Monthly Archives: May 2017

The Depths

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Mark Stern

The main word in the title of director Bette Gordon’s sleek psychological thriller, “The Drowning,” is transformed from a noun to a verb as her characters revisit a decade-old, horrific crime. Photographed in wide screen by ace cinematographer Radium Chung, … Continue reading →

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Spring Speeds By (Stillwater Diary)

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Mark Stern

In late April and early May, work, fun and a Labrador health emergency kept us in New York, or sent us home from Stone Ridge at 3:00 am (no traffic on the Thruway or in town, as we drove though … Continue reading →

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David and Goliath in Lower Manhattan

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Mark Stern

Early in filmmaker Steve James’s riveting new documentary, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” about the overzealous prosecution of the 2,531st largest bank in the United States, local TV reporter Ti-Hua Chang, appears on screen. He compares the five-year legal contest between the founder and … Continue reading →

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Fearless Women, On Screen and Behind the Camera

Posted on May 14, 2017 by Mark Stern

“Gas Food Lodging” (1992), Allison Anders’ seminal second feature, made without asking permission, stars Brooke Adams as Nora, a waitress and single mother in “Nowheresville, New Mexico,” trying to balance raising her teenage daughters, Trudi and Shade (Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk), in a … Continue reading →

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“Homeless–In All Countries”

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Mark Stern

Shot in enveloping widescreen, director/co-writer Maria Schrader’s “Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe” opens with the frame filled with vibrant tropical flowers. As the camera pulls back, it reveals an extravagantly decorated, enormous banquet table in an elegant, old-world style room at Rio de Janeiro’s exclusive Jockey … Continue reading →

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The Man (Unfortunately) Is (Now) the Message

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Mark Stern

Academy Award winning-director (“Citzenfour”) Laura Poitras’s complicated new documentary “Risk,” is a seemingly all-access portrait of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the media organization he founded in 2006. The film, shot over six years, beginning in 2010, premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, … Continue reading →

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Immigrants Are Welcome Here, But Not NotMyPresident

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Mark Stern

Demonstrators along the West Side Highway in midtown unwelcomed Trump back to the town where he was resoundingly defeated in the 2016 election (in Manhattan, 64,929 to Clinton’s 579,013). As the motorcade passed, the crowd ferociously chanted, “New York hates you,” … Continue reading →

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May Day, Foley Square, New York (Sanctuary) City

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Mark Stern

May Day, a celebration of workers’ dignity, rights, and strength, originated in 1886 in Chicago, part of the labor movement’s fight for the eight-hour work day. In the Untied States, the international workers’ holiday has become a crucial part of the immigrant … Continue reading →

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Men and Mayhem

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Mark Stern

I photographed Ted Kotcheff in 2012. It was a few years before I developed a very late-to-the-party fascination with Olivia Benson (and crew) and started working my way through, in no particular order, 400+ episodes of SVU, 285 of which he had executive … Continue reading →

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