In the opening scene of "The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs" we see an elderly, short Peruvian woman cutting the bark off a mahogany tree. Her name is Sara Flores and the wood is an ingredient she collects to create intricate designs on textiles, following a traditional Peruvian geometrical design system called kené. Flores is unique in becoming internationally famous for her kené artwork; her...
I had never heard of Uppaluri Gopala (or "U.G.") Krishnamurti before seeing the new documentary "The Natural State," which just had its premiere at this month's 2026 Telluride Film Festival. U.G. was famous for being an "anti-guru" who, after a long search for enlightenment, decided that such a mission was misguided and even fatuous. Even so, he was sought out the rest of his...
It’s very fitting that the song accompanying the end credits of the documentary “Flipside” is “Unsatisfied,” The Replacements’ 1984 anthem to teen angst. Hearing...
Beginning this Thursday, March 22, NYC’s Metrograph Theater is presenting a restored version of “My Heart Is That Eternal Rose,” an important and influential...
A friend of mine used to always observe that if he ever visited Hawaii he'd probably never leave. After watching Christopher Kahunahana's indie feature...
In 1974 a Soviet nuclear submarine, the K-129, disappeared. Though the Soviets couldn’t locate it, U.S. military intelligence did (it had sunk three miles...
