Louis Proyect
Tomatometer-approved critic
| Biography: |
I am a long-time socialist with a an interest in the problems of developing countries. Therefore, films made in Latin America, Africa and Asia are of great interest to me. I am also the moderator of a Marxism mailing list at www.marxmail.org.
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| Favorites: |
1. Burn2. Strawberry and Chocolate3. Battle of Algiers4. Moolaade5. Sargeant Shakespeare
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| Publications: | rec.arts.movies.reviews, Counterpunch.org |
| Critics' Group: | New York Film Critics Online |
| Location: | NYC |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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| No Score Yet | Fail State (2018) |
A powerful investigative report on for-profit schools that are exploiting working people while enriching Wall Street investors in the same way as bundled mortgages in 2007 and likely leading to the same kind of financial crash.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2018
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| No Score Yet | The Lost Village (2018) |
Ignore the "rotten" reviews on this double-barreled attack on how NYU and NYC real estate potentates are turning the Village into CVS-land. An important documentary on the Trumping of NYC from Democrats and Republicans alike.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2018
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| 93% | The Price of Everything (2018) |
A wise and witty examination of the commodification of art.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Oct 10, 2018
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| 93% | The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018) |
A well-deserved tribute to a star of the silent era whose films will be enjoyed centuries from now while today's Cineplex comedies will be forgotten months after they have been shown.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Oct 5, 2018
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| 79% | 22 July (2018) |
An understated, documentary-like treatment of a theme that easily could have lent itself to purple melodrama. Paul Greengrass's aesthetic works most effectively in confronting the biggest question of our age: how to resist fascism.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Sep 26, 2018
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| 79% | Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) |
Entertaining film, crappy politics.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Sep 21, 2018
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| 90% | Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco (2018) |
A loving and accomplished tribute to a neglected icon of the 60s and 70s fashion scene whose drawings of models were as rebellious in their own way as campus sit-ins.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Sep 17, 2018
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| 96% | Rodents of Unusual Size (2018) |
Fascinating study of the ecology of invasive species and their impact on Louisiana wetlands as well as loving tribute to Cajun survival instincts, comparable ironically to those of the rodent.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Sep 17, 2018
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| 97% | I Am Not a Witch (2018) |
A film that badly misrepresents what happens to women accused of witchcraft in Zambia in a bid to exploit the film festival/art house circuits.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Sep 8, 2018
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| 74% | Five Fingers for Marseilles (2018) |
A failed attempt to use South Africa as a place to recycle Sergio Leone when social reality cries out for a new Ousmane Sembene instead.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Sep 8, 2018
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| 60% | Operation Finale (2018) |
A film that concedes too much to Hannah Arendt's portrait of Eichmann in The New Yorker in the view of rightwing Zionists but not enough. Still worth seeing for its defiance of official Zionist ideology.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2018
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| 65% | The Little Stranger (2018) |
The story of a decaying aristocratic family in post-WWII Britain using the conventions of Gothic fiction. Those expecting lurid Stephen King effects might be disappointed even if King named the novel it is based on as the best he read in 2009.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2018
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| 59% | Memoir of War (La douleur) (2018) |
Subtle but heartbreaking tale of life in Vichy France that incorporates elements of Marguerite Duras's aesthetic. First-rate screen adaption of a 1985 semi-fictional work that has its #MeToo aspects.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 17, 2018
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| 100% | King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen (2018) |
Larry Cohen is lauded throughout this film, as well he should be. "King Cohen" is a labor of love by a filmmaker and interviewees who "get" what he was about. So will you after seeing this great documentary about the greatest of b-movie makers.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 4, 2018
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| No Score Yet | Prairie Trilogy (2018) |
North Dakota--when a Red state was really Red. Documentaries that are both historically unparalleled but thrilling.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 27, 2018
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| 82% | Milford Graves Full Mantis (2018) |
This joins "I Called Him Morgan" as the greatest films ever made about a jazz musician. Unlike Lee Morgan, who died tragically too young, Milford Graves is still going strong at the age of 76. You will wear a smile during the entire film.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 12, 2018
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| 89% | The Citizen (Az Allampolgar) (2018) |
Both topical and dramatically vivid, this is a work of Hungarians who are facing a brand of nativism even more toxic than we Americans face now.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 6, 2018
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| 92% | A Skin So Soft (Ta peau si lisse) (2018) |
A brilliant take on a sport that has the surface appearance of machismo. The film reveals a much more feminine side, complete with hair removal and posing.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2018
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| 100% | The Silence of Others (2018) |
Imagine going to Germany and seeing that there were still statues of Hitler. That was what Spaniards faced after the death of Franco. The film documents the need to bring his torturers to justice.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2018
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| No Score Yet | The Distant Barking of Dogs (2018) |
A pacifist film urgently needed in light of the ongoing and senseless war in Ukraine. It is also a film about childhood as moving as "The Florida Project".‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2018
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| 100% | Naila and the Uprising (2017) |
In light of Israel's depraved indifference to Palestinian life in the border with Gaza recently, this film is not only timely but powerful cinema.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2018
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| 40% | The Last Witness (2018) |
A reminder of how England helped to suppress reports about Stalin's murder of 22,000 Poles in 1940 when it was politically expedient.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 1, 2018
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| 93% | First Reformed (2018) |
