Author: Simon Hardy Butler
Interviewing Hal Hartley: Cinema, words and music
If Hal Hartley’s autobiography were written today, a fitting title might be Words and Music. The director, writer and composer, whose films have ranged from The Unbelievable Truth (1989) to the upcoming Ned Rifle (expected 2015), is as much concerned with the literary and musical components of his movies as the visual ones … and…
Sturm und dreck: In defence of Hollywood
Whilst watching Ghostbusters (1984) on Esquire TV the other night, I came to a peculiar conclusion. Hollywood ain’t so bad. There’s recently been a lot of talk about this American movie-churner-outer and the quality of its productions. That somehow, the world of foreign films is a more satisfying land. That Hollywood has had its share…
Interviewing Whit Stillman: A cinematic sense and sensibility
There’s a lot happening for Whit Stillman nowadays. Known for the wry, urbane quality of his films as well as the almost Kubrickian periods between them, Stillman always had a lot on his plate, and this year is no exception. With two major cinematic projects in the works, a pilot for a new series called…
Sampling and homages: The problem with heavy movie lifting
Remember that scene in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987) where a baby carriage clunks down the steps in the middle of a gunfight? I’m just wondering: Did you laugh when you first saw it … because you knew it was lifted from Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925)? De Palma’s inside-movie joke might’ve been a…
The gun against the sword: Why Kurosawa remakes miss the point
The biggest trap directors fall into when remaking Kurosawa films is putting the gun centre stage. I’m going to admit something: I’m biased. I love Akira Kurosawa’s movies – though I tend to prefer the jidai-geki flicks to the ones set in the present day. Yet there’s an inherent issue unrelated to quality that precludes…