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In the house she grew up in, unchanged for 50 years, the creative and delightful Kaye lives with her memories and an unexpected bohemian freedom

‘Oh fiddle faddle,” mutters Kaye Mannion in the front room of her house in Hackney, east London. Kaye is a cheerful soul in her mid-70s, a chatterbox, an extrovert. She also happens to be agoraphobic; and has been since she was a teenager. In this documentary about her life, Kaye comes over like Miss Havisham crossed with the mother and daughter Edies from Grey Gardens, with a bit of Carry On thrown in. She’s what you might call a character, and the film’s director Ben Reed – one of Kaye’s neighbours – take enormous care in his gentle, affectionate film not to make fun of her or exploit her eccentricities. And sensibly, he keeps the running time to a tight 59 minutes.

Kaye lives in...

Look into the series Criterion Channel have programmed for August and this lineup is revealed as (in scientific terms) quite something. “Hollywood Chinese” proves an especially deep bench, spanning “cinema’s first hundred years to explore the ways in which the Chinese people have been imagined in American feature films” and bringing with it the likes of Cronenberg’s M. Butterfly, Cimino’s Year of the Dragon, Griffith’s Broken Blossoms, and Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet—among 20-or-so others. A three-film Marguerite Duras series brings one of the greatest films ever (India Song) and two lesser-screened experiments; films featuring Yaphet Kotto include Blue Collar, Across 110th Street, and Midnight Run; and lest we ignore a Myrna Loy retro that goes no later than 1949.

Criterion editions include The Asphalt Jungle, Husbands, Rouge, and Sweet Smell of Success; streaming premieres for Loznitsa’s Donbass, Béla Tarr’s watershed Damnation, and...

Documentaries from Brazil, the UK and Colombia among those awarded.

Brazilian documentary Nũhũ Yãg Mũ Yõg Hãm: This Land Is Our Land! has been awarded the best international film prize at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2021.

The film, directed by Brazilian Indigenous filmmakers Isael and Sueli Maxakali and collaborators Carolina Canguçu, Roberto Romero, exposes the hardship of the Tikmun’un people following the arrival of white settlers.

The documentary was selected from 11 features that played in the international competition of Doc/Fest, which took place as a hybrid event from June 4-13.

At a physical ceremony, hosted by festival director Cintia Gil...

Brazilian film “Nũhũ Yãg Mũ Yõg Hãm: This Land Is Our Land!” has won best film in the Sheffield Doc/Fest international competition.

Directed by Isael and Sueli Maxakali, who are Brazilian Indigenous directors, the film explores the loss of their land to local farmers.

Elsewhere, the Special Jury Award in the international competition went to “Equatorial Constellations” with special mentions for “Summer” and “Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions”.

“Ali and His Miracle Sheep” won best film in the U.K. competition, while “Portrait of Kaye” picked up the Special Jury Award and “The Battle of Denham Ford” earned a special mention.

The Tim Hetherington Award, supported by Dogwoof, recognizes a film and filmmaker which best reflects journalist Tim Hetherington’s legacy. The award was given to “The Silence of The Mole” with a special mention for “Nũhũ Yãg Mũ Yõg Hãm: This Land Is Our Land!

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Ben Reed, Elise Robertson, Troy Vincent, Marnette Patterson, Billy Miller, Leonard Roberts, Reynaldo Gallegos, Kevin Lacz, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Eric Ladin | Written by Jason Hall | Directed by Clint Eastwood

I have a lot of time for the school of thought that suggests that you get out of a film only what you bring to it in the first place. I think this is particularly relevant for films that portray real life events and perhaps even more so for films that pertain to real life events that are relatively recent. American Sniper is Clint Eastwood’s depiction of the life of Chris Kyle, who became the deadliest sniper in Us history during the Iraq war. After seeing the film, I did a little reading around the subject and discovered Kyle to be a rather more controversial subject than you might expect based solely on the film.

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Every classic film has a classic line.

“Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” “Here’s looking at you, kid.” “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

This year’s eight best picture nominees feature memorable quotes of their own.

