A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘A Serious Man’ (2009)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ (2013)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘L’inconnu du lac’ (Alain Guiraudie, 2013)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
The Inescapable Fever Dream of John Schlesinger’s ‘Midnight Cowboy’
“We dream, we fantasize, and we are haunted by that we cannot change. We are desperate to reinvent ourselves, and we always think some other place will be better.”
Review: Doron and Yoav Paz’s ‘JeruZalem’
“Like something completely lost in translation, JeruZalem is more Troll 2 than Cloverfield and contains all the ironic hallmarks of a future cult phenomenon.”
His Blazing Automatics: Gareth Evans Just Made the Best Action Film of 2016 in 5 Minutes with ‘Pre Vis Action’
“It’s not even February, but it feels safe calling Pre Vis Action the best action film of 2016.”
The Dueling Cavalier: The Horror of Maternal Sexuality in ‘The Boy’ and ‘The Babadook’
“Both films deal with maternal sexuality: The Boy punishes it and rebukes mothers for caring about anything other than their children, and The Babadook acknowledges it as difficult to balance with childcare, but an inescapable part of motherhood nonetheless.”
His Blazing Automatics: 2016 Is the Year of Keanu Reeves
“Don’t call it a comeback, call it a Reeves-urrection.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Agnes of God’ (Norman Jewison, 1985)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Chilean Cinema 2015: We Are What We Are by Jaime Grijalba
Chilean writer Jaime Grijalba ranks the 2015 theatrical releases of his country.
Review: Jafar Panahi’s ‘Taxi’
“A cry against governmental indifference and a cruel restriction from a chosen means of expression, Taxi is a unique work of art that defies boundaries and convention.”
BFI Southbank’s Jean-Luc Godard Retrospective: Highlights from Anna Karina’s ‘Bande à part’ Q&A
BFI Southbank: Anna Karina on Jean-Luc Godard and “Bande à part”
Review: Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh’s ‘Kung Fu Panda 3’
“The divine spirit of fools run deep within a film too relatively light and inconsequential to have too much staying power, but as an artistically rich Saturday morning puff piece, you could do far worse.”
Lust, Caution: Paul Morrissey’s ‘Women in Revolt’
“‘Women in Revolt’ stands in defiance of the majority of transgender-specific cinema…”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘The One I Love’ (Charlie McDowell, 2014)
“A fever dream of marital discontent, Charlie McDowell’s ‘The One I Love’ tackles a failing marriage with sci-fi panache.”
Review: Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s ‘Mustang’
“A film full of warmth and dread in equal measure, Mustang serves as a reminder of the power of siblinghood in the face of adversity.”
Review: Tobias Lindholm’s ‘A War’
“More than a simple condemnation of war, of which there are plenty, A War seeks to deliver a thorough examination of human behavior.”
Commanding Leads and Creative Insults in Colin Thompson’s ‘It’s Us’
“Energized by two charismatic leads, It’s Us beautifully explores the process of early 30s decision-making and how one deals with the consequences of questionable actions.”
The Dueling Cavalier: On (Re)-Reading Raymond Chandler for the First Time
“It was my first time reading Chandler, and yet it didn’t feel like it: I’d devoured so many of his influences that the writing seemed familiar, even if there was nothing quite like getting it from the original source.”
‘Whisper of the Heart’ and the Tragedy of Yoshifumi Kondō
“What would the world of animation be like if Yoshifumi Kondō had lived to make another film?”