Email Author Melissa Anderson

2011 Stories by Melissa Anderson

• To Be Young, Gifted, Black, and Lesbian in Pariah

  published December 28, 2011

  The first 10 minutes of Dee Rees's funny, moving, nuanced, and impeccably acted first feature, in which coming of age and coming out are... More >>

• Dance, Dance, Revolution: Big Emotions and an Extra Dimension in Pina

  published December 21, 2011

  "You just have to get crazier" were the words of advice mighty choreographer Pina Bausch once gave to one of her dancers, who fondly recalls... More >>

• Albert Nobbs

  published December 21, 2011

  Fulfilling a mission that has consumed her for almost two decades, Glenn Close—as producer, co-writer, and lead—brings to the... More >>

• Miss Minoes

  published December 21, 2011

  More delightful than Procatinator and a greater tribute to the power of print journalism than Page One: Inside the New York Times,... More >>

• Addiction Incorporated

  published December 14, 2011

  With a name that not even the PR team at Smokefree America could dream up, Victor DeNoble emerges as the hero of Charles Evans Jr.'s mostly... More >>

• New Year's Eve

  published December 7, 2011

  Mayans might have predicted the end of the world in 2012, but could they have known that the countdown to eternal hellfire would begin with... More >>

• Daguerreotypes

  published December 7, 2011

  In a career that began nearly 60 years ago, Agnès Varda has shown an extraordinary gift for capturing the theatricality of the mundane,... More >>

• No Child Left Behind

  published December 7, 2011

  Big, soft, squishy: These words describe Jonah Hill’s heart as well as his body in The Sitter, the mixed-bag last record of its... More >>

• Unconscious Un-mined: A Sleeping Beauty That Stays in the Dark

  published November 30, 2011

  Frustratingly opaque, Australian novelist-turned-filmmaker Julia Leigh's debut feature opens with an unforgettable image: A young woman,... More >>

• Mahnahmahmeh: Muppets Reboot Can't Quite Get Its Act Together

  published November 23, 2011

  Desperately trying to appeal to not just the Gen Xers who grew up with Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Dr. Teeth, but also the tykes who’ve never... More >>

• Silence of the Hams: The Artist Joyfully Resurrects Hollywood's Past

  published November 23, 2011

  An undeniably charming homage to Hollywood in the late 1920s, The Artist will probably be the most successful silent movie since the... More >>

• Another Happy Day

  published November 16, 2011

  In his first feature, writer-director Sam Levinson (son of Barry) turns to screeching family dysfunction for inspiration; the end result makes... More >>

• Eames: The Architect & The Painter

  published November 16, 2011

  ‘The best for the most for the least” was the utopian business credo of Charles Eames, who with his wife, Ray, revolutionized... More >>

• Tyrannosaur

  published November 16, 2011

  Tyrannosaur opens with a dog being kicked to death by its master, Joseph (Peter Mullan), a Leeds widower curdled by his own fury; near the... More >>

• Tween Choice: Complicating Late Childhood in Tomboy

  published November 16, 2011

  A sensitive portrait of childhood just before pubescence—when bodies and identities are still fluid—Tomboy... More >>

• Sarkozy Wins the Republic, Loses His Wife in The Conquest

  published November 9, 2011

  A brisk, fascinating chronicle of a pre–Carla Bruni Nicolas Sarkozy that time-shifts from May 6, 2007—the day he was both elected... More >>

• The Return of Mario Montez, Warhol Legend

  published November 9, 2011

  One miserably cold day in January 1977, frustrated with the dearth of underground acting jobs in film and theater and the cruddy condition of... More >>

• The Son of No One

  published November 2, 2011

  For his third film, outer-borough sensationalist Dito Montiel sets most of the action in Astoria, the Queens neighborhood that dominated his... More >>

• Young Goethe in Love

  published November 2, 2011

  That this film was originally titled Goethe! should give you a sense of how much silly Sturm und Drang boosterism awaits. A biopic more... More >>

• The Grass Isn't Always Greener

  published November 2, 2011

  The doobie brothers are back, though wildly diverging lifestyle choices have left the best bud-loving buds all but estranged. Harold (John Cho)... More >>

• Janie Jones

  published October 26, 2011

  Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola), frontman for a small-venue alt-rock band about to splinter thanks to his drunken tantrums, is met backstage in... More >>

• JustIn Time

  published October 26, 2011

  Set in an unspecified future, In Time owes as much to The Marx-Engels Reader as Bonnie and Clyde. Time is money:... More >>

• Too Late to Succeed: Dramatizing the Financial Crisis in Margin Call

  published October 19, 2011

  Sure to be drowned out by the drum circles at Occupy Wall Street, writer-director J.C. Chandor’s lifeless Margin Call depicts... More >>

• The Mighty Macs

  published October 19, 2011

  Based on the real-life women’s-hoops coach Cathy Rush, The Mighty Macs appears to have been made on a budget equivalent to the cost of... More >>

• Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey

  published October 19, 2011

  Constance Marks's documentary on Kevin Clash, the kind, gentle man who created the Muppet beloved by every single child in the world, rushes... More >>