cinema insights

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – The device of an untrustworthy narrator is often used in cinema, perhaps never more masterfully than Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. In that film, several characters tell contradicting versions of a story, even from beyond the grave. Who is lying, or can some aspects of the tale be reconciled

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – Based on a novel by British music critic Norman Lebrecht, THE SONG OF NAMES is a bit of a mystery, and a bit of a character study in survivors guilt, and a purposefully reserved story that leaves much of the strong emotional content submerged, which can feel like a

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – I don’t think any of us think that the National Enquirer is really responsible for undermining our faith in the free press, but what surprised me about watching SCANDALOUS was the degree to which it has exercised political influence, and apparently increasingly so. And not just

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – It became clear after I took off my shoes for the TSA, and then noticed on the plane that I had a sharp-bladed hinged tool in the shape of a key in my pocket. This was to make the public FEEL safe, not be safe. I had beaten

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – Believe it or not, we had already booked the return engagement of BECOMING NOBODY for January 15-18 before the passing of Ram Dass. And back in August of last year we had booked the Toni Morrison documentary before she passed away, as well. This has led

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – My high school sweetheart’s father was a taxidermist. The first few times going to pick her up at their house was a bit intimidating, with carcasses in various states of deconstruction in front of the workshop, and the big burly guy who was clearly good with a knife giving

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – The opening scene of the new Chinese animated release White Snake is a stunning work of visual art, setting the tone for an epic mythological adventure. This is not the 2-D anime style from Japan that most of us know, but a very different cultural aesthetic,

Glenn’s Pick – Glenn Webb, Director of Programs – Perhaps it is simply the accumulation of experience that makes it harder each year for me to find my way into some sort of “holiday spirit,” as if the bright shiny ornament has been encrusted with the inevitable layers of loss and stress that have coincided