A visionary film about the most urgent question facing humanity: ecological ruin. Schrader has made the greatest American film of the decade.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted May 18, 2018
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| 93% | Angels Wear White (2018) |
A striking resemblance to "The Florida Project" for its motel locale, its class consciousness and above all its cinematic mastery.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted May 4, 2018
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| No Score Yet | American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs (2018) |
A timely documentary for the period we are living in now: a new gilded age.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 30, 2018
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| No Score Yet | Stranger Fruit (2017) |
A documentary that proves that Michael Brown was the victim of a lynching but by someone in a blue uniform rather than a hood.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 27, 2018
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| 100% | The Judge (2018) |
A valuable insight into Palestinian society and a great antidote to Islamophobic hysteria over sharia law.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 13, 2018
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| 95% | Sweet Country (2018) |
A visually striking film undone by its obsequious indigenous characters. Australia needs a film about native resistance. This, unfortunately, is not one.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 6, 2018
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| 100% | The Heart of Nuba (2018) |
A most down-to-earth saint presented in the most refreshingly candid manner.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 6, 2018
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| 86% | A Bag of Marbles (Un sac de billes) (2018) |
Emotionally draining tale of two Jewish boys forced to hide their identity in Vichy France. Although conventional in cinematic terms, its succeeds through its story-telling.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 23, 2018
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| 87% | The Workshop (L'atelier) (2018) |
Brilliant work from a director who makes great political films. "The Workshop" features a character who has an affinity with Camus's Meursault, the murderous anti-hero of "The Stranger", and a disturbing similarity to most French youth today. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 23, 2018
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| 93% | Journey's End (2018) |
A necessary antidote to the patriotic gore of "Dunkirk".‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 17, 2018
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| 62% | Lou Andreas-Salomé: The Audacity to Be Free (2018) |
Supremely intelligent biopic about the iconic feminist who held Nietzsche at arm's length but finally took to Rilke, 15 years her junior.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 16, 2018
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| 80% | Our Blood Is Wine (2018) |
A great introduction to Georgian culture that is as rich and a beautiful as the country itself. Notwithstanding Stalinism and post-Stalinist economic malaise, the nation lives.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 13, 2018
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| 97% | Life Itself (2014) |
A celebration of the life of the most important film critic of the past 50 years, a man of the people as well as a film connoisseur. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 10, 2018
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| No Score Yet | Garbage in the Garden of Eden (Müll im Garten Eden) (2013) |
Like fellow German Werner Herzog, Fatih Akin is as adept in documentary film as narrative. Also, like Herzog, he a humanist. This film pits the salt of the earth against a bureaucratic environmental nightmare in a small town where his ancestors lived. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 9, 2018
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| No Score Yet | A Sniper's War (2018) |
The young director of this documentary did not allow her politics to color her altogether stunning portrait of a Serb who volunteered his lethal skills for the problematic Donetsk Republic.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 27, 2018
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| 60% | The Young Karl Marx (Le jeune Karl Marx) (2018) |
If you are a political person concerned about economic inequality and ecological ruin, this film is a must. Forget about the bumbling critics who panned this film. They deserve Adam Sandler.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2018
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| 97% | Tehran Taboo (2018) |
Brilliant use of animation to put the spotlight on Iran's social contradictions using film noir conventions adroitly. Not to be missed.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 14, 2018
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| No Score Yet | Gurumbe. Afro-Andalusian Memories (Gurumbé. Canciones de tu memoria neg (2016) |
This is a brilliant combination of ethnomusicology and history enhanced by superlative performances. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 4, 2018
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| 100% | Pow Wow (2016) |
A critical look at Palm Springs. Beneath the glitz is a cautionary tale about environmental despoliation and genocide against native peoples.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2018
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| 80% | Bitter Money (Ku Qian) (2016) |
The latest in a series of documentaries taking up the cause of Chinese workers that incorporates the socialist outlook that the state has abandoned even as it continues to pay lip-service to Karl Marx.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2018
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| 86% | In the Intense Now (No Intenso Agora) (2018) |
An elegiac look back at 1968 when students challenged the status quo across the planet and a reminder of how much we have lost since the return to bourgeois normalcy.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 31, 2018
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| 100% | Act & Punishment (2018) |
Deeply informed documentary that puts Pussy Riot into the context of the Russian avant-garde that is rooted in "Actionism".‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2018
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| 77% | The Lovers And The Despot (2016) |
In a period where nuclear holocaust is threatened over North Korea, a nuanced film such as this is essential.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2018
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| 82% | Entertainment (2015) |
Rick Alverson's breakthrough film about a bitter, aging stand-up comedian who is a character that Nathaniel West might have conceived.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2018
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| 45% | The Comedy (2012) |
A searing study of an aging hipster who encapsulates the misanthropy popular culture's notion of what it means to be funny.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2018
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| 50% | New Jerusalem (2012) |
Deep insights into what Marx called "the opiate of the people" from America's most interesting indie director.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2018
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| No Score Yet | The Builder (2010) |
Debut film of America's most interesting indie filmmaker that zeroes in on the dashed hopes of an Irish immigrant.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2018
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| 69% | Beuys (2018) |
Arguably the most politically engaged artist of the post-WWII period, Beuys is well-served by this documentary.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 17, 2018
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