News

Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars extensive and carefully curated exhibition runs through March 4, 2023 Photo: Ed Bahlman

On the morning of Tuesday, June 7, >music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman joined me for the press preview of Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Curators Don Fleming and Jason Stern along with Laurie Anderson acted as the media’s intimate tour guides through the extensive exhibition, which includes photos by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Mick Rock, Billy Name, and Julian Schnabel (Lou Reed’s Berlin) and connections to Reed with Andy Warhol, Robert Wilson, David Bowie, John Cale, Garland Jeffreys, Metallica, Sterling Morrison, Robert Quine, Mike Rathke, Fernando Saunders, Václav Havel, Jim Carroll, Allen Ginsberg, Delmore Schwartz, Anne Waldman, Doc Pomus, Hal Willner, and Laurie, plus some greetings cards by Moe (Maureen Tucker) to Lou, whom she affectionally calls Honey Bun.

Films and references to cultural traditions may flicker past your inner eye in Iva Radivojevic’s Aleph, a luminous take on Jorge Luis Borges, narrated by Anne Waldman, which is a highlight of the 50th anniversary edition of New Directors/New Films. The Thai ghost may be Uncle Boonmee’s brother from Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s picture. An ad for Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson graces the back pages of a newspaper in Buenos Aires and Oscar Wilde’s Happy Prince is not the only one who is able to see without eyes.

The woman who disappears into the painting in Aleph feels strangely related to the old couple who befriend and haunt Naomi Watts in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, only to appear downsized out of a paper bag later on.

During my conversation with the filmmaker, I learned that Roland Barthes is responsible for the like/dislike structure in...

Aleph director Iva Radivojević: “The idea is that each character leaves us off with a clue as to where we’re going next.”

On the afternoon of the 93rd Academy Awards, a reference to David Lynch and a scene in Mulholland Drive, Luis Buñuel’s The Phantom Of Liberty, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Luminous People (segment in State of the World), Likes And Dislikes by Roland Barthes, Andy Warhol, Alain Resnais, Aleph’s narrator Anne Waldman, and a short story by Jorge Luis Borges all came up in my conversation with Iva Radivojevic, the director/writer/editor/ of Aleph, a highlight of the 50th anniversary edition of New Directors/New Films.

Iva Radivojević on Jorge Luis Borges’ Aleph: “I used the story, the myth of this portal of Aleph as a starting point, the search for this portal. The whole film starts...

The Criterion Collection will be heralding in 2021 with a mix of new and old. First up, Bing Liu’s stellar documentary Minding the Gap will be joining the collection, as will another documentary, Martin Scorsese’s playful Rolling Thunder Revue. Also arriving is a three-film Luis Buñuel box set focusing on his late career, featuring The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, and That Obscure Object of Desire. Larisa Shepitko’s final, harrowing feature The Ascent will also be getting a release.

Check out the cover art and special features below, and see more on Criterion’s website.

New high-definition digital master, approved by director Bing Liu, with 5.1 surround DTS-hd Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-rayNew audio commentary featuring Liu and documentary subjects Keire Johnson and Zack MulliganNew follow-up conversation between Liu and documentary subject Nina BowgrenNew programs featuring interviews with professional skateboarder Tony Hawk and with Liu,...

Bob Dylan’s 77th birthday was celebrated with a kinetic reimagining of his 1963 solo concert at New York’s Town Hall. Titled Tomorrow Is A Long Time, the May 24 event produced by Hal Willner featured a slew of talented guests — among them: contemporary performers like The Milk Carton Kids, Emily Haines and Teddy Thompson, 60’s survivors like Geoff Muldaur and Bob Neuwirth, poetess Anne Waldman and savvy stage performers like Gina Gershon, Steve Buscemi and Bill Murray — and followed the original concert’s set list, providing ardent, idiosyncratic musical settings for Dylan’s songs with barely a hint of nostalgia. Musical Director Steven Bernstein and the Town Hall Ensemble led the tribute, which was filled with humor, social commentary and an impressive range of musical styles.

