Fitzcarraldo
At Home with...
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2h 37m
Directed by Werner Herzog | 157 mins | 1982
The making of Herzog’s epic film about the endeavors of Irish entrepreneur Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle is perhaps as fascinating as "Fitzcarraldo" itself, as was stunningly documented in Les Blank’s "Burden of Dreams"—the story of a director’s five-year obsessions to match those of his antihero. In their fourth pairing, Herzog gave Kinski another seemingly tailor-made role (although in this case he was a replacement for Jason Robards, who had to drop out well along in the production), and there may be no more iconic image in all of Herzog’s dreamy-looking cinematic output than that of dozens of Peruvian natives hauling a 320-ton steamboat up over a steep hill—an unbelievable “special effect” that Herzog actually accomplished.
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Old Enough
Directed by Marisa Silver | 92 mins | 1984
Eleven-year-old Lonnie (Sarah Boyd) is a Lower East Side kid who comes from money, while her teenaged pal Karen (Rainbow Harvest) doesn’t come from much of anything at all. At first these opposites attract, but then budding hormones and first crushes fur... -
In the Air Tonight
Directed by Andrew Norman Wilson | 11 mins | 2020
An atmospheric standout of the Sundance and the New York Film Festival shorts programs, Andrew Norman Wilson’s "In the Air Tonight" unfurls a ghost story beneath the night skies of Michael Mann’s Los Angeles. The film recounts the apocryphal tale ... -
Blue Black Permanent
Directed by Margaret Tait | 86 mins | 1992
While making "Aftersun" (2022), Charlotte Wells discovered a kindred spirit in her compatriot Margaret Tait: the sole feature by the medical doctor turned poet and filmmaker, "Blue Black Permanent"—in fact the first by a Scotswoman, made towards the end ...