Ray Pride

(En El Hoyo, 2006) A celebration of workers' daily lives and the shrines to labor erected by the many unnamed hands, "In the Pit," Juan Carlos Rulfo's lyrical, understated verité documentary about one crew's work in the harsh conditions in building a new level to Mexico City's Periférico highway, a ten-and-a-half mile elevated extension above impoverished neighborhoods, shot in HD video with time-lapse scenes in 35mm, is simply exquisite, and boasts an extended final shot that is logical and triumphant and one of the most fitting, apposite endings you might imagine. The men Rulfo follows for months bring a human face to this sprawling urban endeavor. The conditions are rough, the men's labor is draining, the final work is monumental and "In the Pit" is gorgeous. 84m.

"In the Pit" opens Friday at Facets.

(2007-03-06)

Also by Ray Pride

Young American
Joe Swanberg turns 26 later this year. He's shot his fourth feature, a look at long-distance relationships, and his third, the sunny, Chicago-set "Hannah Takes the Stairs," has its world premiere on March 11 at Austin's South by Southwest festival. Swanberg, whose 2006 "LOL" also debuted at SXSW, and whose 2005 "Kissing on the Mouth" played at the Chicago International Film Festival
(2007-02-27)

Euro Bash
The tenth anniversary of the European Union Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center takes over most of their March schedule: fifty-five films from twenty-four countries? I thought cinema was dead!
(2007-02-27)

Tip of the Week
Only recently pulled free of the notorious early 2000s Miramax Shelf of Invisibility, Wisit Sasanatieng's "Tears of the Black Tiger" (Fah Talai Jone, 2000) is a sui generis mashup, a "Raiders of the Lost Archive," a strange, fevered, delirious, 1950s-styled Thai Western-romance melodrama and a singularity of the highest order
(2007-02-27)

Tip of the Week
Among the other virtues of the DVD revolution is the preservation and restoration of movies that might otherwise have fallen out of circulation; when the restoration is done on celluloid, rather than merely on the video copies, there's cause for celebration. With Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 sublimely beautiful "Two or Three Things I Know About Her," (2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle), there's even more to rejoice about
(2007-02-20)

Always at the Crossroads
(2007-02-20)

What Would Hergé Do?
(2007-02-13)

Tip of the Week
(2007-02-13)

Under Privilege
(2007-02-06)

Tip of the Week
(2007-02-06)

Truth to Power
(2007-01-30)

Tip of the Week
(2007-01-30)

Mister Dominick, tear down this wall!
(2007-01-23)

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