Know the Cast: ‘Seance’
‘Seance’ Cast: A Vague Visages guide for every main performer and character in Simon Barrett’s 2021 Shudder movie.
Review: Soleil Moon Frye’s ‘Kid 90’
“‘Kid 90’ is a story that could have used more unguarded introspection.”
Soundtracks of Cinema: ‘Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali’
‘Blood Brothers’ Soundtrack: A Vague Visages guide for every featured song in Marcus A. Clarke’s 2021 Netflix documentary about Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.
Know the Cast: ‘Worth’
‘Worth’ Cast: A Vague Visages guide for every main performer and character in Sara Colangelo’s 2021 Netflix movie.
Memory and Style: The Threads of a Collective Experience in Marcel Ophuls’ ‘The Sorrow and the Pity’
“‘The Sorrow and the Pity’ is surgical and functional, yet unquestionably a reflection of the imagination of an artist.”
‘State Funeral’: Joseph Stalin’s Grand and Ominous Farewell Procession Revisited
“Loznitsa’s ‘State Funeral’ is an important reflection on the moving image.”
Review: Alexis Cahill and Brigitte Drodtloff’s ‘Queen Marie’
“‘Queen Marie’ may not be a modern historical classic, but its wink-of-the-eye moments subtly inform the audience about the filmmakers’ intent. That, I can appreciate.”
Review: Marilyn Agrelo’s ‘Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street’
“Don’t be surprised if ‘Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street’ leaves you wanting more — that’s often the mark of something special.”
Why Criticism: The Difficulties of Depicting Genocide in ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ and ‘La Llorona’
“Roger Ebert once wrote ‘it’s not what a film is about, it’s how it is about it,’ and it’s this phrase that I usually return to when thinking about cinema that deals with humanity’s worst impulses.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Min-Ho Woo’s ‘The Man Standing Next’
“Both emotionally and narratively, ‘The Man Standing Next’ is an easy story to get lost in.”
Fantasia 2020 Review: Sabrina Mertens’ ‘Time of Moulting’
“It may seem strange to qualify Mertens’ audaciously original production as ‘horror’ when it has no gory set pieces, jump scares, monsters or special effects. Yet, despite a lack of these things, ‘Time of Moulting’ is very much a horror film.”
Dreams and Horrors in Bohemia: ‘Marketa Lazarová’ and ‘Valerie and Her Week of Wonders’
“As much as I love a good story, the best movies always transport me, in an intangible sense, through the base elements.”
Review: Aaron Schneider’s ‘Greyhound’
“Greyhound’s inability to venture further into the depths of wartime psychology leaves it susceptible to being forgotten just as quickly as it emerged.”
Tearing Down the Monument: Sean Connery’s 1970s
“In my hatred for the Bond franchise, I feel I may have done a disservice to its star. I have always had a tendency to discount Sean Connery as an exquisitely sculpted statue, capable of filling out a tuxedo very nicely but little else.”
Review: James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham’s ‘Crip Camp’
“Jened’s real-life teen angst and its participants’ hopes and dreams — from endless makeout sessions to the hysterical aftermath of a crab outbreak — are as horny, heartfelt and human as it gets.”
The Spirit of Revolution: How World Cinema Defined the 1920s
“There is a danger and dynamism to 20s cinema which was gradually eradicated by the standardisation of production processes.”
Review: Todd Haynes’ ‘Dark Waters’
“‘Dark Waters’ may have a downbeat climax, to the degree that may not be considered a climax at all, yet it’s a film made to inspire action, to underline the idea that this crisis is a modern one — it’s still happening, and it’s not resolved.”
Modern Malick
“In Malick’s effort to capture the alienation that accompanies modernity, in his contemporary-set films, he ultimately achieves a similar alienation cinematically.”
The Face of Faith: Falconetti, Dreyer and ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’
“Today, what survives is a film of exquisite poise, of fleshly tenderness against concrete cruelty, an evocative warmth against the coldness of Joan’s formidable suffering.”
Martin Scorsese and Bob Dylan Make Believe in ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’
“Not everyone, and not even every Dylan fan, will go along with the tall tales, but amidst the japes are several of the most riveting live performances of Dylan’s career.”