I Am of Mud and Flame: Landscapes as Conjurors in British Folk Horror
“Whether it’s Holkham Wood or the stone circle at Avebury, British folk horror frequently uses the eeriness of empty, liminal spaces to evoke a sense of psychological unease.”
The Perennial Schmuck: Elaine May’s Disappointing Men
“May was banished at a time when male auteurs were granted an unprecedented amount of latitude. She was treated as a liability rather than a maverick, and it’s difficult not to read that assessment as gendered.”
New Italy, Old Attitudes: Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘Il Grido’
“‘Il Grido’ is about a man’s utter inability to comprehend the modern world and adapt to it. The end result is a hopeless, pitiful film, and that’s meant as a compliment.”
Crime Scene #20: ‘Tiger Bay’ and the Adolescent Capital
“Tiger Bay as a state of mind may be long gone, but ‘Tiger Bay’ the film remains a document of a place long turned to rubble. And what vital documents.”
Crime Scene #19: ‘Only the River Flows’ – A Detective Goes Around the Bend
‘Like many great crime films, ‘Only the River Flows’ makes full use of its setting, delivering a grimy and ugly story that suits its grimy and ugly central location.”
Feeling Like a Winner: Elliott Gould’s Hollywood Hot Streak
“Gould’s persona upended traditional notions of cinematic masculinity in its appeal to a generational fatigue and ambivalence; his sexual magnetism eschewed the amatory codes of the traditional leading man.”
Crime Scene #18: ‘Victims of Sin’ – Nightclubbing with Ninón Sevilla
“‘Victims of Sin’ certainly is a product of its time and place in regard to its prescriptivism, but Fernández’s movie far surpasses its simpler elements because of its rather glorious and noirish textures.”
Crime Scene #17: ‘Lone Star’ – Porous Borders at the Edge of America
“The genius of Sayles’ ‘Lone Star’ is that the film envelops its difficult, knotty questions about history, identity and geography without any didacticism.”
Questioning and Subverting Artistic Authority in ‘Through the Writer’s Mirror’
“Being multiple things at once is what makes Everett’s novels, but also his other art, so intriguing. ‘Through the Writer’s Mirror’ is its own process of plate spinning. It is its own juggling act.”
Crime Scene #16: ‘Salvatore Giuliano’ – Sicily, Power and Geography
“Many of the best crime films make a virtue of the specificity of their location. Few, however, are as specific as ‘Salvatore Giuliano,’ nor are they as cognizant of how the central locations effect the story.”
Passion, Truth and Lillian Gish: The American Film Foundation Collection Releases Digitally on Vimeo
“Gish speaks confidently and passionately about acting in Sanders’ American Masters documentary, but perhaps the most intriguing moments emerge when she discusses her love for film preservation…”
Crime Scene #15: ‘Strangler vs. Strangler’ – Belgrade Is Not a Serious City
“‘Strangler vs. Strangler’ is somewhere between the avant-garde and the absurd: a perfect description of Belgrade itself.”
Old Favorites and New Classics: A TCM Classic Film Festival Diary
“My TCM Fest weekend, packed full of classic movies, was not only a fun experience in April 2024, but it made me feel hopeful that film preservation is alive and well, and that these beloved — if occasionally dusty — pictures aren’t going anywhere.”
Crime Scene #14: ‘Five Deadly Venoms’ and Kung Fu Criminality
“The spatial detail in ‘Five Deadly Venoms,’ aided by Chang’s sharp sense of timing, helped the film become a surprisingly labyrinthine vision of camaraderie in the face of corruption and power.”
Crime Scene #13: ‘Memories of Murder’ and Rainy Remembrances
“It’s a sense of Korean specificity that defines ‘Memories of Murder,’ which is still the best of Bong’s films.”
That Building Had It Coming: Distance and Disgust in the Anti-Comedy Playground
“In Alverson’s hands, anti-comedy becomes a new kind of gothic — it is the world viewed through a warped, sinister lens; a fresh excavation of the unspeakable through outsized comedic strategies.”
Crime Scene #12: ‘Amores Perros’ and Gringo Cinema
“‘Amores Perros’ is almost entirely disinterested in its central location. It feels like a film made not to speak truth to Mexican audiences, but to present a hyperreal version of Mexico for international audiences.”
Review: Hong Sang-Soo’s ‘In Our Day’
“‘In Our Day’ shows that even a smaller Hong Sang-soo film, like the smaller moments of life that it portrays, can be just as rich with drama, sadness and beauty as any other, and that every fragment contains so much of the whole.”
Apocalypse Through the Ages: Reimagining in ‘The End We Start From’
“‘The End We Start From’ is a contained version of the violent, end-of-world tales we have grown accustomed to. In its quiet examination of a woman’s journey to motherhood, the questions that surround the subject are writ large on the story.”
Crime Scene #11: ‘Case of the Naves Brothers’ and a Sertão Mentality
“‘Case of the Naves Brothers’ is hardly in the annals of great Brazilian cinema, like the works of Rocha, but it absolutely deserves to be seen in the same breath.”