“These tentative, tangential films each act like a pause for reflection, a moment of reprieve from life itself as the makers each summon a voice from their past to explore their present.”
“Zhao’s style is evocative but accepting.”
“Never weird for the sake of weird, July’s movies are perfectly prismatic, refracting facets of recognizable life experiences through the singularity and peculiarity of her vision.”
“The Red Room is something to conquer or contend with, just like the monsters of the real world.”
“Where Berkeley uses excess as a contrast to the real world, Verhoeven uses it as a magnifying glass.”
“While ‘The American Sector’ outstays its welcome, I’m not sure if ‘The Building’ wants to be invited in to begin with.”
“Even though Seimetz’s ‘ideological contagion’ might have its roots in coping strategies for depression and a range of mental health issues, the director works wonders by imagining how one might react upon learning about their imminent death.”
“For the next generation of filmmakers, documenting these strange times has just begun, and, thankfully, it’s going to be a physically distant but socially collaborative enterprise.”
“Although the events in ‘The Virgin Suicides’ may not be presented through an innately nostalgic lens, they become a binding source of nostalgia by viewing the film 20 years after its initial wide release.”
“Point of view and selfhood have assumed for Kaufman a place of great consequence from ‘Being John Malkovich’ to ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ to ‘Anomalisa,’ and ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is a remarkable extension.”