Sight and Sound February 2015

February 2015 issue of Sight & Sound, with promotional images of Joaquin Phoenix in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice" on the cover. Contents include an editorial by Nick James weighing up the repercussions of "the death of mid-budget" films and the situation non Hollywood films and filmmakers find themselves in (with an emphasis on British cinema). There are small features on the role of silent film comediennes and Gloria Swanson's early career in comedy, a piece by Hanna McGill discussing the sexually suggestive and embedded racist use of bananas in cinema, an interview with Venezuelan director Mariana Rondón, and a dispatch by Mark Cousins in which he compares his notes of David Miller's "Sudden Fear" with the review François Truffaut, whom he credits to have fuelled his love for cinema, wrote in 1952. "The Industry" section highlight focuses on the development of Sondheim's "Into the Woods" into a feature film and the different changes the Broadway musical went through to make it a "viable" production; there is also a column reviewing and discussing the numbers, and its implications, of Foreign-Language Films at UK/Ireland box office in 2014 against the 2014 UK/Ireland box office of English-Language Specialised Titles, a piece dwelling on the need and challenges of establishing a younger audience, and a review of IDFA, Amsterdam's International Documentary Festival. The issue's cover feature is on Paul Thomas Anderson "Inherent Vice", which includes an interview with the director. Other main features centre on Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash", including an interview with the director; the life of French filmmaker Eric Rohmer, Bennet Miller's "Foxcatcher", the legacy of director Mike Nichols, and J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year". The S&S Interview with Frederick Wiseman sees the documentary filmmaker talking about filming as "National Gallery" is released. Films of the month: "American Sniper", "Ex Machina" and "The Last of the Unjust". Other reviewed films include "Foxcatcher", "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies", "Inherent Vice", "Into the Woods", "A Most Violent Year", "National Gallery", "Paddington", "Selma", "Trash", "Unbroken", "Whiplash", and "Wild". Home releases include "The Girl Who Knew Too Much", "Films by Mitchell Leisen and Preston Sturges" and "The Hayao Miyazaki Collection", and "Intolerance". Featuring in the forgotten films "Lost and Found" section, Russell Rouse's "Wicked Woman". The last content section focuses on reads, including "Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed", edited by Paul Cronin and "The Films of Eric Rohmer: French New Wave to Old Master" edited by Leah Anderst.

Part of the Bill Douglas and Peter Jewell Collection