comedy
The Threat of Violence in George Marshall’s Western Comedy, ‘Destry Rides Again’
George Marshall's western spoof, Destry Rides Again, has a serious central premise; can society function without the threat of violence?
Audrey Hepburn + Rome = Grace, Class, and Beauty
William Wyler's Roman Holiday crosses the postcard genre with a hardy trope: Old World royalty seeks escape from stuffy, ritual-bound, lives for a fling with the modern world, especially with Americans.
What ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ Gets Right (and Wrong) About America
Telling the tale of the cyclops through the lens of high and low culture, in O'Brother, Where Art Thou? the Coens hammer home a fatalistic criticism about the ways that commerce, violence, and cosmetic Christianity prevail in American society .
Buster Keaton’s Last Silent Masterpieces: ‘The Cameraman’ and ‘Spite Marriage’
Buster Keaton was aware that the camera can be a catalyst of violence, especially stereotypical violence, for audience consumption -- and that it could also evoke the shared joy of cathartic laughter.
Honest Deception in Preston Sturges’ ‘The Lady Eve’
Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve demonstrates that somewhere within the convolution of deception (self-deception included) lies a truth that persists all the same.
“The Personal History of David” Puts a Playful Spin on Dickens’ Social-Climbing Epic
Armando Iannucci veers sharply from pitch-black satire to a more upbeat comedy with The Personal History of David Copperfield, starring Dev Patel as a hero who would have been eaten alive in Veep.
“Just Don’t Believe Truth” in John Cassavetes’ ‘Husbands’
The pugnacious characters in Cassavetes' Husbands couch their inauthenticity in bullying. For them, anger is more authentic than placidity, rage more authentic than sadness, cruelty more authentic than kindness.
In Amy Seimetz’s ‘She Dies Tomorrow’, Death Is Neither Delusion Nor Denial
Amy Seimetz's She Dies Tomorrow makes one wonder, is it possible for cinema to authentically convey a dream, or like death, is it something beyond our control?
Performing Race in James Whale’s ‘Show Boat’
There's a song performed in James Whale's musical, Show Boat, wherein race is revealed as a set of variegated and contradictory performances, signals to others, a manner of being seen and a manner of remaining hidden, and it isn't "Old Man River".
Paranoia Goes Viral in ‘She Dies Tomorrow’
Amy Seimetz's thriller, She Dies Tomorrow, is visually dazzling and pulsating with menace -- until the color fades.
