The Striking Punch of Subversion: Devashish Makhija’s ‘Ajji’
“‘Ajji’ successfully imparts the notion that it’s compulsory for victims to retaliate against extreme injustice by transforming into wolves.”
Could Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ Break Horror’s Dry Spell at the Oscars?
“Art is a product of its time; is it Get Out’s fault that the time mostly resembles a horror production?”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Marshall Shaffer’s #FilmStruckFebruary – The Beginning
Marshall Shaffer’s 2nd annual #FilmStruckFebruary begins!
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Natalia Winkelman on Věra Chytilová’s ‘Daisies’
“The Maries, and ‘Daisies’ itself, are quintessential fruits of the Czech New Wave, deconstructing social hierarchies while embodying the free-flowing, iconoclastic ethos that roused and buoyed 1960s Czechoslovak cinema.”
‘Mary and the Witch’s Flower’ Is Chock-Full of Studio Ghibli Fairy Dust
“While it doesn’t pop with philosophical resonance like Ghibli pictures, it has enough fairy dust in its sleeves to keep you transfixed and rooting for the heroine.”
Lady Bird and the War of Innocence
“Maybe this war of innocence is one that’s never really won or lost. Maybe we just take life one battle at a time.”
Sundance Film Festival Review: David and Nathan Zellner’s ‘Damsel’
“A tremendously fun movie, ‘Damsel’ reinvigorates the Western aesthetic even as it defies many of the genre’s story conventions.”
Devious Dialogues: Mike Thorn and Anya Stanley on the ‘Insidious’ Franchise
“Well, we’re definitely in agreement that ‘Chapter 2’ is the best of the series!”
Bertolt Brecht, Fritz Lang and German Expressionist Fury
“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.”
Sundance Film Festival Review: Josephine Decker’s ‘Madeline’s Madeline’
“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.’”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Henri-Georges Clouzot’s ‘The Wages of Fear’
“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…”
Sundance Film Festival Review: Nicolas Pesce’s ‘Piercing’
“‘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.”
Critics in Conversation: Talking about Filmmakers and Talking with Them
Manuela Lazic and Adam Nayman on Conducting Interviews and Writing about Directors
Documenting the Afterlife: Carol Salter’s ‘Almost Heaven’
“Even death can become tedious when one deals with it every day.”
Let the Right Light In: On Escapism, Coping Mechanisms and Master Projections in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘The Master’
“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.”
“Well, Childhood’s Over” – Claiming Adulthood with Some Help from Greta Gerwig
An Essay by Marshall Shaffer
Review: Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Phantom Thread’
“If indeed this is Day-Lewis’ swan song, ‘Phantom Thread’ is the crowning achievement of a monumental career.”
The Various Representations of Dogs in the Horror Genre
“Dogs are a huge asset to the horror genre, as menaces and as loyal comrades.”
‘Call Me by Your Name’: On Obsession, Growing Up and Falling in Love
An Essay by Ella Kemp
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Michael Haneke’s ‘Benny’s Video’
“‘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.”