Jonathan Rosenbaum's Blog: jonathanrosenbaum.com, page 9

A Matter of Life and Death: A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Written for the 40th anniversary issue of the French quarterly magazine Trafic (Winter 2011). — J.R.


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Am I weeping for the death of David’s mother, for the death of humans, for the death of photography, or for the death of movies?
James Naremore, On Kubrick


The scene in question, the final [...]

Unpublished Letter to THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

This was written on February 25, 2007, provoked by yet another case of a Wellesian pseudo-expert bonding with another non-expert to lay down what is supposed to be the definitive history and wisdom on the subject. Sanford Schwartz did write me a short, polite, private response that, as nearly as I can recall, didn’t really [...]

Review of Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography

From Film Quarterly, Winter 1990–91.-– J.R.


Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography, by Bret Wood (Westport, CT: Greene Press, 1990).


Issued without dust wrappers and priced beyond the range of most individuals, this 364-page book is clearly intended for libraries, and not likely to get much attention outside of specialized publications. But as a multifaceted research [...]

Life Intimidates Art [IRMA VEP]

From the June 13, 1997 Chicago Reader. — J.R.

Irma Vep Rating **** Masterpiece                                                                                                                                          Directed and written by Olivier Assayas                                                                                                      With Maggie Cheung, Nathalie Richard, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Lou Castel,                                                Dominique Faysse, Bulle Ogier, Arsinee Khanjian, and Antoine Basler.
The whole point is that the world is constantly changing, and that as an artist one must always [...]

Replies to a 2003 Symposium about Kiarostami

The following are my responses to questions from Alvaro Arroba about Kiarostami for the Spanish film magazine Letras de Cine that wound up appearing in Spanish in their 7th issue, in 2003. I’ve taken the liberty of slightly revising the English in a few cases, hopefully while respecting the meanings that Alvaro had in [...]

Precious Leftovers (THE GLEANERS AND I)

From the Chicago Reader (May 11, 2000). — J.R.

The Gleaners and I
Rating *** A must see
Directed and narrated by Agnes Varda.
Documentaries are a discipline that teaches modesty. — Agnes Varda, quoted in the press notes for The Gleaners and I

There’s a suggestive discrepancy between the French and English titles of this wonderful essay film completed [...]

Memories of 1974

Written for a special retrospective issue of the French film magazine Positif at the request of editor Michel Ciment in June 2002. — J.R.

1974, the year in which I contributed a short article about -— and accompanying interview with —- Jim McBride for the avril [April] issue of Positif (no.158), was also the year in [...]

Worlds Apart (on MOTHER and EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU)

This appeared in the January 23, 1997 issue of the Chicago Reader. — J.R.



Mother
Rating *** A must see
Directed by Albert Brooks
Written by Brooks and Monica Johnson
With Brooks, Debbie Reynolds, Rob Morrow, Lisa Kudrow, Isabel Glasser, and Peter White.
Everyone Says I Love You
Rating * Has redeeming facet
Directed and written by Woody Allen
With Allen, Goldie Hawn, Edward [...]

Jerry Lewis on TV

Sight and Sound commissioned the following from me for its “Home Cinema” feature in its September 2013 issue, but then, without telling me (or explaining why), decided not to use it. — J.R.

I haven’t yet caught up with Jerry Lewis’ spotty directing for TV, such as his episodes for Ben Casey (1964) and The [...]

BLUE JASMINE: Woody Allen Catches Up with Hal Wallis

It seems that class anxiety has become Woody Allen’s key and obsessive theme ever since his movies started to become “serious”, and it’s usually around in some form even in the purer comedies. Indeed, almost all of the cultural concerns of his work wind up having something to do with class issues — almost as [...]