Reviews and Articles
From this page you can download PDFs of newspaper and magazine reviews and chapters or sections from books that discuss my films.
It’s organized by the films, listed in alphabetical order. You can click on the titles at the top and it will take you to that section of the page.
Within each film’s section are reviews as well as any book chapters or magazine articles on that film. When a text discusses more than one film, the entry is cross-listed under each title. I have also included the URL for any of the articles or reviews that also exist online.
At the end is a section of reviews that discuss a group of films, so those aren’t in any of the individual title areas.
I have a separate web page called "SF texts"
that are writings by me.
Full disclosure: I teach, so I know how it goes—people make xeroxes of book chapters, reviews, etc. without paying copyright (not to mention showing bootleg copies of films!) I would strongly encourage you to buy the books from which these excerpts are taken, and if any of the authors wishes me to remove their excerpted piece from this list, please contact me. I will then just post a notice of how to find the material.
Credit where credit is due:
This part of the website was made possible by the skill and massive labor of three young women whom I would like to thank very much—
Cubby Dimling
Allison Paz
Ariel Hahn
Finally:
If you find any problems with bad links, etc., please let me know so I can fix them.
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Click on a title to move down the page to its section...
BUT NO ONE
COOL HANDS, WARM HEART
DAMNED IF YOU DON’T
FIRST COMES LOVE
FROM THE GROUND UP
GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM
THE HEAD OF A PIN
HIDE AND SEEK
THE ODDS OF RECOVERY
RULES OF THE ROAD
SCAR TISSUE
SEEING RED
SINK OR SWIM
THE TIES THAT BIND
AND FINALLY HERE: all the articles that cover multiple films....
BUT NO ONE
“Speaking From the Outside” by Barbara Kossy, ARTWEEK, July 1984
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COOL HANDS, WARM HEART
"Female Rage: The Films of Su Friedrich" by Lindley Hanlon, MILLENNIUM FILM JOURNAL, Spring 1983, pp. 78-86
“Su’s Work Has Them Sitting Up on Those Extra Seats!” by Declan Hassett, CORK EXAMINER, October 11, 1990
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DAMNED IF YOU DON'T
REVIEWS:
“Filmmaker Experiments with Sex and Religion” by David Ehrenstein, THE HERALD EXAMINER, 1987
“Experimental Bent” by Amy Taubin, THE VILLAGE VOICE, September 15, 1987
“A Queer Kind of Film: The First Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film Festival” by Donna Minkowitz, THE GUARDIAN, September 16, 1987
“A Laying On of Images” by Andrew Rasanen, BAY WINDOWS, November 5-11, 1987
“A Queer Kind of Film” by Jan Stuart, FILM COMMENT, November-December 1987
“Lasting Evidence: Women in the Director’s Chair” by Ramona Curry, AFTERIMAGE, May 1988
"Girl Crazy" by Martha Gever, THE INDEPENDENT, July 1988, pp. 14-18
"When Form Takes as Many Risks as the Content" by Katharina Sykora, FRAUEN UND FILM, Vol. 46, February 1989
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS :
"Damned If You Don't: An Interview With Su Friedrich" by Scott MacDonald, AFTERIMAGE, Vol. 15, #10, May 1988, pp. 6-10
“Transgressive Cinema: Lesbian Independent Film” in Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in the Cinema, by Andrea Weiss, Jonathan Cape Publishers, London, 1992, pp. 155-161
“An Unrequited Desire for the Sublime: Looking at Lesbian Representation Across the Works of Abigail Child, Cecilia Dougherty and Su Friedrich” by Liz Kotz in Queer Looks: Perspectives on Gay and Lesbian Film and Video, edited by Martha Gever, John Greyson and Pratibha Parmar, Routledge Press, 1993, pp. 86-102
“Discourse Intercourse” in Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies by Chris Straayer, Columbia University Press, 1996, pp. 210-213
"Feminist Makeovers: The Celluloid Surgery of Valie Export and Su Friedrich" by Chris Holmlund in Play It Again, Sam, ed. by Andrew Horton and Stuart Y. McDougal, U. of California Press, 1998, pp. 217-237
“Su Friedrich’s Swimming Lessons”in Framed: Lesbians, Feminists and Media Culture by Judith Mayne, University of Minnesota Press, 2000, pp. 193-211
“Revival and Appropriation” in Black Narcissus by Sarah Street, I. B. Taurus Press, London, 2005, pp.75-84