While Dylan’s original concert was a solo acoustic affair, the brawny Town Hall Ensemble contained a number of amazing musicians including bandleader Bernstein on trumpet,...

Aaron Brookner with Paterson and Gimme Danger director Jim Jarmusch - Sara Driver on Uncle Howard: "I knew Howard’s nephew Aaron was interested in filmmaking ..."

In Aaron Brookner's search in the making of Uncle Howard, with timely editing by Masahiro Hirakubo (Orlando von Einsiedel's Virunga), we see glimpses of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Philip Glass, John Giorno, Laurie Anderson, Anne Waldman, Jim Carroll, Frank Zappa, and Patti Smith at the Entermedia Nova Convention - Andy Warhol having Cities Of The Red Night inscribed by William Burroughs - clips from Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars - and a telling interview with Lindsay Law on Howard Brookner's film Bloodhounds Of Broadway, based on Damon Runyon stories, with Matt Dillon, Rutger Hauer, Randy Quaid, Jennifer Grey, Madonna, Anita Morris, Fisher Stevens, Richard Edson, and Steve Buscemi.

Sara Driver with Paul Bowles scholar Francis Poole and Richard Peña...

Everett Daniel Handler, or “Lemony Snicket”

Lemony Snicket, the pen name for Daniel Handler, has written 13 observations on Occupy Wall Street for his young readers on the Occupy Writers website, which lists authors who support the movement.

In addition to Lemony Snicket, there are original works by Francine Prose, D.A. Powell, Duncan Murrell, and Anne Waldman.

One of Lemony Snicket’s observations is, “99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads,...

It's more than half a century since Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl landed like a bombshell in the staid world of 1950s America. But what was the poet really like? Friends and colleagues remember him

When Allen Ginsberg performed at the Six Gallery reading in San Francisco 1955, he was a fretful, unpublished poet, a man approaching his 30th birthday with a nagging sense that time was running out. The poet Gary Snyder predicted the night would be a "poetickall bomshell". He was right, but really, the bombshell was Howl itself. Ginsberg's poem was an incantatory epic – emotionally and sexually explicit and intent on exploding the anxieties of the atomic age. It helped jump-start the counter-cultural revolutions of the next decade and its author was hailed as the voice of the Beat Generation.

He may have been the most important American writer of the last century. He certainly thought he could be.

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp

Sanctum and The Mechanic - Advance Screenings

I haven’t heard anything about these films.

Whether the buzz is great, whether the buzz is tepid, I couldn’t tell you. That’s exactly why I’m looking forward to sending some of you guinea pigs to see the latest from Jason Statham on Tuesday, January 25th at 7 p.m. at Harkins Tempe Martketplace and then on February 1st at 7 p.m. at Harkins Tempe Marketplace as well.

It’ll be a 2 for 1 if you like or, if you so choose, you can pick one or the other. Either way, you’ll be seeing either the latest from the brawniest Englishman this side of the Atlantic or the latest creation blessed by the wizard himself,...

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp

The Dilemma -Advance Screening

After all the brouhaha concerning whether Vince Vaughn’s character could say whether a car was or was not “ghey” (spelled the way the Internet intended) the movie is finally here to say once and for all if a vehicle is capable of having a sexual preference. Yes, I know, these are probably the same radicals who think that censoring Huck Finn of its nasty n-words was a good idea. It isn’t and it’s a form of censorship and good for Ron Howard for keeping the joke in tact. In fact, I may even buy a ticket just for pushing aside those who think he should have excised it from the film.

For those of you...

