Boredom’s Just Another Vice: Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes
by Lisa RosmanFilm
All laurels eventually become resting grounds, and with Coffee and Cigarettes, Jim Jarmusch rides his own coattails, with none of the panache that defined his earlier work.
The Blonds: Slippery Slope of Truth
by Douglas SingeltonFilm
The Blonds (Los Rubios) is a fascinating, well-crafted quasi-documentary that nonetheless is a study in frustration. It is frustrating in its inability to ever really confront the material it purports to explore—the political murder of its filmmaker Albertina Carri’s leftist parents by the Argentine secret police in 1977.
Docs in Sight
by Williams ColeFilm
Despite the increased bastardization of what is called "documentary" film in recent years—from "reality" shows to MTV profiles of club kids—the form has always been deeply rooted in the social-political. Of course, trying to tell you what is "truth" or "real" is an epistemological mess, but at a time when most television, purporting to deliver real news, real wars or real people, has huge credibility problems, social-political documentaries are the alternative that offers in-depth and illuminating perspectives.
Outtakes: The Words of Kill Bill Volume 2
by Galen WilliamsFilm
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote scripts in Hollywood for two years. A complete flop, he was fired as a screenwriter. He was a born novelist. On the other hand, Quentin Tarantino, who wrote and directed Kill Bill, is a born screenwriter and he’s not shy talking about it.
in conversation: Taylor Mead
by Sissi TaxFilm
Taylor Mead is a legendary actor and poet who has appeared in over 100 films. He currently can be seen in Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes. Recently, Austrian writer and film theorist Sissi Tax, who is currently based in Berlin, sat down with Taylor Mead at the Rail’s headquarters.
Bukowski: Born into This
by Williams ColeFilm
The cult of Charles Bukowski, based as it is on reverence for the drunken down-and-out poet who speaks the truth, is ready-made fodder for both celebrities as well as hipsters seeking literary street cred.
