March/April 2004

MICHAEL CAINE
The most enduring and down-to-earth of the Swinging Sixties British stars, Michael Caine makes it all look so easy. His film career has taken him from barrow boy to Academy Award winner to Knight of the Realm. He shares some of the secrets of his success.
Interview by
GRAHAM FULLER

SHE'S ONE OF US
Alienation French-style: Siegrid Alnoy's enigmatic, otherworldly, and coolly satirical vision of modern disconnection and the rules of the new game heralds the arrival of an exciting talent.
JONATHAN ROMNEY

MARCO BELLOCCHIO
He started with a bang heard around the world amidst the political ferment of the Sixties, went missing in action in a psychosexual cinematic no-man's-land, and now, with My Mother's Smile and Good Morning, Night, Bellocchio's back to confront the ghosts of Italian politics, religion, and family.
DEBORAH YOUNG

JOSEPH LOSEY
Exiled to Europe by the Hollywood blacklist, Joseph Losey enjoyed a high-profile yet unclassifiable art-house career spanning 30 years. A look at the contradictions, reversals, and doublings of a filmmaker equally at home with Harold Pinter and Elizabeth Taylor.
RICHARD COMBS

GROSSES GLOSS
It's DVD to the rescue in our 2003 box-office postmortem.
JEFFREY SPAULDING

MOVIE OF THE MOMENT: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
From the pen of Charlie Kaufman, our Movie of the Moment is a sweetly twisted boy-meets-girl story, as well as a literally mind-boggling parable of digital anxiety.
CHRIS NORRIS

OLAF'S WORLD: NIGERIAN VIDEOFILM CULTURE
A homegrown cinema of outrageous schlock from Africa's most populous nation.
OLAF MÖLLER

FIRST LOOK: HOU HSIAO-HSIEN'S CAFÉ LUMIÈRE
A tribute to the past set in the here and now.
CHRIS FUJIWARA

SOUND: LOST HIGHWAY (THE OPERA)
Lost Highway writer Barry Gifford didn't know there was an opera based on the film until he was invited to the Austrian premiere. Here, he takes us on his trip.
BARRY GIFFORD

VISION: ISAAC JULIEN
In his latest installation, the filmmaker-artist revisits his Baadasssss Cinema subject, Blaxploitation.
CHRIS NORRIS

DISCOVERY: THE SPECULATIVE ARCHIVE
An avant-investigative research team plumbs the murky waters of hidden information and declassified documents. What will rise?
CARLY BERWICK

FESTIVALS
The latest discoveries (and rediscoveries) from Sundance and Rotterdam. AMY TAUBIN, RACHEL ROSEN, GAVIN SMITH, OLAF MÖLLER, and EDWARD E. CROUSE

FICTION
"Crisis in the Life of an Actor"

GARY INDIANA

DEPARTMENTS:
REVIEW: The Saddest Music in the World, Greendale, Mayor of the Sunset Strip, and Saved!
BOOKS: Down and Dirty Pictures reviewed by Amy Taubin
VIDI VIDI VIDI: The latest DVD releases: The Chase, Pickup on South Street, Schindler's List, and more

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: READERS' POLL
The results are in: our readers' picks for the best films of 2003.