by James Rocchi | Jan 22, 2014 | Festivals, Reviews, What's Hot
One of the pleasures of Sundance – one of the pleasures of filmgoing – is when you know almost nothing about a film beyond title and cast, and then have to take your chances; it’s even better when that film then takes its own chances with its choices. The One I...
by James Rocchi | Jan 21, 2014 | Festivals, Reviews, What's Hot
It’s often hard – if not impossible – to try and give a nuanced critical response at Sundance; there’s something in the thin air that makes every film either majestic or misshapen, a classic worthy of close inspection for the rest of time or trash to be tossed over...
by James Rocchi | Jan 21, 2014 | Festivals, Interviews, Podcast, What's Hot
A year ago, Shane Carruth was debuting his mind-bending, heartbreaking Upstream Color at Sundance; in this episode of The Lunch, host James Rocchi and Carruth talk about filmmaking, self-doubt, subtlety vs. over-explanation, time-travel, mind-worms and silence …...
by James Rocchi | Jan 19, 2014 | Festivals, Reviews
Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Murder Party), Blue Ruin begins with the quiet life of a solitary man (Macon Blair) — homeless, jobless, kept even barely afloat by dumpster diving, petty crime and sleeping rough by the Eastern shore in an old, faded...
by James Rocchi | Jan 18, 2014 | Festivals, Reviews
The co-writer, alongside director Joachim Trier, of Reprise and Oslo, August 31st, Eskil Vogt makes his directorial debut with Blind, playing at Sundance 2014. Vogt’s already proven a capacity for both big ideas and intimate moments alongside Trier; with Blind,...
by James Rocchi | Jan 17, 2014 | Festivals
In his wonderful The Colossus of New York, Colson Whitehead notes that the thing that makes you a confirmed New Yorker is when you start noting urban geography in terms of what used to be. That Duane Reade used to be an office building; that Pinkberry used to be a...