Hello and welcome to my monthly outpouring of notions at least tangentially connected to film and crime fiction. I suppose this is where I announce that I’m scrapping my blog and zine in favor of an ongoing true crime TikTok series, but I’m not much for April Fool’s jokes. In many ways it’s been a quiet month that’s allowed me to focus on future projects, which is fantastic but doesn’t leave me with too much to detail in this space. I did have the great fortune of attending MidWest WeirdFest in Eau Claire, Wisconsin for the first time. Dean and Co. have been putting on a fantastically indie and genre focused film festival for ten years now and I both had an absolute blast and plan on returning as often as I can. You can check out my reviews of the fest and what I was able to see here. To my surprise, my favorite film of the fest was a musical about obsession and voyeurism, Peeping Todd, and I encourage you to keep an eye out for it once it gets distribution (I need to believe that it will). Other than that, the only review I published was for Gabriele Mainetti’s wild genre blender, The Forbidden City, that combines martial arts revenge action with elements of romance and crime drama. It’s one I’m recommending and I’m certainly going to keep an eye out for whatever Yaxi Liu is in next. I’ve been steadily viewing, reviewing, and drawing in preparation for the next issue of Apache Revolver and I hope (cross your fingers and toes) to have something sent to the printer later this month. The issue took a recent but inspirational turn and I’m excited to share it with everyone. I’m planning on announcing it here in the newsletter first to allow any subscribers to order copies before making it more generally available. After that I will be reaching out to some of the great shops that carried the first issue and (assuming everything is ready) will be tabling at some local comic/zine shows. My quest to fill in my personal gaps in the AFI’s 100 Years 100 Movies list continues with F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans—a film I’ve managed not to see despite being a Murnau fan since high school. Narratively, Sunrise felt a bit pedestrian compared to Murnau’s more fantastic efforts, but the technical brilliance he was able to achieve in his American film debut is undeniable; the tracking shots, the forced perspective, the in-camera multiple exposures, and the synch-sound effects remain dazzling nearly a century later.
Earlier this month I was reading an article by author and critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum, about the state of film criticism. The piece was meant to be a column for the Chicago Reader until the paper informed Rosenbaum that it wasn’t able to edit pieces from freelancers and summarily canceled his future entries. That, in itself, is a depressing statement on journalism and media though Rosenbaum remains more thoughtful with a moderate optimism. Personally, I suppose I have to side with the rise of non-professional writers, critics, and anyone else who makes the effort to publicly comment on film. I would love to be paid for what I do but I don’t confuse that rapidly vanishing status with quality output or knowledge of the medium. Filmmakers and studios also seem to recognize the diminished cultural currency held by any specific critical voice. I see regular pull quotes from totally obscure sources (I got to be one this past month, thanks Peeping Todd!) and even established outlets get flattened into the anonymous numerical Metacritic and Tomatometer values. Most importantly, working independently has typically come with increased freedom regarding form and content. Finding film criticism that meant something to me and covered the types of film I was interested in took some genuine effort when I was young and now it seems that virtually unknown movies might have whole videos or podcasts dedicated to them thanks to some passionate fan online.
Still, though there are no shortage of flaws to be found, I think it’s incredibly important and valuable to read (mostly) or otherwise engage with the pros. Though I’m sure the paychecks aren’t great, they allow for certain individuals to have that time and space to do the real work of commenting on film: watching, reading, writing, and discussing. Also, critics are typically engaged with the broader film community which includes many more film festivals than someone like me can attend as well as insights from filmmakers themselves into how these wild endeavors get put together in the first place. I was watching a recent video from a popular YouTube film/entertainment channel and it seemed so clear to me that those creators, though likely paid for their efforts, are impossibly siloed into their fanbase and immediate social circles. It’s something we all need to be aware of but it can lead to absurdly myopic viewpoints if you make the mistake that your perspective translates universally. The same pitfalls exist for the traditional journalists, but intervention from an editor or a colleague in addition to being exposed to a wider range of voices helps to measure their point of view. Of course, the real tragedy is the disappearance of so many opportunities to work via independently produced magazines, public media, and alt-weeklies that allowed both leeway in regards to coverage and some measure of professional rigor. Volunteering to work for software platforms just isn’t the same.
This past month I actually watched an entire television series when it came to my attention that Black Rabbit shared so much talent in front of and behind the camera with The Order which made the top of my 2024 Hardboiled List. I did not think Rabbit was as good as Order but I still found it to be a highly engaging (and occasionally ulcer inducing) neo-noir about two guys making one terrible choice after another. I also appreciated how much NYC location footage was being leveraged and Justin Kurzel directed some of the later episodes. I have not yet seen the series adaptation but did finish Dennis Tafoya’s Dope Thief which I thought was excellent. What begins as an unrelentingly gritty Philadelphia based crime thriller finds a surprisingly touching and redemptive final act. I’ll definitely be seeking out more from him. On the comic end of things, I had somewhat of a return to my roots. I re-read Love and Rockets: Heartbreak Soup for the first time in what must be decades. As a kid, I preferred Jaimie’s punk-fueled Locas storylines but the inherent power of Gilbert’s tales of Palomar are impossible to deny. Sex, death, mystery, renewal, and all the myriad struggles of the human heart set in a tiny fictional village in a remote fictional Latin American country. I hope to continue revisiting L&R throughout the year. I also picked up and devoured Mike Mignola’s latest, Uri Tupka and the Gods, which continues his “Lands Unknown” universe though focusing on a single storyline this time. A friend gave me a copy of Mignola’s and Walt Simonsen’s Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure when I was 11-12 and I’ve been a devotee ever since. Tupka absolutely delivers on that dark, monstrous, statuary laden artwork Mignola made his bones with but I’m also fascinated with the mythology he’s building. Sequels have been promised and I can’t wait.
Finally I have to mention a book I haven’t read through but one I am already finding to be a fantastic resource: Chris D.’s massive new tome, The Humanity of Femmes Fatales and Heartless Villains - International Noir and Beyond Genre. Chris D. is an essential voice for those of us interested in crime film, particularly Japanese film, and his latest is an expansive volume encompassing classic American noir, notes and filmographies across the globe, and reprinted pieces from his work in Slash magazine. It’s a colossal work and one I will be spending hours with in the years to come. Unfortunately it’s only available via Amazon print-on-demand and the first copy I received had a section printed upside-down and backwards. It’s still technically readable, so if you’re interested in my misfit copy, drop me a line.
Thanks so much for reading and, as always, I’d love to hear about what you’re watching and reading or a source of film criticism/commentary that you find especially insightful whether that’s in-print or online. Hopefully I’ll have something about the next issues of AR soon!