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Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Arthur Riplye's The Chase (1946) is playing from September 30 - October 30, 2017 in the United States.“It’s happened again.” This almost throwaway admission by the protagonist of The Chase, Arthur Ripley’s way-out 1946 noir, comes just after the film’s jolting third act twist. It sets the viewer up for the unexpected, but is delivered with such exasperation that, at least for the beleaguered hero of the picture, the situation may perhaps be all too familiar, a possibility that in itself makes the occurrence that much more significant. Prior to this point, The Chase had been a solid, atmospheric thriller, with sufficient quirkiness to keep it in thoroughly fresh territory. But with this derailing revelation, there is really no preparing for how The Chase plays out, and what that, in turn, means for the preceding story. On its surface set-up,...

An exercise in dizzy disorientation, this Cornell Woolrich crazy-house noir pulls the rug out from under us at least three times. You want delirium, you got it -- the secret words for today are "Obsessive" and "Perverse." Innocent Robert Cummings is no match for sicko psychos Peter Lorre and Steve Cochran. The Chase Blu-ray Kino Classics 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date May 24, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Cummings, Michèle Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre, Lloyd Corrigan, Jack Holt, Don Wilson, Alexis Minotis, Nina Koschetz, Yolanda Lacca, James Westerfield, Shirley O'Hara. Cinematography Frank F. Planer Film Editor Edward Mann Original Music Michel Michelet Written by Philip Yordan from the book The Black Path of Fear by Cornell Woolrich Produced by Seymour Nebenzal Directed by Arthur D. Ripley

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

As Guy Maddin says on his (recommended) commentary, the public domain copies of this show were...

A "Touch Of Evil" with Arnaud Desplechin and Anne-Katrin Titze through the lens of Kent Jones.

I met up with Arnaud Desplechin to discuss his latest film screened at the New York Film Festival and discovered masculinity in Hitchcock's Vertigo by letting Kim Novak die and the soul of a Russian doll while sounding like Danny Kaye in The Court Jester. We were photographed with just a touch of evil by co-screenwriter Kent Jones and tried to find out what it actually means to "become an American."

In Jimmy P: Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian, based on the case study 'Reality and Dream' by ethnologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereux, nationalities and accents blur to bring light, while Devereux (Mathieu Amalric in fire and fervor) and his patient Jimmy Picard, a Native American war veteran played with internal radiance by Benicio Del Toro embark on mapping out disclosures of the mind.

Revivals, Views From The Avant-Garde, Convergence, Applied Science, Motion Portraits took place at the New York Film Festival. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze Breaking off from the New York Film Festival Main Slate, here are some of the highlights. In the Applied Science programme at the press conference for Teller's Tim's Vermeer, David Hockney, Johannes Vermeer, and Jimi Hendrix were intertwined by Teller's partner Penn Jillette. This year's Convergence focused on the "intersection of technology and storytelling" and opened with a Keystone Presentation of Investigate North's The Cloud Chamber Mystery, co-produced by Lars von Trier's Breaking The Waves producer Vibeke Windeløv, whom I met at the New York Film Festival in 2003 where she presented Dogville with Nicole Kidman. In the Revivals, Arthur Ripley's restored The Chase starring Robert Cummings, Michèle Morgan and Peter Lorre would be a high-water mark for any festival, at any time. In New York,...

Director Arnaud Desplechin sends Mathieu Amalric packing. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard give us characters who decide on survival in James Gray's The Immigrant. Mathieu Amalric as a therapist of veiled past confronts the title's Native American war veteran played by Benicio Del Toro in Arnaud Desplechin's resonant Jimmy P: Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian, and Gloria (Paulina García) in Sebastián Lelio's film knows that you don't need to be in a costume drama to dress up. Free association may lead from a skateboard ride in (Gloria producer) Pablo Larraín's No to dancing skeletons, Arthur Ripley's gripping The Chase to John Huston's Let There Be Light, and Maria Falconetti's performance in Dreyer's Jeanne d'Arc to rickets.

Who are you? How does reinvention work? Do we have to change country, nationality, language, or profession to become ourselves?

The Immigrant

Joaquin Phoenix...

Mind

“There is an image, and people believe me when I say I make films, because, well, in the end...because we used a camera, and there is an image,” muses Jean-Luc Godard to potential producers in his video pitch, Petites Notes à propos du film Je vous salue Marie (1983), shown at the 51st New York Film Festival’s retrospective programmed by Kent Jones and Jake Perlin, Jean-Luc Godard - The Spirit of the Forms. “People think everything comes from the camera.”

Sometimes I think the images come from inside myself. On rare occurrence, a picture unspools in front of me that in the moment has no antecedent in my mind. Its movement is that of a dream, spontaneously created, this instant’s images connected only by the most opaque thread to those behind them. Its future images, those that follow what I am seeing, are not predestined by the...

In close-up with Kent Jones on the 51st New York Film Festival. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The week before the 51st edition kicks off on September 27, New York Film Festival Director of Programming and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones and I spoke about extraordinary filmmakers - Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis and Agnieszka Holland, who are screening their latest work, and a very personal debut from designer agnès b, who has been a champion of cinema for decades. Arthur Ripley's The Chase follows It's the Cat and Some Other Cat. The Coen Brothers, Jia Zhangke and Lav Diaz explore the vastness of violence, Teller looks into Vermeer, and James Franco goes out into the wilderness.

