l. a. rebellion

Still quietly radical, ‘Killer of Sheep’ showcases an unvarnished side of 1970s L.A. life

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For decades, Charles Burnett’s best film was little more than a rumor. Shot over weekends in the early 1970s with a mostly nonprofessional cast and a budget that didn’t hit five figures, “Killer of Sheep” wouldn’t receive its first public screening until the fall of 1978 at New York’s Whitney Museum. Sporadically playing only at … Read more

Review: A master director’s empathy shines in the belatedly released ‘The Annihilation of Fish’

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No movie deserves the ignominious burial that Charles Burnett’s 1999 romantic drama originally received. Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival before making its way to a few subsequent events, it essentially vanished in the wake of a negative Variety review, failing to secure distribution and seemingly destined to languish in obscurity. But to watch “The … Read more