Look! These links caught my attention today, for one reason or another. Check back later. I may add more look-worthy links as the day goes on. - Last night, thanks to the new Criterion blu-ray release, I finally got around to watching Ivan's Childhood, the first feature film by master filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. I've seen Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, Zerkalo (The Mirror), Solaris, and The Sacrifice enough times to count them among my favorite films, but have never managed to sit … [Read more...]
Darren Hughes, a moviegoer whose recommendations have led me to some memorable and profoundly inspiring films over the last few years, has just posted about another one I'm adding to my must-see list. He writes: Munyurangabo was one of my favorite films of 2007 and was far and away the best debut I saw all year. I'm really eager to see what [filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung] does next. His in-depth article about the film, which includes a conversation with the filmmaker, has just been published in … [Read more...]
In my experience of discussing movies online, few people have challenged me to dig deeper and look closer at movies than Ken Morefield. That's why I'm enthusiastic about having his as a "guest reviewer" so often at Looking Closer. So I am delighted to discover that... … [Read more...]
Darren Hughes calls Secret Sunshine "the truest depiction of evangelical Christianity I've seen on film." Victor Morton doesn't quite agree. (You have to scroll down for his review.) And J. Robert Parks has mixed feelings about it. ... GreenCine Daily has even more reviews of the film from Toronto and from Cannes. … [Read more...]
Your chances of finding a great film at the multiplex are probably much slimmer than your chances of finding one at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Darren Hughes was there, and here are his summations of a few films he saw there. I'll be adding several of these to my must-see, or must-rent, list. … [Read more...]
Darren Hughes is writing an essay on non-narrative filmmaking: "The Limits of Traditional Narrative Cinema as a Medium for Spiritual Contemplation" ... which he qualifies as "A Witless and Obnoxiously Literal Working Title." I can't wait to read it. Darren is one of those writers who always strikes me as being miles ahead on a journey I'm trying to make (as time allows). And yet he writes with grace, with a voice that invites readers along with him, instead of condescending to those who don't … [Read more...]
At Long Pauses, Darren Hughes has posted a quote that I want to share with you here. (Thank you, Darren.) The main problem with narrative in film is that when you become emotionally involved, it becomes difficult to see picture as picture. Of course, the laughing and crying and suspense can be a positive element, but it's oddly nonvisual and gradually destroys your capacity to see. -- Michael Snow, speaking to Scott MacDonald, A Critical Cinema, Vol. 2 That's beautiful. It expresses … [Read more...]
GreenCine Daily is providing all kinds of coverage on the Toronto International Film Festival, including some comments on The Smell of Paradise, a film that makes me uneasy just in its summary. Meanwhile, the blogging has begun in earnest at Long Pauses by Darren Hughes, who is determined not to be controlled by "blog guilt." He especially praises Sokurov's The Sun. (Great. Now, in future conversations with film buffs, we'll have to say, "The Sun.... No, S-U-N, not the Dardennes Brothers … [Read more...]
Darren's elaborating on an exquistely filmed Claire Denis film, its provocative soundtrack, and one of my all-time favorite closing scenes. … [Read more...]
My favorite moviegoing experience of last year was Robert Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar. Now, Darren Hughes at Long Pauses has given me the best news I've heard all week... … [Read more...]
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“Jeffrey Overstreet is a witness. While habituating the dark caves of movie theaters, he gives articulate witness to what I too often miss in those caves — the contours of God’s creation and the language of Christ’s salvation. … I find him a delightful and most percipient companion — a faithful Christian witness.”- Eugene Peterson, author of The Message and Tell It Slant, on Overstreet’s moviegoing memoir Through a Screen Darkly
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"Jeffrey is ... one of my favorite film critics. He writes with great lucidity and compassion about all sorts of movies, from all sorts of angles, but what I value most about his work is the theological-moral perspective he takes on things. He’s not a dogmatic scold, sifting through popular art looking for work that fits a rigid world view; he’s more interested in Looking Closer, as his blog title suggests, to discover what, if anything, the work is saying." - Matt Zoller Seitz, founder of the film review websites The House Next Door and Press Play (at indieWire) and television critic for New York Magazine-
“Overstreet’s writing is precise and beautiful, and the story is masterfully told.”- Publisher’s Weekly on Overstreet’s novel Auralia’s Colors
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“In Auralia’s Colors, Overstreet masterfully extends the borders of imagination.”- Gina Ochsner, author of The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight
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“… [T]he spirit of the Inklings is alive and well and at least one living writer could have held his own at their table!”- Dick Staub, author of The Culturally Savvy Christian
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“Jeffrey Overstreet is a trespasser. He’s constantly moving outside of the borders of what church and culture deem to be ironclad, eternal categories (sacred vs. profane, high culture vs. popular culture) — and he has a knack for bringing people along with him. His passport? The imagination. ... When you trespass with Jeffrey Overstreet, you don’t have to ask for forgiveness.” - Image-
EXCUSE OUR DUST: This blog is under construction. Please email Jeffrey if you find broken links or problems. Many reviews, interviews, and posts are still being restored from the past decade of blogging. So check it out: This blog will expand both forward and backward in time. The future is now, and yesterday is not so very far away.-
About Jeffrey Overstreet-
About Looking Closer: An Introduction-
Comment Policy-
Overstreet on Tour: Speaking Calendar-
Some Favorite Quotes-
Some Favorite Sites-
"Mystery & Message," by Michael Demkowicz-
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