Chicago – James Franco gave a riveting performance in Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” that is likely to earn one of the best actors of his generation an Academy Award nomination in a few weeks, but it wasn’t his only stellar turn in 2010. He also thoroughly delivered as the legendary poet Allen Ginsberg in the hybrid “Howl,” a film that’s part poem, part courtroom drama, and part history lesson. It doesn’t always come together but it’s worth seeing just for Franco’s work and the strength of the source material alone.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

The name of the film refers to Ginsberg’s legendary 1955 poem, one that not only inspired an increasingly important cultural movement but nearly got its author thrown in jail. Over half a century after its release, “Howl” still has incredible power, something obviously recognized by writer/directors Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman as they eschew the...

There have been films made about William S. Burroughs before, but it looks like the revolutionary, experimental scribe may finally get a treatment worth watching all the way through. Interview subjects read like a mini Who's Who of the interzone: John Waters, Genesis P-Orridge, Laurie Anderson, Peter Weller, David Cronenberg, Iggy Pop, Gus Van Sant, Sonic Youth, Anne Waldman, George Condo, Hal Willner, James Grauerholz, Amiri Baraka, Jello Biafra, V. Vale, David Ohle, Wayne Propst, Dr. William Ayers, Diane Diprima, as well as close personal friends and associates. The only potential disappointment lies in the film's apparent standard issue biopic…...

There have been films made about William S. Burroughs before, but it looks like the revolutionary, experimental scribe may finally get a treatment worth watching all the way through. Interview subjects read like a mini Who's Who of the interzone: John Waters, Genesis P-Orridge, Laurie Anderson, Peter Weller, David Cronenberg, Iggy Pop, Gus Van Sant, Sonic Youth, Anne Waldman, George Condo, Hal Willner, James Grauerholz, Amiri Baraka, Jello Biafra, V. Vale, David Ohle, Wayne Propst, Dr. William Ayers, Diane Diprima, as well as close personal friends and associates. The only potential disappointment lies in the film's apparent standard issue biopic…...

Punk poet and author of The Basketball Diaries Jim Carroll passed away September 11th at the age of 60. His autobiography, which detailed his transformation from prep school basketball player to an increasingly desperate drug addict, was adapted for the big screen in 1995. Leonardo DiCaprio's raw performance as Carroll bolstered the young actor's rising star; the film also featured Lorraine Bracco as Jim's mom and Mark Wahlberg as one of his teammates and drug buddies.

Carroll also contributed two songs to the soundtrack, "Catholic Boy" and "People Who Died, " which was also used in the soundtracks for E.T. and the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.

The rocker and writer was also featured in the documentary Poetry in Motion, along with other famous modern poets like Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, and Anne Waldman. Check out some clips from the movie here, courtesy of Monika Bartyzel. After the jump...

“I’m transcribing a movie, a film that I see in my mind as best I can in words.” – William S. Bouroughs

Some of the best actors, filmmakers and writers of the century assemble in William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, the first (and only) posthumous documentary about this legendary figure. an upcoming feature-length independent documentary on the writer directed by Chicago Director Yony Leyser.

To saw we're excited about this one is truly an understatement. Besides being a fan of his writing, Cronenberg's Naked Lunch is one of our go-to films, if not one of the most adventurous and provocative flims ever made.

Synopsis:

The film investigates the life of legendary beat author and American icon, William S. Burroughs. Born the heir of the Burroughs adding machine estate, he struggled throughout his life with addiction, control systems and self. He was forced to deal with the tragedy of killing...

I know, I know. I've written about documentaries a lot lately. But I promise -- this is the last one, at least for a little while. There's a film I watched during Hot Docs that I never mentioned, mainly because it was part of a retrospective and is a good twenty-seven years old -- Ron Mann's Poetry in Motion.

The film follows a large collection of North American poets performing their work in the early '80s, including: Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Amiri Baraka, John Cage, Michael Ondaatje, Anne Waldman, Jim Carroll, The Four Horsemen, and Tom Waits. The performances range from poetry set to music and given a rhythm, to sound poetry, to classic recitation. On their own, the pieces are an intensely interesting look at how performance can change poetry, as well as what the creative world was like almost 30 years ago. But they're also brought...