After parkrun at the cafe in Wendover Woods, I found myself sitting next to Angelo who I found works at the BFI (British Film Institute) at Berkhamsted. I could not remember him mentioning the BFI monthly magazine Sight and Sound but Alison did. And sent for a copy. I could not believe I had never heard of this publication as it is truly amazing. Full of articles and reviews of films, some of which would never make the mainstream press. The following are just samples of what it contains.
The cover is obviously Sofia Coppola whose latest film Priscilla is shortly arriving in cinemas. The editorial is followed by a long article and interview with this great writer and director as well as a Q&A with the star.(The Elvis estate has denounced the movie and refused to allow any of his music). Before that comes "Opening Scenes" about a Russian director, "Editor's Choice" about what's on, "In Production", "Preview" about films at the BFI London Film Festival, "In Focus" has a Chilean director, "In Conversation" a Greek director, "Reel Talk" discusses technical stuff, "The Ballot of ...." has a Mexican director choosing her favourite films, "Mean Sheets" sees the artist's three posters for Killers of the Flower Moon, "Reader's Letters", and then four articles by regular correspondents. These include Pamela Hutchinson, a film historian, about a 1928 film about London landscape, Nicole Flattery, a film critic, about her daily grind, Andrew male, a freelance film critic, discusses the roles played by the recently departed Michael Gambon and Kevin B. Lee, professor for the future of cinema, tells us that directors rate films very differently to film critics.
A four page article about director Emma Seligman's film Bottoms is followed by five pages dealing with David Fincher's The Killer followed by four films that influenced his script. Then one of my favourite pieces describes the making of the Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall (see my review) with the director and star. In "Under the Influence" the film's writer/director Justine Triet talks about all the courtroom dramas she watched (including the trial of Amanda Knox) and picks two films which especially were important. Skipping past an article about Terence Davies, we arrive (in depth) at Todd Haynes and his film May December and Joanna Hogg's The Eternal Daughter. At last comes a major section called "Reviews" where twenty one current releases get their, mainly really long, critic's observations. Of which I have only seen five! The magazine's reviews did not include Napoleon, Hunger Games, Wonka, Three Musketeers, Godzilla or any animation or super hero movies.
DVD and Blu-Ray releases get their reviews and a "Rediscovery" section is all about the unobtainable Unman, Wittering and Zigo. "Archive TV" even gets a slot including an article about I, Claudius. "Wider Screen" looks at Portuguese cinema followed by some book reviews. Near the end is the "In Memoriam" piece and lastly "This Month in .... 2006" with the films it reviewed and an article about the wonderful Isabelle Hupert. Except for "Endings" which looks at the classic Czech film Closely Observed Trains that won the scar for best international film in 1967.
I did not know that this magazine was first published quarterly in 1932 and came under the wing of the BFI in 1934. There are framed cover prints for sale of old editions. including that for The Red Shoes from the winter edition of 1948/9. I'm hoping that I might be getting an annual subscription for Christmas.
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