Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a film that neither expected nor received overmuch praise or attention when it was released in 1956, has quietly “snatched” its way into the film history canon, its place in courses and textbooks now as secure as the pods in Santa Mira.

[en] From Santa Mira to South Africa by Daniel Smith-Rowsey

District 9

Urban segregation is not a frozen status quo, but rather a ceaseless social war in which the state intervenes regularly in the name of ‘progress,’ ‘beautification,’ and even ‘social justice for the poor’ to redraw spatial boundaries to the advantage of landowners, elite homeowners, and middle-class commuters […]. The contemporary scale of removal is immense: every year hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of poor people—legal tenants as well as squatters—are forcibly evicted from Third World neighborhoods (Mike Davis, Planet of Slums)

[en] “Ceaseless Social War”: District 9 by Jason S Polley

[en] Extraterrestrial xenophobia by Lorenzo Rinelli

[en] Fraternizing with the Other

by by Jana Toppe

[en] From Santa Mira to South Africa by Daniel Smith-Rowsey

Jennifer's Body

"Politics and art, like forms of knowledge, construct fiction, that is to say material rearrangements of signs and images, relationships between what is seen and what is said, between what is done and what can be done" – Jacques Rancièrei

[en] “PMS Isn’t Real” and Other Lessons of Jennifer’s Body by Kellyn Johnson

Einaym Pkuhot (Eyes Wide Open)

Aaron (Strauss) is a respected butcher in the ultra Orthodox Jewish community of Jerusalem. He is married to Rivka (Tinkerbel), and is a devoted father to five children. As butcher to the ultra Orthodox community, Aaron must not only select animals free from blemish for slaughter, but must be free from sin himself to provide kosher meat to the strict religious community that he serves.

[en] Keep your eyes open by Rachel Wexelbaum
[it] Tieni gli occhi aperti

Brokeback Mountain

Analyses of Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2005) inevitably centre on the sexuality of its two male protagonists or the relationship between the film and the Western genre. Other studies focus on the aesthetics of its cinematography, particularly that of its lush panoramic vistas. Since the mountain itself functions as metaphor for the relationship between the two central protagonists, there is also commentary on the association between the landscape and sexuality. The often-primal nature of the mountain creates obvious opportunities for psychoanalytical readings in relation to sexuality. Occasionally, such readings implicate Julia Kristeva’s (1982) work, Powers of Horror, interpreting the instinctual and visceral aspects of Brokeback Mountain as abject.

[en] Spaces of Desire: Liminality and Abjection in Brokeback Mountain by Fran Pheasant-Kelly

Knocked Up

It seems Katherine Heigl is unlikely to live down her now infamous 2007 interview with Vanity Fair magazine. Speaking about her experience making the film Knocked Up, the star was quoted as saying the smash-hit comedy was “a little sexist,” adding, “It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight…It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy?”

[en] A Laugh at Whose Expense? by Amy Lewis

XXY

Intersexuality has traditionally been a hidden and taboo subject in Western cultures that demand a clear definition between male and female sexed bodies and their corresponding gendered identities of man and woman.

[en] Intersex and Intersections: Gender, Sex and Sexuality in Lucia Puenzo's XXY by Tamsin Whitehead

Kissing Jessica Stein

JOSH You a little jumpy today Stein?
JESSICA No.
JOSH You got a hot date?
JESSICA No.
JOSH Yeah. Who's the guy?
JESSICA There's no guy.
JOSH Oh come on, you're a terrible, terrible liar.
JESSICA Trust me, there's no guy.
– Kissing Jessica Stein (2001) -

[en] Queering the Romantic Comedy: The ‘Women who Love Women’ Cycle by Betty Kaklamanidou

Un'ora sola ti vorrei

Alina Marazzi produce e dirige Un’ora sola ti vorrei (2002) con l’intento di esplorare un rapporto con la madre “poco conosciuta e dimenticata”i. Dopo aver combattuto contro la propria reticenza nell’aprire quelle scatole segnate con una L contenenti i filmati girati dal nonno (Ulrico Hoepli) e i diari e le lettere della madre (Liseli Hoepli) conservati in un armadio della casa dei nonni materni, la Marazzi ci propone un documentario che si sottrae al meccanismo della sola ricostruzione di una vita sofferta, quella della madre, e di un rapporto con i figli caratterizzato dei rimorsi e sensi di colpa per una dichiarata incapacità di gestire la famiglia.

[it] Narrazione e anti-narrazione in Un’ora sola ti vorrei by Maura Bergonzoni

Puccini e la fanciulla

In concorso alla settima edizione del festival Paris Cinéma con il loro 'Puccini e la fanciulla', abbiamo incontrato Paolo Benvenuti e Paola Baroni per conversare del rapporto tra cinema e storia, e dell'opera di resistenza che portano avanti da ormai più di vent'anni.

[it] Per un cinema maieutico by Andrea Inzerillo