Author Archives: Bob Hill

There were three carloads of them, disembarking on North Clearfield. All of them were drunk, some of them were high, and one or two were carrying weapons in the form of small appliances. Gerry Vessels took the lead, leather duster … Read More … Read More

“The function of all the granular details in background and in setting is to suggest this corruption at the root of the world, this poisoned garden. And what it suggests is that the world itself is poison and there’s something … Read More

Catch a wave. I’ll see you when it’s over.

Flash, long believed to represent the bane of street photography, became an integral part of Mark Cohen’s approach throughout the 1970s. Cohen reimagined flash as a means by which to elicit a reaction. Provocation was the goal, or – at … Read More

The most effective pre-publicity IFC could have employed prior to releasing Cold In July would have been to stream the first five minutes of the film via internet. I mention this because the first five minutes of Cold In July … Read More

Native – or even transplanted – New Yorkers will often refer to a specific emotion they experience upon reentering the city after an intermittent time away. There are variations on this theme, yet the majority of them center upon one … Read More

I empty all my change into a meter less than three blocks from the Capitol, then follow Pennsylvania as it spans the White House lawn. The Lincoln Monument’s a mob scene with dueling preachers on both pillars and the yuppies … Read More

Those eyes, those eyes … Marion Cotillard can beat the world back with those eyes. And she does throughout The Immigrant, a rich and gorgeous period picture that is equally well-realized and well-acted. Set in 1920s New York City, James Gray’s … Read More

I am not a fan of guided tours, nor the guided tourists who tour them. Too many questions, too much historical bedwetting, too many guests determined to lead the tour themselves. Along those lines, visitors to Oak Alley Plantation in … Read More