Lee Daniels’ 2009 drama Precious remains a source of controversy in the film community. Positive and negative criticisms of the film tend to form a hyperbolic spectrum. While Precious is…
‘Boyz N The Hood,’ a classic in New Black Realism
Boyz N The Hood is a 1991 film infused within the American cinema lexicon and has become a film nearly everyone knows of, even if they’ve never watched it or…
‘Chameleon Street,’ Fascinating, forgotten and (mostly) factual
Chameleon Street, the only film by writer-director Wendell B. Harris Jr. is, in some ways, a classic American narrative. A young man (Harris) is unsatisfied with his life and decides…
‘La Noire de’ is a short and bitter upheaval of European cinema
Sometimes you don’t need your film to be two hours long to make an impact. La Noire de is a 50-minute condemnation of mid-century European attitudes toward Africans. The film…
‘I Am Cuba,’ a Soviet technical marvel
However you feel about the politics of a pro-Castro drama funded by the Soviets screening on Portland State campus, you owe it to yourself to see I Am Cuba. In…
“I Wake Up Screaming” Goes Deep in Noir
Director Bruce Humberstone’s thriller I Wake up Screaming (1941) features a mix of flashback-heavy noir and comedy as it tells the story of a New York boxing promoter (Victor Mature)…