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FIRST COMES LOVE
REVIEWS:
“History In the Making” by Leslie Kossoff, GAY COMMUNITY NEWS, September 1-14, 1991
“Don’t Blink” by Manohla Dargis, THE VILLAGE VOICE, September 10, 1991
“Protest, Identity Themes at Lesbian/Gay Film Fest” by Gregg Bordowitz, THE
GUARDIAN, September 11, 1991
“Films” by Stuart Klawans, THE NATION, September 25, 1991
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS:
“When Autobiography Meets Ethnography and Girl Meets Girl: The ‘Dyke Docs’ of Su Friedrich and Sadie Benning” by Chris Holmlund in Between the Sheets, In the Streets: Queer, Lesbian, and Gay Documentary, edited by Chris Holmlund and Cynthia Fuchs, U. of Minnesota Press, 1997, pp. 127-143
The Wedding Complex: Forms of Belonging in Modern American Culture by Elizabeth Freeman, Duke University Press, 2002, pp. 4-12
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FROM THE GROUND UP
“From the Ground Up” by Magdalena Miedl, BIORAMA MAGAZINE, Winter 2007
“On Film and Fair Trade” by Martina Car, NASSAU WEEKLY, March 7, 2008
“Film and Funding on Behalf of Coffee Workers” by Gayle Santana, BELLAONLINE, April 2008
“From the Ground Up” by Trent Daniel, CURLED UP WITH A GOOD DVD.com, June 2008
“From the Ground Up” by Chris Neilson, DVDtalk.com, June 24, 2008
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GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM
REVIEWS:
“International Women’s Film Festival”, ART FORUM, November 1983
"Text As Image" by Scott MacDonald, AFTERIMAGE, March 1986
“Gently Down the Stream” by Bruce Jenkins, MILLENNIUM FILM JOURNAL, Nos. 16/17/18, Fall/Winter 1986-87
“Films” by Stuart Klawans, THE NATION, October 31, 1988
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS:
"Female Rage: The Films of Su Friedrich" by Lindley Hanlon, MILLENNIUM FILM JOURNAL, Spring 1983, pp. 78-86
“Transgressive Cinema: Lesbian Independent Film” in Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in the Cinema, by Andrea Weiss, Jonathan Cape Publishers, London, 1992, pp. 155-161
“An Unrequited Desire for the Sublime: Looking at Lesbian Representation Across the Works of Abigail Child, Cecilia Dougherty and Su Friedrich” by Liz Kotz in Queer Looks: Perspectives on Gay and Lesbian Film and Video, edited by Martha Gever, John Greyson and Pratibha Parmar, Routledge Press, 1993, pp. 86-102
“Su Friedrich’s Swimming Lessons”in Framed: Lesbians, Feminists and Media Culture by Judith Mayne, University of Minnesota Press, 2000, pp. 193-211
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THE HEAD OF A PIN
"Nature: Up Close and Political" by Scott MacDonald, FILM QUARTERLY, Vol. 59, #3, Spring 2006
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HIDE AND SEEK
REVIEWS:
“Girls Out of Uniform: Su Friedrich Remembers Being 12 Years Old and Gay” by Lydia Marcus, RELEASE PRINT, 1997
“Hide and Seek” by Emanuel Levy, VARIETY, February 17-23, 1997
“Hide and Seek” by Bob Boone, GAY PEOPLE’S CHRONICLE, March 7, 1997
“Framing Lesbian Angst” by Erin Blackwell, BAY AREA REPORTER, April 1997
“Hide and Seek” by Arion Berger, WASHINGTON CITY PAPER, April 25-May 1, 1997
“Child’s Play” by Jenni Olson, OUT, July 1997
“Hide and Seek” by Diana Tierney, THE FEMINIST REVIEW online, May 2, 2007
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS:
“Hide and Seek: Looking for Lesbians” in Experimental Ethnography: The Work of Film in the Age of Video, by Catherine Russell, Duke University Press, 1999, pp. 148-156
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THE ODDS OF RECOVERY
“Local Spotlight” by Shari Kizirian, RELEASE PRINT, September 2002
“Friedrich Lays Odds” by Jenni Olson, BAY AREA REPORTER, September 19, 2002
“XX Marks the Spot” by Ed Halter, THE VILLAGE VOICE, October 2002
“The Odds of Recovery” by Dennis Harvey, VARIETY, October 21-27, 2002
“The Odds of Recovery” by Holly Willis, LA WEEKLY, December 6, 2002
“Clinical Trials” by Kim McNabb, THE CHICAGO FREE PRESS, March 12, 2003
“The Odds of Recovery” by Fred Camper, THE CHICAGO READER, March 14, 2003
“The Odds of Recovery” Video Librarian, April 20, 2004
“The Odds of Recovery” by Suhaila Aboulhosn, THE FEMINIST REVIEW online, May 18, 2007
“The Odds of Recovery” by Felice Aull, Literature, Arts and Medicine Database of the NYU School of Medicine
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RULES OF THE OF ROAD