In Part 1 of our conversation, Kent Jones called agnès b's film My Name Is Hmmm… "extremely, challengingly personal for her."

Catherine Breillat has "one of her greatest endings" in Abuse of Weakness

Anne-Katrin Titze: Speaking of personal,...

The Film Society Of Lincoln Center has added programming to the New York Film Festival (Nyff) that includes documentaries and restored works.

The programmes feature a spotlight on three documentary sections – Applied Sciences, Motion Portraits and How Democracy Works Now.

Motion Portraits will focus on cinematic portraiture and includes Nancy Buirski‘s Afternoon Of A Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq and Nadav Schirman’s In The Dark Room.

Applied Science features three films, each built around obsessive projects: Ben Lewis’s Google And The World Brain (pictured), Mark Levinson’s Particle Fever and Teller’s Tim’s Vermeer.

How Democracy Works Now is a series of films by the filmmaking team of Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson who have trained their cameras on immigration reform.

The Revivals section will feature among others Martin Scorsese’s The Age Of Innocence and Arthur Ripley’s The Chase.

The Nyff runs from Sept 27-Oct 13.

The Chase

Written by Philip Yordan

Directed by Arthur Ripley

U.S.A., 1946

*A fair warning to readers: those sensitive to spoilers had best watch the film under review before reading the article. To properly dive into its themes and story, major plot points will be revealed.

Surprises in movies are a great gift the storytellers can offer viewers to wake them from the state of comfort, or boredom depending whom one asks, which sets in when plot points are too familiar and the dramatic beats too predictable. For some it can be a chore to get through just as it may offer the right type of simple escapism for others. Sometimes, however, the ingredients need be shaken and stirred. In an amusing case of coincidence, this week’s column entry, the 1946 film The Chase, arrives only weeks after Steven Soderbergh’s supposed final theatrical feature, Side Effects, opened in theatres.

From Universal Pictures (UK) comes14 iconic thrillers from The Master of Suspense together for the first time ever as Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection – Super Premium Edition comes to Blu-ray on November 12th, 2012 for a limited time only.

We have one copy of the Blu-ray box set to give away to our readers.

Digitally restored from high-quality film elements and presented in perfect high-definition picture and sound, Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection brings the Master of Suspense’s best work to home audiences as it’s never been seen before. This Super Premium Edition features 13 films previously unavailable on Blu-ray,Tm a collectible 16 page exclusive hardback book and additional collectibles including storyboards, costume sketches, correspondence, photographs, beautiful art cards and much more. Plus a treasure trove of over 15 hours of documentaries, filmmaker commentaries, interviews, screen tests, trailers and more, including a new documentary “The Birds, Hitchcock’s Monster Movie,...

Universal released Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection this week, which includes fifteen of his films in one Blu-ray set. If you’d like to learn more about the release, we have a breakdown of all that is included in the collection, plus a set of clips:

Fifteen of the most acclaimed films by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock come together on Blu-rayTM for the first time ever when Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection is released on October 30, 2012 for a limited time only. Digitally restored from high-quality film elements and presented in perfect high-definition picture and sound, Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection brings the Master of Suspense’s best work to home audiences as it’s never been seen before. This ultimate collector’s set features 13 films previously unavailable on Blu-ray,Tm a collectible 50-page book featuring storyboards, costume sketches, correspondence, photographs, and much more. Plus a treasure trove of over 15 hours of documentaries,...

Fifteen of the most acclaimed films by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock come together on Blu-ray. for the first time ever when Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection is released on September 25, 2012 for a limited time only. Digitally restored from high-quality film elements and presented in perfect high-definition picture and sound, Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection brings the Master of Suspense’s best work to home audiences as it’s never been seen before. This ultimate collector’s set features 13 films previously unavailable on Blu-ray., a collectible 50-page book featuring storyboards, costume sketches, correspondence, photographs, and much more. Plus a treasure trove of over 15 hours of documentaries, filmmaker commentaries, interviews, screen tests, trailers and a new documentary “The Birds, Hitchcock’s Monster Movie,” enough to satisfy even the most ardent Hitchcock fan.

Spanning three-and-a-half decades of the director’s prolific career, Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection includes the classic thrillers Psycho,...

I can't remember a time I went to the Seattle International Film Festival (Siff) press launch and looked over the list of films and saw so many I was interested in seeing. The claim to fame for over the years is to call it the largest and most-highly attended festival in the United States. This is a fact I've often taken issue with as I don't equate quantity with quality. Granted, there has been a large number of quality features to play the fest over the years, including Golden Space Needle (Best Film) winners such as Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), My Life as a Dog (1987), Trainspotting (1996), Run Lola Run (1999), Whale Rider (2003) and even recent Best Director winner, Michel Hazanavicius's Oss 117: Nest of Spies in 2006. That said, looking over this year's crop of films I see a lot of films I will be doing my absolute best to see.