One of our favorite film writers, Mike D'Angelo from Time Out New York, who Cinecultist may not always agree with on his reviews but whose writing style we always enjoy, this week writes about the Film Comment Selects series, a wonderful group of films chosen by the magazine's editors and writers. The series which started Feb. 12 and runs through Feb. 26, always includes difficult to see pictures who's quirkiness makes them some of the most memorable you'll see all year. D'Angelo points out one, whose fabulous description makes CC want to run out and see it right now. Now that's good film writing, if it makes CC want to put down the magazine and hop on the subway with the ticket money clutched in our hot little hand.
"More than almost any other filmmaker I can think of, Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa requires the discipline of a genre framework � in its absence, his woolly philosophical speculations tend to swallow everything in their path, and the only possible reaction is basically 'Huh? Whaa? Kiyoshi, you so crazy.' Bright Future, the story of a boy and his pet jellyfish (honest!), can be filled alongside License to Live and Barren Illusion under Terminally Vague Portraits of Youthful Angst; I watched in a baffled daze, unable to make heads or tails of even the most mundane details. (This cut of the film � the same one shown at Cannes last year � is significantly shorter than Kurosawa's original version, which may explain some of the confusion.)"Posted by karen at February 13, 2004 8:19 AM