From Hell

Oct 12, 1998 — Are there cultural purists still remaining who would argue that the “Westernized” title of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 masterpiece—High and Low—throws polluted water on the cosmological fire of its given name: Tengoku to jigoku—literally, Heaven and Hell?Kurosawa’s once insisted-upon reputation as...

Jan 15, 1996 — If Akira Kurosawa is the John Ford of Japanese samurai dramas, then director Kihachi Okamoto—a specialist in action films, with a particulat accent on violence and raw characterizations—is the samurai film’s Sam Fuller.

May 31, 2016 — Richard Hell was a founding member of the early CBGB bands Television, the Heartbreakers, and Richard Hell & the Voidoids. His Voidoids album Blank Generation (Sire, 1977) is generally acknowledged as seminal to “punk.” Hell retired from music in 1984....

Apr 19, 2021 — What lies beyond the grave? Human cultures across space and time have imagined many kinds of afterlives, from the attenuated shades of Hades to the lush paradise of the Islamic Jannah to the merger with the infinite anticipated by mystics....

Jun 17, 2020 — At a 2012 screening of work by the late artist and filmmaker, programmer Ed Halter declared: “Luther Price is Brakhage after Punk.”

May 30, 2019 — The star of classics directed by Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Kinugasa, Ozu, Ichikawa, and Teshigahara was ninety-five.

Dec 10, 2017 — The thirty-third IDA Documentary Awards were presented by the International Documentary Association in a ceremony hosted by comedian Maz Jobrani on Saturday night in Los Angeles. Here are all the nominees with the winners in bold. Best Feature Matthew Heineman’s...

Nov 1, 2017 — The International Documentary Association has announced the nominees for the thirty-third IDA Documentary Awards as well as the winners of its creative recognition awards. The winners will be honored on December 9.Best FeatureMatthew Heineman’s City of Ghosts (image above)Antonio Santini...

Jul 30, 2014 — A friend and longtime scholar of Jacques Demy ruminates on the great director’s career, as well as the port hometown they shared—which would become a magical movie location.

Mar 18, 2014 — In addition to technical brilliance and a humanist message, Akira Kurosawa’s adventure features one of the director’s strongest female characters.