Sight and Sound July 2015

BFI: Sight & Sound magazine for July 2015 This issue features a celebration of the centenary of the birth of Orson Welles, who is featured on the front cover. Ben Walters focuses on recently rediscovered elements of Welles' work, especially his first film 'Too much Johnson'; his British TV travelogue in the 1950s 'around the World with Orson Welles' and the unfinished 1970s film 'The Other Side of the Wind'. The other main features in this issue are reports from the 2015 Cannes Film Festival from Nick James and Isabel Stevens; an article and interview by Nick James with Asif Kapadia about his film 'Amy', a documentary on the late singer Amy Winehouse; an exploration of Joshua Oppenheimer's new documentary 'The Look of Silence', a follow up to his film 'The Act of Killing' about perpetrators and victims of atrocities in Indonesia. This is linked to an article by Brian Winston questioning the idea that documentaries can really create social change; an analysis of John Huston's 'The Misfits' (1961) to coincide with its reissue for the BFI's Marilyn Monroe season suggesting that it is about the inability of loners to create meaningful relationships; an interview with John Boorman about his career and particularly his new autobiographical sequel to 'Hope and Glory', 'Queen and Country' about his own national service. Other articles this month are: Nick James' editorial considers the large number of contemporary films about grief and links them to fears about the future of cinema's special status amongst moving images. Michael Brooke looks back at Cannon Film's domination of cinema in the UK in the 1980s as a new documentary about the company, 'Electric Boogaloo', is released. A short piece on the five key performances as Sherlock Holmes. Hannah McGill's object lesson column looks at ballot boxes and elections in film. Kieron Corless interviews French director Thomas Cailley about his new romantic comedy 'Les Combattants'. Mark Cousins, column considers the balance between control and inituition in filmmaking and filmviewing and refers to his upcoming film 'Stockholm, My Love'. Charles Gant looks at the development of musician John McLean's first feature, the western 'Slow West'. His numbers column looks at the consequences of too many films being released at the UK box office and lists figures for arthouse hits and misses at the UK box office in May 2015. Ben Roberts of the BFI Film Fund discusses the implications of changing co-production practices on the definition of British films. Tony Rayns reports from the Hong Kong Film Festival. Julian Ross analyses Yoko Ono's experimental films. Article on Kevin Barker's new folk tour film 'The Family Jams', featuring Joanna Newsom, made in 2009 and now released on DVD. In Primal Screen Geoff Brown reports from the Nitrate Film Festival at George Eastman House, which featured nitrate prints including 'Casablanca' and 'Black Narcissus'. Report from the Oberhausen Short Film Festival. Sukhdev Sandhu looks at the work of 1970s Iranian filmmaker Parviz Kimiavi, whose work is being showcased at Tate Modern this month. Films of the Month are 'Amy'; Chinese film 'Black Coal, Thin Ice'; and 'The Look of Silence'. Other notable theatrical releases reviewed this month are 'Avengers Age of Ultron'; 'Bombay Velvet'; Michael Winterbottom's documentary with Russell Brand 'the Emperor's New Clothes'; documentary about early film pioneer Louis Le Prince, 'the First Film'; Rufus Norris's adaption of the National Theatre verbatim play about the Suffolk murders 'London Road'; 'Mad Max Fury Road'; 'Mr Holmes' with Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes; social media horror film 'Unfriended' and German film 'West'. In the Home Cinema section Philip Kemp looks at Bob Hoskins' performances in 'Mona Lisa' and 'The Long Good Friday'; Kim Newman re-examines Walerian Browczyk's 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne' and Nick Pinkerton analyses 1990 neo-noir 'Miami Blues'. Robert Hanks reviews the DVD release of Tudor drama 'Wolf Hall' and Victorian set children's mystery 'Moondial', Lost and Found considers Jack Gold's Liverpool set revenge drama 'The Reckoning' from 1969. Book reviews include Charlie Chaplin: The Keystone Album. Endings features the conclusion of Howard Hawks' western 'Red River'.