INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939)
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939)

As my Independent Study in World Cinema continues, I dive deep into Jean Renoir's tragicomic critique of French society on the eve of the Second World War.

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

GRAND ILLUSION (1937)

My long neglected Independent Study in World Cinema resumes with Jean Renoir's unfailingly humane masterpiece.

TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (1935)
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (1935)

In the latest installment of my Independent Study in World Cinema, I take an unfortunately timely look at how Leni Riefenstahl helped "make Germany great again" with her propagandist "documentary" about the Nazi party.

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

L'ATALANTE (1934)

Lyrical, sensual, and wise, Jean Vigo's L'Atalante is a film about the stink of love, the squalor of love, the anger and boredom and perverse complexity of love.

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

M (1931)

Fritz Lang teaches us all how to catch a killer, and teaches a generation of filmmakers how to use sound effectively.

Agnes-Varda-1070x600
BLOG

WOMEN WITH MOVIE CAMERAS

As I plan out my Independent Study in World Cinema, I could use some help in making sure I don't overlook great female directors.

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929)

My Independent Study in World Cinema series gets a little surreal, as we examine a short cinematic fever dream from Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)

Resuming my Independent Study in World Cinema after a long hiatus, I look at Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov's experimental, non-narrative documentary Man with a Movie Camera.

BLOG

BACK TO (FILM) SCHOOL

A self-educated film nerd resumes his self-education, as my long-abandoned Independent Study in World Cinema series returns.

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928)

The subject of this week's Independent Study in World Cinema is a film that not only gave us one of film's greatest performances, but revolutionized the presentation of acting on-screen: Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928).

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

METROPOLIS (1927)

In this week's Independent Study in World Cinema, I take a look at one of the most visually influential films of all time: Fritz Lang's seminal 1927 science-fiction classic METROPOLIS.

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)

This is the third entry in the series “Independent Study in World Cinema,” in which this self-educated film nerd attempts to fill in some fairly serious gaps in his self-education. This week, I take a look at a film about revolution that sparked a revolution in film: Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 epic Battleship Potemkin.

INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

NOSFERATU (1922)

Continuing the “Independent Study in World Cinema” series, I take a long look at the movie that—for better or worse—started cinema's love affair with vampires: F.W. Murnau's NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR (1922).

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)

A new series exploring influential films from around the world begins with Robert Weine's 1920 classic THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI.