James Naremore

Mar 27, 2024 | bfi.org.uk | Ken Hollings |Geoff Andrew |Nick Pinkerton |James Naremore

On a recent tour of Toho Studios’ sound stages in the suburbs of Tokyo, where filming was already under way for Mothra, the first in a new series of monster movies aimed at pre-teens, an American visitor enquired whether Godzilla was around. “No,” the studio guide replied simply. “He’s gone.”“Gone?”“He died in his last movie. He’s gone.”Which happens to be true.

Mar 21, 2024 | bfi.org.uk | Nick Pinkerton |James Naremore |Adam Scovell |Dan Callahan

In what is easily the most dispiriting multiplex season in memory we cling to whatever we can, and the general mediocrity only serves as a contrast to the qualities of Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows, a taut, focused little thriller about Blake Lively weathering repeated assaults by a great white shark while… clinging to whatever she can.

Mar 19, 2024 | bfi.org.uk | James Naremore |Adam Scovell |Dan Callahan |Ben Walters

Cinephiles throughout the world are mourning the recent passing of David Bordwell, who died aged 76 after a year’s illness from interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. Bordwell was the Aristotle of cinema study. He gave us a full-scale poetics of the feature film, and his clearly articulated writings transcend the boundaries between academic research, journalistic criticism and the practice of filmmakers. Although he’s no longer with us, his name and works will endure.