See and Be Seen: Aaron Schimberg’s ‘Chained for Life’
“In a borough of New York teeming with independent and micro-budget filmmakers, Aaron Schimberg is one of the handful to keep an eye out for with every new work that he makes.”
Lost Amidst the Architecture: Aaron Katz’s ‘Gemini’
“In straining to emulate something in the order of a traditional thriller, Katz and his team of long-time collaborators find themselves sliding perilously towards the formulaic.”
Telling Stories in Order to Survive: ‘Argo’
“‘Argo’ allows you to enjoy the CIA’s outlandish caper, but it also confronts you with the ambivalence of the larger picture.”
Jim McKay’s ‘En el Séptimo Día’: An Immigrant Fairy Tale
“With flexible, transparent cinematography by Charles Libin, the film captures, beat by beat, moment by moment, José’s actions and movements as he bikes, makes deliveries and encounters his boss, friends and customers.”
Permanent Shadows: Rosalind Byrne in Buster Keaton’s ‘Seven Chances’
“Put simply, Rosalind Byrne changed how I think about cinema. Yes, film is largely about fiction, but in the recording of these fictions, there is an accidental reveal that says so much about who we are and what we think.”
Ari Aster’s ‘Hereditary’: Hollow Horror
“What’s truly terrifying about ‘Hereditary’ is how empty it really is.”
Love as a Force in Francis Lee’s ‘God’s Own Country’
“What a beautiful gem of a film, one that’s carved so effectively by Francis Lee in his debut feature.”
Bela and Boris as Bela and Boris: Postmodern Icons in Early Horror
“By playing characters that feel like versions of themselves, both Bela and Boris try to manipulate the iconography that surrounds them, in a postmodern exploration of what it means to be a star, and wonder if it’s possible to escape from their own shadows.”
Real Blood, Fake News: Dan Gilroy’s ‘Nightcrawler’
“Like a modern-day Machiavelli, his amoral world-view doesn’t see the ethical shades of his actions, only the gains and losses they might occur.”
The Boundary-Pushing Comedy in Frank Henenlotter’s Films
“Frank Henenlotter and his films have the demeanor of a naughty uncle making wild, dirty jokes while telling a campfire ghost story. He wants you to take the material seriously, but he’s mostly concerned with you having a great time.”
Scrappily-Assembled Star Wars: ‘Solo’ Is Safe Galactic Fun
“The film is not without heart, though its heart exists in scattered fragments without assimilating into a cohesive whole.”
The Transcendent Banality of ‘Joe Pera Talks with You’
“In its absence of cynicism and surface mundanity, ‘Joe Pera Talks with You’ presents a conceit that feels genuinely daring in the context of a comic universe which prides itself on provocative fare from the likes of Tim and Eric, Dave Willis and Eric Andre.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Alexander Mackendrick’s ‘Sweet Smell of Success’
“‘Sweet Smell of Success’ seems to exist somewhere beyond auteurist canonization or even the traditional Hollywood studio stock.”
The Inside Is Now the Outside: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s ‘Cure’
“Memory and identity are inextricably linked.”
On Familiar Ground: Paul Schrader and the Death Impulse
Michael J. Casey on Paul Schrader’s thematic links in ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters’ and ‘First Reformed’
‘Bullitt’ at 50: On Peter Yates’ Mastery of Visual Storytelling
“Yates delivers the message that our chosen professions and work environments define who we really are. One cannot successfully live a dual existence. Love requires the joining of oneself to another person as well as that person’s job.”
Walking Contradiction: The Double Life of Cisco Pike
“‘Cisco Pike’ is a meditation on failure at all levels; defeat was in the air and no stratum of society was exempt.”
An Indictment of the Responsible Adult: Ruben Östlund’s ‘The Square’
“This isn’t simple hypocrisy. It’s a reversal of expected roles. Children in ‘The Square’ are equated with a moral courage that has been stripped from the film’s adults.”
The Journey of Evolution and Liberation in ‘Disobedience’
“Through its moving journey of evolution, truth and desire, ‘Disobedience’ displays that liberation makes life richer, and that it’s necessary to feel truly alive.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Stefen Styrsky on John Huston’s ‘Reflections in a Golden Eye’
“Lending the story a rarefied patina is the cinematography.”