As a child, Jason Kohl thought movies were made by space aliens. Read more...
Photo: UCLA alumnus Jason Kohl’s graduate directing thesis “The Slaughter” had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, earlier this month. The short film stars “Breaking Bad” actor Michael Shamus Wiles, and is about a pig farmer who tests his unemployed son’s determination to join the family business.
Marcia Gay Harden once received a well-earned Academy Award for her role as expressionist painter Lee Krasner, opposite Ed Harris’ title character in “Pollock.” Twelve years later, Harden shows that her acting abilities have persisted, perhaps even evolved over time, but her ability to choose successful starring roles has clearly diminished. Read more...
On Hilgard, 50 girls hold their breath. The air is still, the tension thick. As the cameras zoom in on the final rose, the room stiffens, and each girl says a quick prayer for her favorite contestant. Read more...
In 2009, Vanessa Yee began her graduate film thesis: a documentary that turned the camera not only on an issue in her community, but onto her own personal life. Read more...
Photo: Graduate film student Vanessa Yee’s film thesis “The Laundromat” investigates the stigmas within the Asian American community of mental health and communication of emotions. The documentary shares the stories of her friends who have struggled with silence, as well as her own story of depression.
“The ABCs of Death” is a bad movie – and some may find that endearing. An ambitious anthology that culls 26 short films from 26 international directors, “The ABCs of Death” is exactly what its title implies: juvenility posed against morbidity. Read more...
In the wake of Academy Award winners “Argo” and “Lincoln” comes another film taking a plunge into history books, this time taking viewers into the dark pages of post-World War II Japan. Read more...
Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or-winning second feature, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” an intimate drama of two friends forced to seek extralegal abortion under Communist rule, played better as a thriller than a message movie. The same curious quality informs Mungiu’s follow-up, “Beyond the Hills,” a gripping depiction of a remote Romanian monastery that similarly falls short of making a statement. Read more...
