April Wolfe

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An X-Rated Japanese Animation From the '70s Got the Restoration it Deserves

April Wolfe
Director Eiichi Yamamoto’s psychedelic masterpiece Belladonna of Sadness had a pretty tough go of it. The 1973 animated film follows Jeanne, a woman who’s all innocence until she’s raped by a powerful baron on her wedding night. What ensues is Jeanne’s tripped-out journey through feudalistic violence, revenge and witch hunts,......
James Franco

Memoria Immerses Us in Go-Nowhere Masculinity — but to What End?

April Wolfe
Yes, teenagers can be terrifying. Anyone who’s ever crossed the street to avoid whatever angst they might hurl at you out of boredom or unfounded antipathy knows this. Some can be like doughy bread, waiting until all the neurons coalesce, while others can be a ticking time bomb. In Memoria,......
Eat your heart out.; Credit: Courtesy of IFC Films

Tale of Tales Dares to Bite Into the Tangential Madness of Fairy Stories

April Wolfe
Fairy tales were meant to be oral stories. Translating the tangents of old women in far-flung villages (whose chips on their shoulders about, say, their brother’s failed shipping business might inspire long asides about the shipping industry) into written texts doesn’t always make for the most linear, easy read. In......
John du Pont leers at the camera in Team Foxcatcher.; Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

A Netflix Doc Digs at the Truth Behind the Foxcatcher Killing

April Wolfe
If you thought the billionaire played by Steve Carell in Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher was eerie, please allow me to introduce you to the real John du Pont. A dangerous concoction of lonely and paranoid, du Pont was blessed with money and mobility and cursed with the kind of childhood that......