‘Movie Corner’ Archives
Movie Corner: Unhoused
By HOWARD MCQUITTER II Howard McQuitter II Adjust your eyes when you see director Chloe Zhao”™s superb road film Nomadland because it has a feel of a documentary and a feel of an arthouse film, yet it”™s a true narrative. The principal star is Fern, played by Frances McDormand, who has recently lost her husband; and the local gypsum and sheetrock factory in Empire, Nevada where she worked, closed shop. The town just disappears, even the zip code doesn”™t show up on the map. Fern decides she will not stay in Empire so she packs up some small possessions and puts them in her beat-up van and takes off on the road. But before she hits the road the townspeople offer her help, even places to stay. She smiles and quietly refuses the offers. What we learn early is Fern is fiercely independent and refuses any help from churches, social services, and charity. Now she”™s a nomad traveling from one nomad community to another meeting various [...]
Minneapolis Film Society
https://mspfilm.org/ Founded in 1962, MSP Film Society is Minnesota”™s foremost film exhibition organization, and a 501(c)(3) non-profit. We bring the best of international and independent cinema to Minnesota audiences through the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, numerous niche film festivals and series, and daily programming 365- days a year. We promote the art of film as a medium that fosters cross-cultural understanding, education, entertainment, and exploration. We offer audiences unique opportunities to experience the wealth of international cinema, to engage with and learn from visiting international filmmakers, and to come together and share these experiences as a community. Our programming serves a growing membership base and diversifying audiences of 85,000+ annually. The Film Society is best known for the annual centerpiece, the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF). Presented every April, MSPIFF [...]
Remembering Cinephile Al Milgrom, 1922-2020
MOVIE CORNER By HOWARD MCQUITTER II Al Milgrom was a milestone for film in Minnesota, namely so-called art house films and foreign films. He established the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival in 1981 held every April. The Festival draws an amazing 50,000 or more, cur- rently centered at St. Anthony Main Theatre. Nobody fostered films the way he did leaving no doubt he was a true cinephile. Back in 1962, Mr. Milgrom founded the Minneapolis-St. Paul Film Society at the University of Minnesota where he started a curriculum for teaching film cinema. It was not long before he created the Rivertown Film Festival in Stillwater that in time would become the acclaimed Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. I considered him a mentor and an inspiration as a film critic. He loved conversation and many times I would see him mingling among the crowds at the MSP Film Festival and around St. Anthony Main. He didn”™t let his age get in the way of moving [...]
