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The Zero Theorem

by M. Faust
If they aren’t already, auterist film students of the future are going to have a ball analyzing the oeuvre of Terry Gilliam. It’s not that he makes the same movie over and over again; it’s more like he has one big movie within him that keeps coming out in pieces, varying mostly according to the current state of special effects technology and how much of a budget he was able to scrape together.

God Help The Girl

by M. Faust
“Pop music has been on a slide since 1969,” says one of the trio of lead characters in God Help the Girl, the debut film from Belle and Sebastian leader Stuart Murdoch. Distilling the Scottish band’s numerous inspirations inevitably leads back to that glory year, and their output since 1997 has included some of the most gorgeously produced pop music that has ever made a fan hit “REPEAT” over and over and over.

The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears

by M. Faust
In the 1970s, the only thing happening in the horror genre was giallo, gruesome Italian murder mysteries that anticipated the slasher genre while graverobbing the remains of pop art. Like spaghetti westerns, they took traditional elements to a sometimes ludicrous extreme, with hypnotic music, luridly oversaturated colors, extreme close-ups, and camera work that emulated the killer’s point of view. The masters of the genre were Dario Argento and Mario Bava, but it’s a genre without many masterpieces. Also like spaghetti westerns, there are many instances of unforgettable scenes set in otherwise second-rate movies: fans got used to sitting through dull exposition to get to what they came for.



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