Opening this weekend on a limited basis before fanning across the country, “The Limits of Control” is the latest flick from the mercurial but always salient Jim Jarmusch. Appearing in the pivotal role of Lone Man is Isaach De Bankole, who starred with Alex Descas in the laconic No Problem vignette from the wonderful “Coffee and Cigarettes.”
In the May issue of Sight and Sound, Ginette Vincendeau commemorates the 50th anniversary of the French New Wave by observing the movement’s transmutating influence on The Star Reborn.
At the hazy dawn of an early morning in 1976, the prolific director Claude Lelouch buckled up and without a permit roared through the streets of Paris filming an uninterrupted eight-minute thrill ride that’s become a Gearheads classic. It was madly dangerous. (He’s copped to the recklessness.) But “Rendezvous” is breathtaking. And mesmerizing.
Following a 15-year self-imposed exile from directing since the notorious “Boxing Helena,” Jennifer Lynch shares a frank and sometimes peculiar exchange with Time Out London about the the 1990s critical beatdown, her father’s influence and the genesis of the new film, “Surveillance.”
One Film Wonders: Vittorio De Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief” is a film of overwhelmingly powerful emotional potency. Much of the film’s poignancy resonates from the performances of Lamberto Maggiorani as Antonio Ricci and Enzo Staiola as his son, Bruno. They were both non-actors when each was cast in this first film role — Staiola reportedly was chosen for his distinctive walk. In the next 20 years, Maggiorani snagged unassuming parts in 15 films with ungracious character names such as “lonely patient” and “poor man.” Staiola would recede in the subsequent 30 years into anonymous roles as well with monikers like “newspaper seller’s son” and “busboy.” But as this sequence in a restaurant so vividly demonstrates, the novices effortessly express a wealth of emotions as cinema’s most sublime father-son duo.
One Film Beyond 