Cinematically, Yours
This Week’s Movie Reviews
4 Artists for Spring!

The Rose Theatre Film Library is bursting with profiles of great artists. The Library grows exponentially this week with four new titles - PARIS CALLIGRAMMES, MOBY DOC, GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING and BIG JOY: THE ADVENTURES OF JAMES BROUGHTON.

     PARIS CALLIGRAMMES is unique among these films because artist and filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger turns her camera on herself, as well as the cafés, book stores and jazz clubs of Paris that fueled her artistic growth. Combining contemporary and archival footage, Ottinger evokes the past without succumbing to nostalgia. "One of the great works of first-person cinema. Ottinger's personal and political masterwork. Extraordinary; a work of vital and energetic modernism." -The New Yorker

     MOBY DOC is also autobiographical, and exactly what you might expect from this iconic musician. It is a surrealist journey narrated by Moby as he reflects on his turbulent personal life, from underground punk bands to chart-topping solo artist, and from struggling addict to vegan activist. Featuring interviews with David Lynch and David Bowie, along with extraordinary concert footage, this Doc is unflinchingly honest and wildly creative.

     "Painting is another form of thinking," Gerhard Richter once said, and GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING takes that premise seriously, exposing for the first time how he translates his thoughts onto a blank canvas. Beautifully shot and endlessly revealing, the film offers an unprecedented insight into the life and work of one of the greatest artists of our time. "A mesmerizing look behind the curtain at a magician at work." -Los Angeles Times

     James Broughton was not only a groundbreaking avant-garde filmmaker and poet, he was a friend and Port Townsend resident until his passing at age 85 in 1999. Years before the Beats arrived in San Francisco, the city exploded with artistic expressions. At its center was James Broughton. BIG JOY: THE ADVENTURES OF JAMES BROUGHTON explores his fiercely independent mantra: 'follow your own weird.' His remarkable story spans the post-war San Francisco Renaissance, his influence on the Beat generation, escape to Europe during the McCarthy years, a lifetime of acclaim for his experimental films, and his ascendency as a revered bard of sexual liberation. 

Cinematically Yours,
Rocky