My Favorite Performance in the History of Cinema
It all starts with that helicopter shot. The Twentieth Century Fox logo twinkles in silence before fading out, as a billowing wind starts to sound. Suddenly, the audience finds itself […]
Category Archives: Indie Spotlight
Persona Non Grata: The Persona of 3 Women on Mulholland Drive
I wrote the following essay back in college and later presented it at the University of Notre Dame’s Midwest Undergraduate Film Conference. It was written for Dan Rybicky’s class on […]
Indie Flashback: One Hour Photo
If any film was ever built for the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, it is music video director Mark Romanek’s deeply unsettling 2002 feature debut, “One Hour Photo.” I hadn’t seen the […]
O Captain! My Captain!
“Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild: With a faery, hand in hand. For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.” This infamous […]
Why “The Birds” is a Film for Our Time
There’s a reason why great works of art are built to last. They tap into universal themes that can be applied to any generation, any culture, any personal life experience. […]
Addams & Brady Family Values
Though “22 Jump Street” has been generally well-received by critics and audiences, not all the word of mouth has been stellar. Many people voiced their aggravation that the film—in its […]
Kieslowski, Eroticism and Véronique
I don’t think there’s ever been a film quite like Krzysztof Kieslowski’s 1991 masterpiece, “The Double Life of Véronique.” Those who complain it lacks substance or coherence somehow managed to […]
The Living Dead
“Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past—someone dead—can enter and take possession of a living being?”—Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) in “Vertigo” This ominous query forms the basis […]
Our Mirror Selves: The Hitchcock Double
What is art if not a reflection of the world as we perceive it? Great artists dare to explore those aspects of ourselves that we prefer to keep hidden from […]
Indie Outlook 