Did the movies sleepwalk us into the elections of Donald Trump? This provocative question hides in plain sight throughout A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies, British film historian David Thomson’s unsettling and often downbeat new book, his 45th on the art form he loves — or, perhaps, loved until very recently. The obtrusive shadow of the 47th … [Read more...]
The View From Home: ‘Riefenstahl’ a revelatory prosecution of the Nazis’ favorite filmmaker
Was Leni Riefenstahl, director of the Third Reich-commissioned documentary Triumph of the Will, a card-carrying Nazi? Or just an artist who seized a fulfilling opportunity? German director Andres Veiel, with lucid patience and a questing curiosity, probes the controversial filmmaker in Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber, $23.96 Blu-ray), a documentary borne out of the bequeathing, in … [Read more...]