James Benning’s 2021 film The United States of America works through 50 landscapes, one from each state in alphabetical order, only to end its…
Maestro When the 2018 remake of old Hollywood standby A Star is Born dropped, it marked the culmination of over a decade’s worth of…
James Benning, the legendary moving-picture artist known for his durational portraits of America, has made one of his most personal works yet. Shot not…
Since moving from 16mm to digital nearly fifteen years ago, James Benning’s films have become more and more stringent, foregoing surface incident in favor…
James Benning’s The United States of America (2022) opens with a shot of Heron Bay, Alabama. With its muted landscape and dull blue sky,…
Coma There have been a number of “lockdown movies” since the outbreak of Covid, and most of them have been unfortunate affairs. While it’s…
In the opening minutes, an individual practices tennis serves to no one. After every two serves, there is a momentary black screen. Some serves…
40 years after his film Grand Opera debuted as part of the Berlinale lineup, legendary avant-garde filmmaker James Benning returns with a personal, strangely…
Our first dispatch from the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival takes on a diverse mix of 2019 festival circuit frequenters and a pool of…
Our fifth and final dispatch from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (here’s the first, the second, the third, and the fourth) represents perhaps our most eclectic group…