“Lang’s film becomes a committed act of social justice advocacy, raging against its enforced limitation, and striving to break the formal apparatus that could often be employed to constrain Classic Hollywood cinema.”
“At the risk of succumbing to the Sundance hype atmosphere, writer/director Josephine Decker may be offering a new form of altered cinematic consciousness with ‘Madeline’s Madeline.’”
“Just because ‘The Wages of Fear’ is dire and pessimistic, that doesn’t make it any less perceptive or accurate. Quite the contrary: the virulent truth only makes it that much more engrossing…”
“‘Piercing’ plays out Reed and Jackie’s tryst as a sadomasochistic Punch and Judy routine, with the flare-ups of violence equally funny and horrifying.”
Manuela Lazic and Adam Nayman on Conducting Interviews and Writing about Directors
“Even death can become tedious when one deals with it every day.”
“The processing conversation is perhaps the most telling sequence of all, as Quell submits to The Master — the Master Projection — and acknowledges his own self-deception.”
An Essay by Marshall Shaffer
“If indeed this is Day-Lewis’ swan song, ‘Phantom Thread’ is the crowning achievement of a monumental career.”
“Dogs are a huge asset to the horror genre, as menaces and as loyal comrades.”
An Essay by Ella Kemp
“‘Benny’s Video’ implicates us, the audience, for watching. Haneke chides the spectators, removed from the action by a screen, for their inability — or perhaps their unwillingness — to stop the violence.”
In the second part of a three-chapter conversation conducted over months via a large Google Doc, Manuela Lazic and Adam Nayman discuss acting and how film critics interpret performances.
“Bergman’s penchant for giving physical form to the conscious and subconscious mind is rarely more apparent than in his 1957 masterpiece ‘Wild Strawberries.’”
“It’s ultimately Scarpa’s bizarre scripting decisions that make the film just a fun crime thriller, and not a Ridley Scott classic.”
“As any great piece of cinema should evoke in the viewer, Alice Lowe’s electric performance in ‘Prevenge’ makes one laugh, cry and shriek in terror.”
“There has always been a conflict at play in Nicholson’s screen presence: between ‘Nicholson’ and ‘Jack.’ The desire to be taken seriously and the lure of the riotous Jack persona have always done battle across his decades of stardom.”
“Although the well worn label of ‘humanist’ may have lost its meaning by now, ‘Milla’ truly lives up to the mantle, as it is ultimately concerned with the fortitude and ability of a young woman to create a space of her own in the world.”
“For a film that prides itself on being ‘based on a true story,’ ‘Molly’s Game’ often relies on moments that are too coincidental, too easy. Yet, there’s nothing here to suggest that Sorkin won’t eventually figure things out behind the camera.”
“Writer/director Akin presents everything through a stilted lens which mistakes prosaic framing and editing for a matter of fact tone.”