There Will Be Blood
The itch to remonstrate any Paul Thomas Anderson film as pretentious is not without justification. Remember the frog-shower in Magnolia? Yep, that was him. But, from Sydney (formerly known as Hard Eight) to Boogie Nights to Punch-Drunk Love, Anderson’s filmography has always been stamped with the brand “flawed masterpiece,” works that are simultaneously brilliant, indulgent […]
Posted inGuides
At the movies
January The ongoing roll-out of prestige films and award hopefuls dominate the month. In addition to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Jan. 11), be sure to seek out There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, and The Savages, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, both scheduled for area release Jan. 18. Led by […]
Posted inFilm & Television
The year in North Carolina film
In November, the Sundance Film Festival announced the lineup for its 2008 event, which begins Jan. 17. Of the scant 16 films chosen for the dramatic feature programout of 1,068 submissionstwo have strong in-state connections. Anywhere U.S.A. is the shoestring labor-of-love debut from director Chusy Haney-Jardine and his filmmaking partner and wife, Jennifer McDonald. The […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Atonement looks great but falls just short
As the annual, awards-season serving of British drawing room drama, Atonement is a burnished, largely gorgeous literary adaptation. Like No Country for Old Men, Joe Wright’s film is a superb example of the technical craft of filmmaking overshadowing the importance of a sound, seamless narrative underpinning. Admittedly, condensing Ian McEwan’s acclaimed, complex novel for the […]
