The Legend

Nov 20, 2012 — For a brief, shining moment, the genteel Japanese studio mutated into a fun house of grim ghouls and slimy aliens.

Oct 24, 2005 — Mirroring changes in awareness, politics, and lifestyle occurring across the globe, the chanbara (or Japanese swordplay film) underwent a significant metamorphosis in the early 1960s, acquiring a decidedly more radical spirit. Seemingly without warning, groundbreaking cinematic styles from beyond the...

Oct 24, 2019 — Studio Visits Arguably the greatest movie monster of all time, Godzilla has appeared on countless screens, posters, and merchandise since it first stomped its way into theaters in 1954. While working on the cover of Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975—one...

May 4, 2018 — Cannes 2018 Long Day’s Journey Into Night, courtesy of Wild Bunch This year marks two notable anniversaries for Un Certain Regard. The section, which runs parallel to the competition at the Cannes Film Festival, was inaugurated forty years ago, in...

Apr 2, 2018 — Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey saw its world premiere on this day, April 2, in 1968 at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. Two days later, it opened in two more theaters, one in Hollywood and one in New...

Feb 6, 2018 — “A jolt of a movie, Black Panther creates wonder with great flair and feeling partly through something Hollywood rarely dreams of anymore: myth.” So begins Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. “Most big studio fantasies take you out for...

Sep 6, 2017 — New York. Back in April, Film Forum presented The Complete Wiseman: Part 1: Early Wiseman, the first half of a Frederick Wiseman retrospective that, as Matt Prigge notes in the Village Voice, “covered the prolific and pioneering documentarian’s angriest period.”...

Apr 29, 2017 — With his IFC TV series Split Screen, creator and host John Pierson gave viewers an all-access pass into the idiosyncratic world of independent cinema. Originally aired in 1997, the magazine-format program highlighted America’s most buzzed about young filmmakers and the...

Jan 27, 2017 — Did You See This? In a new interview with Film Comment, Polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak discusses his collaborations with Krzysztof Kieślowski and his transition to working on Hollywood films like Gattaca and Black Hawk Down. “After the unexpected explosion of...

Nov 25, 2010 — Five Easy Pieces is not a statement about America but a closely observed report. Or, perhaps, a confession.