Film Quarterly

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

MOVIE REVIEW: “FANNY AND ALEXANDER” BY INGMAR BERGMAN

Fanny and Alexander may be Bergman’s farewell to film, but it is neither a work of pure nostalgia nor of self- pity and lamentation. It is a loving testament to and celebration of the continuity, infinite possibility, and power of art and the imagination.

Brazil (1985) by Terry Gilliam

BRAZIL (1985) BY TERRY GILLIAM – REVIEW BY FRED GLASS

Brazil is a tragicomedy about the relationship between imagination and fantasy, and about the ability of a society (“somewhere in the 20th century,” as the opening sequence informs us) to constantly transform the energy of the former into the dead weight of the latter.

Kubrick and His Discontents – by Hans Feldmann

Since the recognized success of Dr. Strangelove, objections to Kubrick’s obscurity, his enigmatic mind, his bleak view of man, his simplistic view of life, his boring mannerisms abound in the reviews of his films. Barry Lyndon seems destined to encourage the same ambivalent critical reaction.

TAXI DRIVER (1976) – Review by Michael Dempsey [Film Quarterly]

In Taxi Driver, New York City is a steaming, polluted cesspool and Travis Bickle’s cab a drifting bathysphere from which he can peer at the “garbage and trash” which obsess him: whores, pimps, junkies, wandering maniacs, maggotty streets, random violence.

POLICE OSCAR: “THE FRENCH CONNECTION”: AND AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM FRIEDKIN – by Michael Shedlin

Since propaganda, whether blatant or subtle, and whether “left” or “right,” works primarily through the emotions and not the intellect, it is not necessarily the explicit or easily recogniz­able elements of a film that produce the strong­est effect on the consciousness of the viewer. Such is the case with a film like The French Connection. The explicit values are evident. The film is exquisitely made.

Eyes Wide Shut: Introducing Sociology – by Tim Kreider

Critical disappointment with Eyes Wide Shut was almost unanimous, and the complaint was always the same: not sexy. The national reviewers sounded like a bunch of middle-school kids who’d snuck in to see it and slunk out three hours later feeling horny, frustrated, and ripped off.