L’Enfant (2006)

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 4:03 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

This review was originally published at Christianity Today. – Having released four masterpieces consecutively, a feat that few filmmakers in the history of cinema could claim to match, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne have a great deal to teach moviemakers and audiences alike. Their latest, L’Enfant (The Child), is a perfect example of their strengths, not just in its craft, but in its profoundly spiritual storytelling. Here are just a few of its virtues: It’s a story about conscience, responsibility, and... Read more

L’Enfant (2005)

Last updated on: March 20, 2013 at 9:07 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

[This review was originally published at Christianity Today.] – Having released four masterpieces consecutively, a feat that few filmmakers in the history of cinema could claim to match, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne have a great deal to teach moviemakers and audiences alike. Their latest, L’Enfant (The Child), is a perfect example of their strengths, not just in its craft, but in its profoundly spiritual storytelling. Here are just a few of its virtues: It’s a story about conscience, responsibility, and... Read more

Paste was too good to be true. Except that it was true.

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 4:03 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Passion blazed in every issue. If you needed signs of life in music, film, and culture, you didn’t need to do anything but hold a copy of Paste in your hands. The writing was filled with heart, smarts, wit, character, and love It looked great. Every other arts magazine going paled by comparison. (I would make one exception – No Depression – but they disappeared a while ago, they focused on a much narrower slice of art and culture, and... Read more

Gimme Some Truth

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 4:33 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

In memory of a great speech, from a great man, that occurred on this day in 1963… (more…) Read more

Two new albums by Sufjan Stevens, and one by Sam Phillips

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 4:34 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Sam Phillips just tweeted this news for subscribers to her Long Play music club: Long Play EP #5, “Days of the One Night Stands”, will be released tomorrow, August 27th exclusively to Long Play… http://fb.me/GpGPjaLF I love that title. It’ll be a good Friday. Subscribers can now listen to a long conversation between Sam Phillips and Eric Gorfain at The Long Play’s “Phone Booth,” as they talk about their year of collaborations, and the future. But wait, there’s more… (more…) Read more

Cover Story

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 5:47 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Kristopher Orr’s cover art for The Auralia Thread has been nothing short of inspiring for me. And this morning, I revealed the book cover for The Ale Boy’s Feast, the final chapter in the series. (Unfinished versions have been floating around on various bookseller sites, but the real cover is here now.) Want to see it? (more…) Read more

Oh, Danny Boyyyyyyle…

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 5:47 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, and my favorite… Millions… has a new film, and here’s the trailer… (more…) Read more

Ask Me Anything – Toy Story 3, Inception, “Hipsters”

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 5:51 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

On my new Tumblr site, there’s a feature called “Ask Me Anything.” Nobody ever uses it. And yet here at LookingCloser.org, people ask me things all the time. So, I figure I’d better answer the questions where they’re being asked. And in this new, recurring “Ask Me Anything” series, I’ll often consolidate questions for the sake of convenience. Like this question, which has come up frequently both here and on Facebook: Q: When will you review Toy Story 3? (more…) Read more

The Secret of Kells (2010)

Last updated on: May 31, 2015 at 10:50 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

[This is an expanded version of a feature that was first published in two parts at Good Letters, the blog hosted by Image journal.] • Have you ever seen The Book of Kells? I mean, really seen it with your own eyes? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more breathtaking work of art. Photographs can’t capture the way light plays across the vibrant, reflective ink. Nineteen years ago I stood in Dublin’s Trinity College and leaned over a glass... Read more

A Great Loss: Michael Been of The Call, One of the Great Rock Singers, Has Died

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 5:51 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

A site called Buddyhead is reporting that Michael Been has died. (more…) Read more