New German Cinema: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s ‘Gods of the Plague’
“A complex study of character and mood, Gods of the Plague relies heavily on subtly-crafted and detached scenes to amass larger thematic ideas of isolation, jealousy and love.”
New German Cinema: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s ‘Love is Colder Than Death’
“Basking in drawn-out pauses and uninterrupted tracking shots, Fassbinder strives to make his audience feel a profound discomfort and delights in presenting an errant challenge to his viewers’ integrity.”
Channeling Chekhov and Cassavetes: Chris Messina’s ‘Alex of Venice’
“From the fluid cinematography of Doug Emmett to Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s obvious transition into an undeniable star, the directorial debut of Chris Messina, Alex of Venice, contains a natural honesty that simply feels right.”
The Act of Clicking: Levan Gabriadze’s ‘Unfriended’
“Unfriended intelligently explores the act of clicking and how those split-second decisions can change everything.”
Case for Criterion: William Friedkin’s ‘Bug’
“‘Bug’ closes in on you in a curiously suffocating way. It’s disorienting in the best way possible.”
Case for Criterion: Tomas Alfredson’s ‘Let the Right One In’
“The horror reads as a treatise against a dominant culture that upholds rather old-fashioned ideas of gender…”
Case for Criterion: Jamie Babbit’s ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’
“Babbit recognizes that the characters in question have a difficult choice to make: to subscribe to a dominant culture and survive or to ‘be themselves’ and ostensibly be shunned.”
Case for Criterion: Xavier Dolan’s ‘Heartbeats’
“Critics have labeled ‘Heartbeats’ as derivative and pretentious, flamboyant and bratty, but it’s exactly the kind of film where such criticism means that it’s doing its job.”
Case for Criterion: Marc Forster’s ‘Stranger Than Fiction’
“The complexities of ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ are worthy of their own analysis, but the film’s simplicities and stark honesty about emotion are its strengths.”
After the Darkness: Jean Rollin’s ‘The Iron Rose’ (1973)
“Tastefully erotic and mystical in tone, The Iron Rose shines a light on youthful arrogance that often blinds us from darker realities.”
Chasing Chabrol: ‘La cérémonie’
“If you have an ounce of capitalist discomfort, ‘La cérémonie’ will surely begin to boil your blood, and that’s where things get interesting.”
Chasing Chabrol: ‘Les biches’
“‘Les biches’ remains one of the more elusive and symbolic films of Chabrol’s career, as the narrative adopts a dreamlike structure that often obscures reality and truth.”
Chasing Chabrol: ‘Les bonnes femmes’
“‘Les bonnes femmes’ pushes the boundaries of expectations, leaving the audience in a place of vulnerability.”
Chasing Chabrol: ‘Violette’
“Youth is central to ‘Violette,’ and Isabelle Huppert’s petite frame and almost childlike features lend the film a skewed point of view that is colored neither by experience or shame.”
The Moreau Files: ‘The Bride Wore Black’
“‘The Bride Wore Black’ has a rather deft sense of humor that raises it above many of the other brightly-lit neo-noirs of the 1960s.”
The Moreau Files: ‘The Lovers’
“It is incredible to think that Malle was only 25 years old when he made ‘The Lovers,’ as it seems to hold the wisdom and erotic impulses of a much older man.”
The Moreau Files: ‘Elevator to the Gallows’
“A feeling of powerlessness is no doubt at the heart of Moreau’s possessed performance in ‘Elevator to the Gallows.'”
The Moreau Files: ‘Diary of a Chambermaid’
“A sex comedy rooted in inequality, ‘Diary of a Chambermaid’ trades in traditional ideas about power dynamics for a twisted take on the absurdity of desire.”
The Moreau Files: ‘La Notte’
“‘La Notte’ is a film very much about resignation — resigning to the fate of the monogamy and perhaps the inevitability of death.”
The Moreau Files: ‘Jules and Jim’
“In the male dominated world of the French New Wave, Catherine in François Truffaut’s ‘Jules and Jim’ stands out as a mysterious and particularly beguiling female presence.”