Here are key lines from each of the nominees:

Birdman

“You’re doing this because you’re scared to death, like the rest of us, that you don’t matter. And you know what? You’re right. You don’t. It’s not important. You’re not important. Get used to it.” — Sam (Emma Stone)

Boyhood

“You know what I’m real​i​z​ing? My life is just going to go. Like that. This series of milestones. Getting married.

Chicago – A straightforward story about the military marksman Chris Kyle is pretty much told in “American Sniper,” by director Clint Eastwood. But what is left out of the movie – Kyle’s right-wing politics and a depiction of his fate – is more curious than what is actually presented.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

Chris Kyle was a kill master, a Navy Seal who became the go-to for providing cover for ground troops and blasting insurgents in Iraq. His black and white vision of America-good, enemy-bad is merely hinted upon in the movie, but his extended biography reveals a madness for this absolution that in essence nullifies his “world record” kill quota – not to mention that Iraq is pretty much a zero-sum game for America. But politics aside, the story of Chris Kyle could have used more balance, in the midst of some decent performances by Bradley Cooper as the sniper and Sienna Miller as his home front wife.

Clint Eastwood's newest feature American Sniper looks to be a taught rendition of Chris Kyle's autiobiography of the same name. It tells the story of the "most lethal sniper in U.S military history", the man with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 probable. The film explores the origins of Kyle's discipline through flashbacks with his father Wayne Kyle played by Ben Reed. We were very fortunate to have the gentleman Ben Reed discuss his time on set as well as let us in a little on what we can see him doing next.

Q. How is it working with a veteran like Clint Eastwood? As a seasoned actor/director what does he bring to the table? I imagine he emphasizes performances, but he also seems visually meticulous. What was the environment like?

It was an honor for me to work with him. The moment I arrived on the set...

Chicago – Sienna Miller creates illumination that a movie screen never forgets. From her early roles in “Alfie” and “Factory Girl,” to the more recent “Foxcatcher” and “American Sniper,” Miller adds an extra level of truth that generates expressive and notable characteristics to the roles that she portrays.

In “American Sniper,” Miller portrays the real-life Taya Kyle, wife of military man Chris Kyle. Chris is the subject of the film’s title, a trained Navy Seal who has the distinction of being the marksman who had the most “kills” of any sniper in American war history. In the film, Siena Miller represents the home front for Chris Kyle, the wife that is waiting for his adjustment to civilian life. Like her previous roles, Miller finds the nuance in Taya, and produces the conflict that gives no easy answers to a warrior without a war.

Sienna Miller Rehearses a Scene for Director...

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Ben Reed, Elise Robertson, Troy Vincent, Marnette Patterson, Billy Miller, Leonard Roberts, Reynaldo Gallegos, Kevin Lacz, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Eric Ladin | Written by Jason Hall | Directed by Clint Eastwood

I have a lot of time for the school of thought that suggests that you get out of a film only what you bring to it in the first place. I think this is particularly relevant for films that portray real life events and perhaps even more so for films that pertain to real life events that are relatively recent. American Sniper is Clint Eastwood’s depiction of the life of Chris Kyle, who became the deadliest sniper in Us history during the Iraq war. After seeing the film, I did a little reading around the subject and discovered Kyle to be a rather more controversial subject than you might expect based solely on the film.

It’s lucky 13 for the Boston Underground Film Festival as they celebrate their raucous 13th annual edition this year. Opening with the much buzzed about bloody feature film Hobo With a Shotgun starring Rutger Hauer and directed by Jason Eisener, the fest then barrels on for eight wild nights and days from March 24-31.

While there’s plenty of underground goodness from the U.S.A., this year Buff feels like it’s a much more international affair with several sick features from around the globe. There’s gory horror and quirky black comedy from Japan in the guise of Yoshihiro Nishimura’s Helldriver and Sion Sono’s Cold Fish; the Argentinian freak-out Phase7 by Nicolas Goldbart; David Blyth’s Wound is a psychological thriller from New Zealand; and Mark Hartley’s Machete Maidens Unleashed! is a look at Philippine exploitation cinema from the ’70s.

Stateside there’s Usama Alshaibi‘s Profane,...