Babel

Four disparate stories are woven into an eloquent and electrifying depiction of mankind's increasingly fractured state.

"...legions of unknown and nonprofessional actors (revelation upon revelation), Babel is an incendiary piece of cinematic ordnance, backlighting incipient..."

Nov. 10, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

A Hollywood star falls to earth with mad, exhilarating results.

"...Where his previous films – Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, and Biutiful – were punishing, Birdman is more like..."

Oct. 24, 2014 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Paris

Paris, from the French director of When the Cat's Away, follows a half-dozen-plus Parisians and their interconnectedness.

"...cue from the mid-Aughties tic of jigsaw plotting (Crash, Babel), Paris follows a half-dozen-plus Parisians who mostly operate in..."

Oct. 9, 2009 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Crossing Over

Various characters who are ensnared within the dogged machinery of the American immigration system become the subjects of this multistrand narrative.

"...a multistrand narrative in the manner of Crash and Babel, Crossing Over also echoes those titles in the way..."

March 27, 2009 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Jellyfish

This prize-winning Israeli film is set in contemporary Tel Aviv and is both a realistic and magical portrait of contemporary women.

"...intersecting characters, much like the recent films Crash and Babel. Jellyfish has a more magical and cryptic tone, however,..."

July 11, 2008 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Page Two: Die Another Day

On renewal, 'Red Cavalry,' and the joys of creating, despite the hostile storms and vicious seas

"...must be turned once, and no more." – Isaac Babel, "Guy de Maupassant," translated by David McDuff..."

Jan. 4, 2008 Column by Louis Black

Fall Films

"...Alejandro González Iñárritu on 'Babel'..."

Nov. 10, 2006 Screens Feature by Josh Rosenblatt

Page Two

An amalgam of influences with a life of its own, the Chronicle is smarter than we are

"...-- Isaac Babel, "Guy de Maupassant"..."

Jan. 16, 2004 Column by Louis Black

The Edge of Heaven

This Turkish film is a transgenerational, transborder microcosm of modern cultural melding.

"...– in particular Alejandro González Iñárritu, the director of Babel and 21 Grams – Haggis believed that the inarguable..."

Sept. 19, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The Q&A Hole: What Got You Hooked On the Weird Stuff?

Waiting for the manlike creature with the glowing eyes

"...Jessica Reisman: Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17, Le Guin's first Earthsea book, the Lord of the..."

July 13, 2017 Arts Post by Wayne Alan Brenner

The Zellners' Beautiful Dreamer

The Zellner brothers mine urban legend in Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

"...Featuring a remarkably internalized performance from Oscar-nominated Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) in the title role, the Sundance and fan favorite..."

March 27, 2015 Screens Feature by Marc Savlov

The Singularity Is Clear

Getting down to brass tacks about one of Interactive's favorite buzzwords

"...of the Internet. Now think of the Tower of Babel. Now think, what was so great about the Tower..."

Feb. 28, 2014 Screens Feature by Alex Dunbar

Letters at 3AM

The film Babel is winning awards, but none of them for Best Comedy. It seems I'm fated to laugh alone.

"...among many bedeviled people in several languages. (As in Babel, get it? Come on, really, do you get it?..."

Dec. 8, 2006 Column by Michael Ventura

Why Can't Americans Be More Intolerant, Bigoted, Small-Minded, and Prejudiced?

"...is that earlier in scripture at the Tower of Babel, when all mankind spoke the same language, the Lord..."

Oct. 12, 2005 Postmarks

Page Two

Liberals' core beliefs are as vital as ever, but they've forgotten how to communicate

"...Samuel Delaney's early science fiction novel Babel-17 presents a beautiful narrative metaphor for the position that..."

June 11, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Mayor

Santas, sewers, and park benches: A very different look at everyday life in Ramallah

"...El-Gamal community center in his 2010 short documentary "Building Babel" (the difference this time being that Palestine is integrated,..."

Dec. 4, 2020 Movie Review by Richard Whittaker

Dior and I

This sharp doc is as close as most of us will ever get to fingering the Dior merchandise

"...wear heels. So chic.) The language barrier borders the Babel-esque; it’s a surprise fount of humor, too, as when..."

May 1, 2015 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Cake

In a rare dramatic role, Jennifer Aniston plays a woman grappling with chronic pain, painkiller addiction, and personal tragedy.

"...schematic plotting, with Barraza unofficially reprising her role from Babel, Worthington trying to match our lead’s penchant for repressed..."

Jan. 23, 2015 Movie Review by William Goss

Letting Go, With 'Peace'

Champion for new plays Suzan Zeder closes her career at UT with a new drama of her own

"..."She is fire and wind and electricity," wrote Wendy Babel, an MFA graduate in 2009, in a tribute on..."

Feb. 1, 2013 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

Takashi Miike remakes Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 film about a penniless samurai who commits the ritual act of suicide.

"...who insults the lord Kageyu (infinitely watchable Yakusho of Babel) by asking permission to perform the sacred act of..."

Aug. 31, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

From Prada to Nada

Former Spy Kid Alexa Vega co-stars in this comedy that provides a Hispanic spin on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

"...the bookish Nora and Barraza, an Oscar nominee for Babel, is relatively compelling in the sage old auntie role...."

Feb. 4, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Biutiful

Javier Bardem earned an Oscar nod for his performance in this grim but poetic Spanish drama.

"...parting company with Guillermo Arriaga (Iñárritu’s screenwriting partner on Babel, 21 Grams, and Amores Perros), Iñárritu has not abandoned..."

Jan. 28, 2011 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Print & Paper Über Alles

A more perfect publishing today

"...the Web from becoming so many scattered towers of Babel). Zeldman's bread and butter is Web-based, in other words:..."

March 5, 2010 Screens Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

SXSW Announces First Speakers

A composer and a comic book legend to be fêted at SXSW

"...Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers) and Gustavo Santaoalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel) – are also the first speakers to be announced..."

Oct. 14, 2009 Screens Post by Kimberley Jones

The Brothers Bloom

Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo are cast as the best con men in the world whose current swindle involves an eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz) in this sophomore effort by the writer/director of Brick.

"...Japanese arms expert, the silent but snarky Bang Bang (Babel’s Kikuchi), settle on a final mark: an eccentric shut-in..."

May 29, 2009 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

Although Tsai Ming-Liang's I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone is nearly wordless and slow moving, the film’s characters are compelling and its pace hypnotic. (AFS@Dobie)

"...of any projecting theatre’s air-conditioning system. Workers speaking a babel of Mandarin, Malay, and Bengali languages inhabit the warrens..."

July 20, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Other Conquest

This amazing-looking Mexican epic is a work of historic fiction by a first-time filmmaker, and focuses on the aftermath of the takeover in 1519 of the Aztec empire by Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortés.

"...Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel) have been popularly categorized in the press. The recent..."

May 11, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Cinema's Labyrinth

The year in film, 2006

"...Marc Savlov's Top 10 1. Babel – Alejandro González Iñárritu's film gives no quarter to,..."

Jan. 5, 2007 Screens Feature by Marc Savlov

Page Two

A tainted prayer for the new year

"...a regular basis. I would discover Lynd Ward, Isaac Babel, Dashiell Hammett, Maya Deren, Francois Truffaut, Diane Arbus, Bob..."

Dec. 31, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

On love, culture, renewal, timelessness, and SXSW

"...drive-in and, having caught a ride hitchhiking, reading Isaac Babel. Delirious the night we watched In a Lonely Place..."

March 26, 2004 Column by Louis Black

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