For as long as I have identified as Christian, those who write about Christianity and the arts or those who make “Christian” art have described the crossover artist as the goal of Christian art. That artist would be someone who identified as Christian and whose Read More …
Until very late in Yasujiro Ozu’s film Tokyo Story, there is no crisis more dramatic than some uncomfortable silences. So what is it that makes this film one of the most revered dramas ever crafted? It’s the simplest of stories: An elderly couple—Shukichi and Tomi—drop in Read More …
Released in 1932, two years before Hollywood studios began enforcing the restrictive guidelines of the Motion Picture Production Code, William A. Wellman’s Frisco Jenny remains shockingly modern in 2016. Ruth Chatterton stars in the title role, as a good-hearted gal turned madam and bootlegger who is fiercely Read More …
We’ve seen some powerful, horrifying films about the war in Rwanda. But we’ve never seen anything like this—a film made with the help of Rwandans, informed by their own experiences, and performed in their own language. Sangwa’s a prodigal son of the Hutu. He’s come Read More …
What is the relationship between military duty and human emotion? Clare Denis explores this dichotomy in her film Beau Travail, an adaption of the Herman Melville’s novel Billy Budd transported to post-colonial Africa. Beau Travail tells the story of Galoup, an officer leading a troop of the French Foreign Read More …
Most everyone has heard of Bicycle Thieves. Even those who have never heard of neorealism. Even those who might not know the name Vittorio De Sica. It is the original film celebrity — famous for being famous. Woody Allen named it one of his five favorite Read More …
This beautifully animated short film begins before World War I in the deserted and desertified foothills of the Alps in southern France, where the narrator, on a hiking excursion, meets the peasant Elzéard Bouffier. Having lost his family, Bouffier has decided to dedicate the rest Read More …
The Tree of Wooden Clogs is empathetic to its peasants without sentimentalizing poverty. It appears on an Arts & Faith list for the first time in 2020, testifying to the influence of the Criterion Collection for nudging world cinema’s gems into our consciousness. There are Read More …
The Southern tradition of Pentecostal preaching focuses on power – primarily on the power of the “Holy Ghost”, the “blood of Jesus”, and the declared “Word of God”. The expression of this power is most often offered up as fiery, exuberant sermons delivered to congregations Read More …
Spirited Away, perhaps Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s greatest work of art, is the beautiful and engrossing tale of a young girl, Chihiro, who enters a magical world through an abandoned amusement park. Of course, such a summary necessarily fails to do justice to the Read More …