Ray Pride

Filmmaker Michael Almereyda's traipsing, months-long follow-along of photographer William Eggleston through New York and Los Angeles but also towns in Kentucky and Memphis, a man resistant to all manner of interpretation and fond of taking a single photograph of whatever he glimpses, is a worthy addition to the minor-key rococo of earlier efforts like "Another Girl, Another Planet," "Nadja" and the Ethan Hawke-starring "Hamlet." Photo czar John Szarkowski of MOMA was one of the first to see what Eggleston "sees," saying his 1960s-1970s work was "the beginning of modern color photography." But Almereyda captures, with his own grace, a major artist at 66, who's shot over a quarter-million images, who is definitely "not your standard tortured artist type." Almereyda's sweet alacrity sounds in his narration as well, such as when he calls Eggleston's images "miracles of casual seeing." 86m. 35mm.

"William Eggleston in the Real World" opens Friday at Facets for a week.

(2005-12-20)

Also by Ray Pride

Holiday Movie Preview
Movies take a couple of hours to watch, but almost never less than several years to race from the scratch of a pen to the blank of an eye
(2005-12-13)

Raise the Red Kimono
I'm still confounded by the early reviews of "Memoirs of a Geisha" that suggest documentary-style "authenticity" is what we'd be getting from the director of "Chicago." Others have suggested that Sony ought to have sought out a Japanese director. Would a Japanese director have even wanted to dip a toe into this reflecting pool of Western ideas about the East?
(2005-12-13)

Tip of the Week
I cannot tell you what the movie "Innocence" means, and I suppose you wouldn't be able to tell me. But the first feature-length film by Lucile Hadzihalilovic, who has collaborated as editor and muse to her partner Gaspar Noe's films ("I Stand Alone," "Irreversible") is that rare movie which thrills by uncommon obstinacy
(2005-12-13)

What does it mean?
Marc Levin's a notably combative figure, but it took some convincing to get him on camera for "The Protocols of Zion," in which the veteran filmmaker of "Slam" takes to the streets of New York to confront and question purveyors of various and sundry anti-Semitic beliefs
(2005-12-06)

Tip of the Week
(2005-12-06)

It's a blunder-filled life
(2005-11-29)

Tip of the Week
(2005-11-29)

Born to Rent
(2005-11-21)

Tip of the Week
(2005-11-21)

The one you're looking for
(2005-11-15)

Tip of the Week
(2005-11-15)

Splash Panel
(2005-11-08)

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