Mark Olsen
Mark Olsen writes about all kinds of movies for the Los Angeles Times as both a feature writer and reviewer. He creates a regular series on independent, documentary and foreign language films under the banner of Indie Focus, also curating and hosting the Indie Focus Screening Series. His work has also appeared in Film Comment, the New York Times, LA Weekly, Sight & Sound and other publications. He is from Kansas.
Recent Articles
- Indie Focus
Indie Focus: Worlds of absurdity and emotion in 'The Lobster,' 'High-Rise' and 'Love & Friendship'
Hello! I’m Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. This week we look at three of my favorite movies of the year so far, plus an extremely exciting retrospective discovery. It’s such a crowded week of strong new films that even last year’s Palme d’Or winner...
- MOVIES
Cracking the shell of Yorgos Lanthimos' 'The Lobster'
Yorgos Lanthimos makes enigmatic films that exist in universes all their own. His latest, “The Lobster,” is at once cerebral and emotional, an abstracted allegory on power, love and the power of love. His films can also be so cryptic and inscrutable that they remain mysterious even to their maker....
- MOVIES
Locarno Film Festival to give producing prize to Participant Media CEO David Linde
The Locarno Film Festival will give its 2016 tribute award for independent producers, the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico, to David Linde, chief executive of Participant Media. Running this year from August 3-13 in Locarno, Switzerland, the festival has become one of the key stops on the annual international...
- Indie Focus
Indie Focus: Dynamics at play in 'A Bigger Splash,' 'Band of Outsiders' and 'The Family Fang'
Hello! I’m Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. The summer movie season is fast upon us all with the release of "Captain America: Civil War," and the Cannes Film Festival is right around the corner, which means we will soon see a handful of movies that...
- MOVIES
Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes celebrate 'sensational cinema' with 'A Bigger Splash'
In the new film "A Bigger Splash," Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts and Dakota Johnson star in a tale of emotional intrigues and shifting dynamics amid an idyllic Mediterranean island retreat. As in his international breakthrough, 2009's "I Am Love," Italian director Luca Guadagnino...
- MOVIES
'Everything at the same time': Anna Karina as more than a muse in Los Angeles
Even setting aside her acclaimed work in the 1960s with the filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, actress Anna Karina has a formidable career that includes working with directors Luchino Visconti, George Cukor, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jacques Rivette, Tony Richardson and Jonathan Demme. Yet it is the series...
- MOVIES
Jason Bateman, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken bring bite to their roles in 'The Family Fang'
Based on the popular 2011 novel of the same name by Kevin Wilson, “The Family Fang” has been adapted for the screen by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Jason Bateman, claiming its own surprising territory with a tone that is by turns darkly comic and bleakly morose. The story grapples with...
- MOVIES
'Spotlight' and 'The Jungle Book' are top winners at the Golden Trailer Awards
A trailer for Academy Award best picture winner “Spotlight” took the Best of Show Prize and the best independent trailer honor at the 17th annual Golden Trailer Awards on Wednesday. “The Jungle Book” won the most awards for the night with four in animation/family, original score, animation/family...
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