Have you seen any good Lithuanian films lately? I have to admit that I know nothing about the cinema of Lithuania and not that much about the country which borders Latvia at the north, Belarus on the southeast and Russia and Poland to the southwest. I only know that Lithuania was an independent country for centuries until it was occupied by the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1990, the year its independence was restored. The country does have a rapidly growing film industry and studios like HBO and Netflix have utilized the region for film locations as in the 4th season of Stranger Things and the 2019 mini-series Chernobyl. But the only Lithuanian filmmakers I can name are Jonas and Adolfas Mekas, brothers who immigrated to the U.S. in 1949 and became major figures in New York’s experimental film scene along with fellow peers like Ken Jacobs, Hollis Frampton, Jack Smith and Andy Warhol. Piligrimal (English title: Pilgrims, 2021) is the first Lithuanian movie I can recall seeing but it presents a refreshing and rarely used approach to the storytelling process that requires the viewer to play detective as the story begins four years after a terrible crime has been committed and details about the case emerge slowly in bits and pieces.
Continue readingTag Archives: Jonas Mekas
On the Road with Robert Kramer
Route One is a historic American highway with a rich history spanning three centuries. It starts in Key West, Florida and ends in Fort Kent, Maine and some of the cities along the way include Miami, Washington, New York City and Boston. Filmmaker Robert Kramer decided to travel the entire route in 1988 with his friend Paul McIsaac and make a film about the journey. Part of his intent was to explore and document the lives and mind set of the people he met along the way but also to come to terms with his own feelings about America after living abroad for almost a decade. The completed film, Route One USA (1989), is a fascinating mosaic of American culture and much more than just a time capsule since it reveals the roots of the polarization and fragmentation that is affecting our country today.
Continue readingJack Webb: Drill Instructor
“I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER!” – Sergeant Jim Moore
One of the more popular releases in the Warner Archives Collection, The D.I. (1957) was not a box office smash upon its original release but the cult of Jack Webb has grown considerably since then and The D.I. is undiluted, industrial-strength Webb; the star/director/producer is on the screen almost the entire time during this 106 minute marine training drama. Continue reading

