Sara Batkie

2 weeks ago | crookedmarquee.com | Sara Batkie

It might be hard to believe now, given the glut of superhero films and I.P. money grabs at the multiplex, but there was a time when a handsomely mounted period piece could be a bona fide cultural event. Or at least it could in France. That’s where director Claude Berri released not one but two adaptations of Marcel Pagnol’s novel L’Eau des Collines in 1986 – the first, Jean de Florette, in August and its sequel Manon of the Spring in November.

2 weeks ago | tonemadison.com | Grant Phipps |Sara Batkie

The comedown after the Wisconsin Film Festival can hit hard. Some of us may need to take a few days off from the movie binge to collect their thoughts and jot down some rousing notes or experiential rankings. Then again, others may want to continue chasing that marathon-viewing high the annual event in April fosters and head right back to the theaters. One thing is universal, though: a desire for discussion.

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Sara Batkie

Ask the average person what they know about Mozart, and they’ll likely tell you something apocryphal. In part, this is just what happens with any historical figure. Their life becomes akin to a game of telephone, facts blurring over the decades (or centuries) into fantastical fictions. But with Mozart, at least some of this must be attributed to Miloš Forman’s 1984 film Amadeus, which was a bonafide cultural event when it was released. It won 40 of the 53 awards it was nominated for that year.

2 months ago | crookedmarquee.com | Sara Batkie

“Good comedy should be about serious things,” director Jiří Menzel once said. “If you start to talk about serious things too seriously, you end up being ridiculous.” It’s a statement of purpose that was also a necessity for any work that came out of the Czech New Wave, which began in the mid-60s during Soviet occupation of the country. It was a time when any political statement had to be stealthy, lest it risk being censored or even banned.

2 months ago | crookedmarquee.com | Sara Batkie

Los Angeles is a vulnerable place to live. Too dry and there’s wildfires. Too wet and there’s mudslides. The next earthquake could be the big one. Then there’s the omnipresent helicopters, reminding you of an emergency just out of sight. It’s a city of fault lines and wide vistas, cinematic even if it weren’t where Hollywood called home, where dreams come true but also nightmares.