REVIEWS:
“Films” by Stuart Klawans, THE NATION, May 17, 1993
“Subtle Gems and Flaming Flops” by Warren Sonbert, THE SAN FRANCISCO SENTINEL, June 16, 1993
“A Kiss Before Towing” by Susan Gerhard, THE BAY GUARDIAN, June 16, 1993
“Moving Pictures: Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival” by M.R., GREY CITY JOURNAL, November 5, 1993
CHAPTERS FROM B OOKS:
“When Autobiography Meets Ethnography and Girl Meets Girl: The ‘Dyke Docs’ of Su Friedrich and Sadie Benning” by Chris Holmlund in Between the Sheets, In the Streets: Queer, Lesbian, and Gay Documentary, edited by Chris Holmlund and Cynthia Fuchs, U. of Minnesota Press, 1997, pp. 127-143
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SCAR TISSUE
"Female Rage: The Films of Su Friedrich" by Lindley Hanlon, MILLENNIUM FILM JOURNAL, Spring 1983, pp. 78-86
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SEEING RED
REVIEWS:
“Midlife Fury, Glowing in Glorious Red” by Stuart Klawans, THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 24, 2006
or online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/movies/24klaw.html?_r=1&fta=y&oref=slogin
"The Personal Films of Su Friedrich" by Ed Halter, THE VILLAGE VOICE, Sept. 27-Oct. 3, 2006
“Su Friedrich is Seeing Red” by Andrea Richards in MAKE/SHIFT, Fall/Winter 2007-2008, pp. 40-41
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS:
"Seeing (through) Red" in Truth In Nonfiction, ed. by David Lazar, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 2008, pp. 152-162
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SINK OR SWIM
REVIEWS:
“Experimental Visions” by Janice Berman, NEW YORK NEWSDAY, September 29, 1990
“A Modernist Approach to Biography” by Caryn James, THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 30, 1990
“It’s Not Exactly ‘Father Knows Best’ in Friedrich’s ‘Sink or Swim’” by Jonas Kover, OBSERVER-DISPATCH, November 15, 1990
“Intelligence, Grace and Visual Power” by Warren Sonbert, BAY AREA REPORTER, January 31, 1991
“Daddy’s Girl” by Fred Camper, THE CHICAGO READER, February 8, 1991
or online at his website:
http://www.fredcamper.com/Film/Friedrich.html
"Life with Father" by J. Hoberman, PREMIERE, December 1991
“Sink or Swim” by Joanna Chlebus, THE FEMINIST REVIEW online, April 23, 2007
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS AND INTERVIEWS ABOUT SOS:
"Daddy Dearest: Su Friedrich Talks About Filmmaking, Family and Feminism" by Scott MacDonald, THE INDEPENDENT, December 1990, pp. 28-34
"An Interview with Filmmaker Su Friedrich" by Sam McElfresh, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF THE ARTS NEWSLETTER, Autumn 1991, pp. 4-5
“From Zygote to Global Cinema Via Su Friedrich’s Films” by Scott MacDonald, JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 44.1-2 (Spring-summer 1992), pp. 30-41
“Domestic Ethnography and the Construction of the ‘Other’ Self” by Michael Renov in Collecting Visible Evidence, ed. by Michael Renov and Jane Gaines, University of Minnesota Press, 1999, pp. 140-155
“Su Friedrich’s Swimming Lessons”in Framed: Lesbians, Feminists and Media Culture by Judith Mayne, University of Minnesota Press, 2000, pp. 193-211
"Sink or Swim" in Left In the Dark by Stuart Klawans, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002, pp. 29-32
"The Violence of Desire in Avant-Garde Films" by Maureen Turim in Women and Experimental Filmmaking, ed. by Jean Petrolle and Virginia Wright Wexman, U. of Illinois Press, 2005, pp. 71-90
"Leslie Thornton, Su Friedrich and Abigail Child: No More Giants" by William C. Wees in Women and Experimental Filmmaking, ed. by Jean Petrolle and Virginia Wright Wexman, U. of Illinois Press, 2005, pp. 19-43
“Key Scene: The Filmmaker’s Song in ‘Sink or Swim’” in Movies: The Little Black Book, ed. by Chris Fujiwara, Cassell Illustrated, 2007, p. 625
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THE TIES THAT BIND
REVIEWS:
"New York International Film Festival" by Barbara Kruger, ARTFORUM, November 1983
“History Now: The Ties That Bind” by Harvey Nosowitz, THE CHICAGO READER, October 1984
“Serious Fun” by David Edelstein, THE VILLAGE VOICE, April 1985
“N.Y. Independent Cinema” by Berenice Reynaud, FUSE, Summer 1985
“The Ties That Bind” by Su Friedrich, ALLES UND NOCH VIEL MEHR (KUNSTMUSEUM BERN) 1985
