Three hours of the new French film, “Blue is the Warmest Color,” should convince even the most ardent Francophiles that the nation has lost its way and drawn a number of film critics along with it. Inspiring considerable discussion before it achieved a wide release, the movie deals with a familiar subject — a young […]
France
Posted inMovies
“To the Wonder”
Terrence Malick is a polarizing filmmaker. Some people respond to his works, in all their enigmatic glory — dreamy, abstract narratives told though hushed, half-conversations, weighty ideas contrasted against a fascination with the natural world and, always, endlessly expansive shots of sunsets. Others find his work pretentious and dull. Generally speaking, I would label myself […]
Posted inMovies
“Renoir”
Whatever the complications and challenges in making any motion picture, films about great artists, especially in the graphic and plastic arts, should really make themselves. Beyond the inherent interest in the life of a particular famous person, the sheer process of creation holds its own fascination, and above all, the images themselves provide a rich […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Lafayette, we aren’t there yet
It was a long time ago — in emotional distance more than in years. On June 7, 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette stopped in downtown Rochester aboard an Erie Canal barge. An “estimated ten thousand cheering citizens” for the “Nation’s Honored Guest” were “double the town’s population,” write historians Blake McKelvey and Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck. […]
