On the Fringe Archives - Hammer to Nail

ON THE FRINGE, PART TEN: TANGERINE (2015)

Wed, 23 May 2018 17:26:46 +0000

“There is a class of people in this world who have fallen into the lowest degree of humiliation, far below beggary, and who are deprived not only of all social consideration but also, in everybody’s opinion, of the specific human […]

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ON THE FRINGE, PART NINE: BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012)

Wed, 02 May 2018 16:52:33 +0000

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a film about the end of the world. Or, more to the point, the end of the universe. More remarkably still, it is also a celebration. A celebration of survival, of freedom and – why not? […]

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ON THE FRINGE, PART EIGHT: WENDY AND LUCY (2008)

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 16:03:47 +0000

There is an astonishing, heart-rending scene toward the middle of Kelly Reichardt’s pitch-perfect, Wendy and Lucy, an ascetic touching-without-being-cloying chronicle of a nomadic young girl (Michelle Williams), her dog Lucy and her broken-down car stuck outside of Portland, Oregon on her star-cross’d way […]

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ON THE FRINGE, PART SEVEN: SHOTGUN STORIES (2007)

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 20:05:14 +0000

Jeff Nichols’ award-winning directorial debut Shotgun Stories is a flawless film. This quality is a crucial distinction to make in discussing a film as part of my continuing “On theFringe” series, as this factor sets the movie apart from its (predecessor) compatriot pictures […]

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ON THE FRINGE, PART SIX: GAS, FOOD LODGING (1992)

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 18:20:22 +0000

Allison Anders’ sophomore feature Gas, Food Lodging is an aspirational film about fantasy. It is in many ways an antithesis of the kind of movies I’ve been chronicling and will continue to discuss with my “On the Fringe” series. Gas, Food Lodging is in fact an […]

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ON THE FRINGE, PART FIVE: PERMANENT VACATION (1980)

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 21:33:59 +0000

One of the many hurdles over which I’ve needed to continuously hop in my “On the Fringe” series is the urgency to come up with synonyms and, ultimately, euphemisms for the descriptor “deceptively simple” in the proper encapsulation of films […]

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ON THE FRINGE, PART FOUR: KILLER OF SHEEP (1978)

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 20:49:20 +0000

Accepting his long overdue honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards this year, the soft-spoken, wide-eyed filmmaker Charles Burnett first thanked all his friends and supporters present for their support, particularly those who were there back in the days when he “didn’t have […]

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ON THE FRINGE, PART TWO: THE EXILES (1961)

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 17:26:11 +0000

In his seminal 1973 book The Country and the City, Raymond Williams lays out the great divide that he suggests exists between the concepts of “Natur[al]” and “native.” With apologies to Williams, a principle progenitor of “cultural studies” as an academic […]

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ON THE FRINGE: Loquacious introduction + On the Bowery (1956)

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 22:42:01 +0000

(Hammer to Nail is excited to bring author and filmmaker Mathew Klickstein on-board with his new column, On the Fringe) Everybody thought I was crazy to do it. After investing my late teens/early twenties into LA’s dream factory, capped with the […]

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