At the Criterion blog, Farran Nehme Smith writes about noir, defining noir, and curating Criterion’s “Noir by Gaslight” series. “Recently on the Criterion Channel, I’ve been given the chance to program a collection of films that challenge and complicate the idea of what classic noir is. All are period […]
Hey, it’s the Fantastic Fest 2023 line-up. Take a gander at all the films here. And Drafthouse has more here.
Friend of the Gutter Michelle Kisner on Kinji Fukasaku’s 1968 film, Black Lizard! “Villains can be alluring and enchanting and, if executed correctly, can hold the audience in the palm of their hands. Kinji Fukasaku’s film Black Lizard (1968) has one such outlaw, Mrs. Midorikawa (Akihiro Miwa), AKA […]
Summer isn’t quite here, but it’s been hot and a chunk of North America is already on fire, so I thought I’d go straight ahead with my Summer Fun Time Reading recommendations. There’s Gilded Age tomfoolery, science fiction, horror, mysterious figures with antlers, UFOs, ghosts, cats with skulls […]
The Library of America shares Dashiell Hammett’s short story, “The Main Death,” and adds some context. “On its surface, “The Main Death” seems to be a straightforward puzzle mystery: an abundance of seemingly contradictory clues perplex the cops and detectives (and the reader), the Continental Op hunts down […]
For this year’s Switcheroo Month, I decided to write about a lesser known film by one of the most reputable directors around—Akira Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well (1960). Set in then contemporary mid-Twentieth Century Japan, The Bad Sleep Well is the story of Koichi Nishi (Toshiro Mifune) seeking […]
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The Cultural Gutter 