“From Zygote to Global Cinema Via Su Friedrich’s Films” by Scott MacDonald, JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 44.1-2 (Spring-Summer 1992), pp. 30-41
“The Ties That Bind” by Patricia Ethelwyn Lang, THE FEMINIST REVIEW online, April, 2007
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS AND INTERVIEWS ABOUT TB:
"Damned If You Don't: An Interview With Su Friedrich" by Scott MacDonald, AFTERIMAGE, Vol. 15, #10, May 1988, pp. 6-10
“Su Friedrich: The Ties That Bind” in Avant-Garde Film: Motion Studies, by Scott MacDonald, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993, pp. 102-111
“Motherhood and History” in Cinematernity, by Lucy Fischer, Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 193-198
"The Violence of Desire in Avant-Garde Films" by Maureen Turim in Women and Experimental Filmmaking, ed. by Jean Petrolle and Virginia Wright Wexman, U. of Illinois Press, 2005, pp. 71-90
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ALL THE GENERAL ARTICLES & BOOK CHAPTERS & INTERVIEWS
ARTICLES & REVIEWS:
"Reappropriations" by Scott MacDonald, FILM QUARTERLY, Winter 1987/88, pp. 34-42
"Avant‑Garde Film: Cinema as Discourse" by Scott MacDonald, JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO, Vol. 40, #2, Spring 1988, pp. 33-42
"Fractured Fairytales and Experimental Identities: Looking for Lesbians in and around the Films of Su Friedrich" by Chris Holmlund, DISCOURSE 17.1, Fall 1994, pp. 16-46
"It's Not As Bad As You Think: A Spoonful of Experimental Cinema (from the Plate of Su Friedrich)" by Alex MacInnis, FOCUS Magazine, Vol. 15, 1995, pp. 76-85
“Midlife Fury, Glowing in Glorious Red” by Stuart Klawans, THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 24, 2006
“Wisdom of Dreams” by Ioannis Mookas, GAY CITY NEWS, Sept. 28-Oct. 2, 2006
“Su Friedrich is Seeing Red” by Andrea Richards in MAKE/SHIFT, Fall/Winter 2007-2008, pp. 40-41
“Su Friedrich” by Lynn Bell and Michael Zryd-- online on SensesOfCinema.com
http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/friedrich.html
“The Films of Su Friedrich: Outcast Films DVD Release” by William C. Wees--online on SensesOfCinema.com
http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/dvd/06/41/su-friedrich-dvd.html
CHAPTERS FROM BOOKS:
"Culture As Fiction: The Ethnographic Impulse in the Films of Peggy Ahwesh, Su Friedrich, and Leslie Thornton," by Catherine Russell in The New American Cinema, ed. by Jon Lewis, Duke University Press, 1998, pp. 353-378
Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia, ed. by Amy Unterberger, St. James Press. 1998,
Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde, 1943-2000 by P. Adams Sitney, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 419-420
“Su Friedrich: Breaking the Rules” by Janet Cutler in Women’s Experimental Cinema, ed. by Robin Blaetz, Duke Univ. Press, 2007, pp. 312-338
501 Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers, ed. by Steven Jay Schneider, Barron’s Press, 2007, p.562
“Su Friedrich: ‘Giving Birth to Myself’” in Eyes Upside Down: Visionary Filmmakers and the Heritage of Emerson by P. Adams Sitney, Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 296-320
INTERVIEWS WITH SF:
"Interviews With New York Filmmakers" by Stephanie Beroes, CINEMATOGRAPH vol. 2, 1986, pp. 68-71
“Su Friedrich” interview in Critical Cinema: Volume Two by Scott MacDonald, University of California Press, 1992, pp. 283-318
“Su Friedrich”, interview by Katy Martin for ART WORLD MAGAZINE (YISHU SHIJIE), Shanghai, China and The Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MOCA Shanghai), 2008
“Su Friedrich’s Cinema”, interview by Cecilie Muhlstein in NY ARTS online, April 2008
or online at NY ARTS website:
http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=177282&Itemid=747
CITATIONS OF THINGS FROM BOOKS THAT I DON'T HAVE HERE AS PDFs:
Screen Writings, by Scott MacDonald, University of California Press, 1995
(This has two scripts of mine which are otherwise available in the "scripts" section of my site.)
Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary, by Gwendolyn Foster, Greenwood Press, 1995
Cut/Film As Found Object In Contemporary Video, by Lawrence Lessig, Rob Yeo, David Gordon, and Candice Breitz, Basilico Press, 2004
Contemporary American Independent Film: From the Margins to the Mainstream, ed. by Chris Holmlund and Justin Wyatt, Routledge, 2005
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