Ella Taylor

It Takes A (Gay) Village In 'Call Me Kuchu'

Ella Taylor — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:22:00 +0000

Horrific and uplifting, the excellent documentary Call Me Kuchu is partly framed as a portrait of David Kato, Uganda's first openly gay man. An activist of enormous courage and persistence — against odds that make the U.S. fight for marriage equality seem like a cakewalk — Kato was a savvy political strategist, with wit, charm and joie de vivre to burn. And he loved a good party, with his friends in drag where possible.

Covert Conflicts, Decried In 'Dirty Wars'

Ella Taylor — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:01:00 +0000

After the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011, the soldiers of the paramilitary force JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) who carried out the operation were lionized as national heroes.

They earned more ambivalent treatment in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty.

Anarchists Tempt A 1 Percenter In 'The East'

Ella Taylor — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:02:00 +0000

In The East, a slightly batty, weirdly involving new thriller about corporate espionage and eco-terrorism, rising star Brit Marling (last seen as Richard Gere's daughter in the drama Arbitrage) plays Sarah, an ambitious young private intelligence operative and former FBI agent.

To 'Fill The Void,' A Choice With A Personal Cost

Ella Taylor — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:03:00 +0000

Driving home from a screening of the ravishing new Israeli film Fill the Void, I caught sight of a young man in full Hasidic garb, trying to coax his toddler son across a busy Los Angeles street.

Greta Gerwig, Blithely Spirited As 'Frances Ha'

Ella Taylor — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:03:00 +0000

Long a darling of the New York indie scene, Noah Baumbach came to filmmaking with a solid pedigree: His father is a film theorist and his mother was a movie critic at the Village Voice (where I've contributed myself).

But after his first hit comedy, Kicking and Screaming, the writer-director developed a habit not uncommon among novice filmmakers: He mistook clever disdain for insight.