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Joe Leydon

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Independents' Day

WorldFest is back with the best films you've never heard of

By Joe Leydon
Apr 4, 2002

For founder and director J. Hunter Todd, WorldFest Houston isn't just a job, it's an adventure. And over the past 13 months, it's been even more of a cliffhanger than usual. "Last year, we were booted out of our Galleria offices by the new management company," Todd says. "We had...
The Straight Shooter

The no-bullshit Budd Boetticher took an unsentimental approach with his Ranown Cycle westerns

By Joe Leydon
Jun 7, 2001

Oscar "Budd" Boetticher Jr. was raised in patrician comfort as the adopted son of a wealthy Chicago businessman, and educated at Culver Military Academy and Ohio State University. But don't hold any of that against him: At the age of 20, he rebelled against his privileged background and pursued graduate...
Bi-Curious?

Gay and lesbian films seek a mainstream audience on their own terms

By Joe Leydon
May 24, 2001

After your indie movie wins both the Audience Award and the Best Director prize at the Sundance Film Festival, what can you do for an encore? That's easy: You land the opening-night spot at the 2001 Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Such is the route taken by Hedwig and...
Silk Stalkings

Attraction delves into the dark obsessions of jilted lovers

By Joe Leydon
May 10, 2001

Making a fleeting appearance in theaters before its scheduled June 12 video release, Attraction is an oddly compelling indie drama that may linger in your mind long after most of the big-ticket summer blockbusters are forgotten. Writer-director Russell DeGrazier has an unfortunate fondness for underscoring emotional frissons with empty stylistic...
Chaos Theory

With his epic Ran, Kurosawa stared human desperation in the face until he could see a hopeful light

By Joe Leydon
Nov 30, 2000

The 15th-anniversary reissue of Ran underscores a singular irony: If lives and careers could be plotted as satisfyingly as movies, then Akira Kurosawa's epic interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear would have been the late, great Japanese filmmaker's grand finale. Even Kurosawa's most devoted admirers are forced to admit that his...

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