‘Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?’ — a feature-length film following the performer’s journey from rural Massachusetts to Oakland — is one of the highlights of San Francisco DocFest, which starts Thursday.
John Seal
Freelancer John Seal is Berkeleyside’s film critic. A movie connoisseur with a penchant for natty hats who lives in Oakland, John writes a weekly film recommendation column at Box Office Prophets, as well as a column in The Phantom of the Movie’s Videoscope, an old-fashioned paper magazine, published quarterly. He also writes regular film reviews for IMDB, which can be read here.
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‘Starling Girl’ meets dashing youth pastor: Story of evangelical angst told with nuance in new film
The characters in ‘The Starling Girl’ — opening Friday at San Francisco’s AMC Kabuki 8 — are believable, fallible human beings struggling to avoid sin.
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Perestroika blues and gender-bending fun at Pacific Film Archive
A late Soviet-era parable and a wacky Thai adventure movie come to the Pacific Film Archive.
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Frigid film with a hungry bear is top Berkeley pick for upcoming SFFILM Fest
Playing at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive during the 66th SFFILM Fest: ‘The Snow and the Bear,’ a riveting mystery. Plus: ‘Daliland,’ a biopic of the Spanish surrealist, ‘Martinez,’ a small-scale office comedy-drama, and more.
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‘Berlin And Beyond’ film festival touches down at The Elmwood
A fractious family, a unique director, and an extremely clever young man are highlights of this year’s festival, which comes to Rialto Cinemas Elmwood on March 27.
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Berkeley film series celebrates ‘pioneers of queer cinema’
The two-month series at the Pacific Film Archive kicks off Friday with the 1996 comedy-drama ‘The Watermelon Woman.’ Andy Warhol’s ‘My Hustler’ screens Saturday.
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At SF IndieFest: Jolly pranksters, sonic tricksters and a madcap murder spree
‘Poundcake,’ about the media circus set off by a serial killer who targets Brooklyn’s white men, is hilarious. Also worth seeing: Ryan Worsley’s ‘Stand by For Failure,’ about the band Negativland, and ‘Chop and Steele,’ about the creators of the Found Footage Festival.
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Jailbreak classic ‘Le Trou’ comes to Pacific Film Archive Saturday
Jacques Becker’s final film depicts a tension-filled Parisian jailbreak.
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New film ‘Living’ casts light on the fine art of dying
Bill Nighy delivers a masterclass in understatement in the movie based on Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Ikiru.’
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Our movie critic’s favorite films of 2022
OK, some of them aren’t technically films, but the rise of streaming and the loss of commercial theaters has scrambled notions of what counts as a movie.
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‘Hole in the Head’ festival celebrates films obscure, outré and out there
Whether you live on a farm or with a murderous doll — or both! — the SF Indiefest festival has something for everyone.
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7 films by Pasolini playing this month at Pacific Film Archive
‘The Hawks and the Sparrows’ — screening at 7 p.m. Saturday — reveals a sense of humor not always evident in the masterful Italian director’s work.
