When Vladek Spiegelman took his son Arthur aside one day to teach him about the Holocaust, it was more than a history lesson; it was a survival lesson. He drew diagrams of the shelter in which he had hidden his family -- not pictures, but simple, urgent drawings that mapped out, in the father's mind,

Anxiety, Avant comic art, Dark, Dramatic, Egalitarian, Expansive

"Film is like a battleground," Sam Fuller once said. Although he was speaking not as himself but in a cameo role as a filmmaker in Jean-Luc Godard's "Pierrot le Fou," the comparison applies perfectly to his own directorial work. Cigar firmly planted between his lips, Fuller has been getting tough in

Angry, Anxiety, Dramatic, In-your-face, Political

Australian director Baz Luhrmann burst onto the international scene with his hit film, "Strictly Ballroom," a funny, campy romantic fable set in the world of competitive dance. Originally produced by Luhrmann as a 30-minute stage play, "Strictly Ballroom" premiered at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, w

Bright, Dramatic, Film down under, Playful, Pop, Sardonic

Like Pina Bausch, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker has an affinity for the dramatic and overwrought -- Mark Morris even dubbed her "Anne Teresa de Tearjerker." However, we cannot overlook the rigor with which she approaches form. Her pattern-making has been compared to that of such Minimalists as Laura Dea

Dramatic, Euro-surreal expressionism, Hypnotic, Overflowing, Pathos, Severe