Kevin Lally on Film

Interviews and more from the former executive editor of Film Journal International and Boxoffice Pro

Revisiting John Woo’s Little Seen Native American Epic, ‘Windtalkers’

The new thriller Silent Night marks action master John Woo’s first American film in 20 years. Seems like a good occasion to look back on my summer 2002 interview with the Hong Kong legend; the subject was, like Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, a rare, big-scale story about Native Americans. Gentle, modest and courtly, John Woo…

gkevinlally

December 1, 2023

Filmmakers, Woo, John
New York Film Festival Spotlights Iconic Men—and Their Long-Suffering Partners

It’s probably a coincidence, but a recurring theme has emerged at this year’s New York Film Festival: iconic men and their long-suffering female partners. Three films focus on famous, larger-than-life males, but with equal weight given, story-wise, to the women who put up (or don’t) with their titanic, self-aggrandizing egos. For the first half of…

gkevinlally

October 11, 2023

Film Appreciation
Remembering Terence Davies, Film Poet of the Ordinary

The acclaimed British writer-director Terence Davies died today, October 7, at the age of 77, after a short illness. I met the soft-spoken but defiantly idiosyncratic artist in 1993, to discuss one of his most lauded films, The Long Day Closes. Davies went on to make seven more features: The Neon Bible, based on the novel by…

gkevinlally

October 7, 2023

Davies, Terence, Filmmakers
Agnieszka Holland’s Masterly ‘Green Border’ Is a Devastating Portrait of Poland’s Refugee Crisis

Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border is more than a movie—it’s a soul-shaking experience. It may be the most important and eye-opening film playing at the 61st New York Film Festival—in fact, I’d call it one of the most important films of this decade. Holland, the veteran Polish director of Europa Europa, Washington Square and other fine films, was spurred by the…

gkevinlally

October 6, 2023

Film Appreciation
The 61st New York Film Festival Is a Robust Showcase of Award Contenders

Every September I contract a severe case of Fear Of Missing Out, as word filters in from the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Fortunately, my hometown New York Film Festival nabs many of the buzzy titles from those fests, so my FOMO is short-lived. The 2023 NYFF would have been a starry one if…

gkevinlally

October 3, 2023

Film Appreciation
My Encounters with Billy Wilder, Part 2

For my second interview session with Billy Wilder on March 4, 1994, at his office in Beverly Hills, the legendary writer-director allowed me 45 minutes—and served as my personal countdown clock. In our wide-ranging conversation, we talked about his relatives in Vienna, his early days in Hollywood, his reasons for becoming a director, his high…

gkevinlally

August 17, 2023

Filmmakers, Wilder, Billy