Bijou Blog

Creative and critical movie writing from the Bijou team!

Regular features on the Bijou Blog include reviews, personal and critical essays, creative work, and more! For submissions, please contact bijouui.executive@gmail.com.

Listen in to Bijou Banter on KRUI Fridays at 11am (FM 89.7)!


Velvet Goldmine Movie Poster

Velvet Goldmine

Monday, February 9, 2015
Nothing makes a man so vain as being told he’s a sinner.   Americans are stupendous at nostalgia. We express it daily with our pants. Our facial hair. The tortured rebirth of the retro Doritos bag.

Clue, The Boxtrolls and Oscar Animation Shorts (with Professor Peter Chanthanakone)

Thursday, January 29, 2015
In this week’s show, we’ll be discussing several films coming soon to FilmScene.   Our line-up includes camp cinema classic, Clue, which plays this Saturday night, January 31, at 11PM as part of Bijou After Hours.

Idiocracy, Selma and Foxcatcher

Thursday, January 22, 2015
In this week’s show, we’ll be discussing three films that are currently playing – or about to open – at FilmScene.   Our line-up includes Mike Judge’s 2006 cult classic Idiocracy, which plays this Saturday night, January 24, at 11PM as part of Bijou After Hours.

Force Majeure, White Christmas and Die Hard (with guest Stephen Markley)

Thursday, December 11, 2014
Our line-up includes Force Majeure, a delightfully dark comedy by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund.   Force Majeure opened at FilmScene last Friday, and has its final screening tomorrow, Thursday December 11 at 7PM.
Dear White People movie poster

Dear White People

Thursday, November 13, 2014
Like its protagonists, Dear White People is brilliant, funny, and righteously pissed off.    Quick. Think about the last mainstream American film you’ve seen whose central protagonist* is black. Got it? Good.
Fruitvale Station movie poster

Fruitvale Station

Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Fruitvale Station is provocative, but perhaps not in the way you expect.         In 15th- and 16th-century Europe, touring ‘morality plays’ warned the spectating public of the potential for damnation lurking under the surface of their every decision—eating supper, choosing a spouse, arguing with one’s neighbors.
The Skeleton Twins Poster

The Skeleton Twins

Tuesday, October 21, 2014
The Skeleton Twins serves as a great reminder to us all that even though my older sister once fed me unsalted popcorn as a joke, I was able to forgive her after ten years.

Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors and Hannah Arendt (with guest Scott Sulzener)

Thursday, October 9, 2014
In this week's show, we'll be discussing three films that are coming soon to FilmScene in Iowa City. Our line-up includes Ghostbusters, which - in honor of its 30th Anniversary - opens at FilmScene on October 24.
The One I Love movie poster

The One I Love

Tuesday, October 7, 2014
The One I Love will have you questioning everything you know about your significant other in the best way possible It is nearly impossible to write anything about this movie without spoiling the twist, but alas, here we are.
Mother poster

Mother

Sunday, October 5, 2014
A woman in a blue dress walks through a rain-soaked field. She is no longer young but not yet old. Comfortably middle-aged. The type of woman who looks like she is expecting her first grandkid. The camera glides around the woman, and she  starts to dance.