Constructing a Madman: Lee Harvey Oswald’s Screen Life
“In our attempt to fill in the gaps of the Oswald character, we recast him again and again, hoping that the latest iteration will reveal a previously hidden angle.”
London Film Festival Review: Radu Jude’s ‘Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World’
“‘Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World’ is a jolt of energy, one that bounds forward — always a few leaps ahead of its audience.”
Crime Scene #8: ‘Detour’ – Nowheresville, USA
“‘Detour’ plays like a fever dream powered by guilt and dread; an existential noir about an American male lost in the nothingness and vastness of the country.”
London Film Festival Review: Todd Haynes’ ‘May December’
“‘May December’ has the initial feel of a heightened, vaguely trashy soap opera, revealing new layers to its central figures the more they question their perceived roles.”
TIFF Review: Wendy Bednarz’s ‘Yellow Bus’
“‘Yellow Bus’ tries to manufacture misunderstandings that may naturally exist in a country that has a diverse immigrant population, but Bednarz’s heavy-handed sociology lesson ultimately aligns with the pseudo-intellectual drivel of ‘Crash’ and ‘Babel.'”
London Film Festival Review: Kitty Green’s ‘The Royal Hotel’
“The differences between the equally impressive ‘The Assistant’ and ‘The Royal Hotel’ prove that there is more room for subversive thrillers directed by Green.”
Review: Alex Kahuam’s ‘Failure!’
“‘Failure!’ is a failed experiment that grates more than it excites.”
Review: David Depesseville’s ‘Astrakan’
“‘Astrakan’ is most intriguing when not trying to explain everything away.”
TIFF Review: Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers’
“‘The Holdovers’ tries a little too hard to swerve melancholic moments into a hokey optimism, as it’s indebted to a screenwriters’ seminar-style narrative.”
TIFF Review: Jonathan Glazer’s ‘The Zone of Interest’
“If one is willing to meet ‘The Zone of Interest’ on its own terms, Glazer’s film offers an uncompromising glimpse at the lengths people will go to avoid seeing the horrors around them…”
TIFF Review: Richard Linklater’s ‘Hit Man’
“‘Hit Man’ is easily one of Richard Linklater’s most entertaining and emotionally satisfying films.”
Review: Marcellus Cox’s ‘Mickey Hardaway’
“‘Mickey Hardaway’ is the real deal.”
Venice Film Festival Review: Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Poor Things’
“Lanthimos examines human emotion as a sort of mask that we wear, stripping his characters of time and place to observe the raw human animal. ‘Poor Things’ might be the purest distillation of this yet.”
Venice Film Festival Review: Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’
“There is so much to adore in ‘Maestro,’ as Cooper’s supremely controlled vision touches greatness and sustains it.”
Venice Film Festival Review: Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin’
“While Origin’s conclusion undermines the breadth and depth of its observations, there is much to be admired in the ambitious undertaking.”
Venice Film Festival Review: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’
“The tension between all these figures prompts a sudden and ferocious outpouring that will cement ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ as one of the most quietly stirring films of the year.”
Venice Film Festival Review: Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’
“Spaeny’s rigidity — especially in the first half of ‘Priscilla’ — is the perfect extension of Coppola’s curiosity regarding space and movement.”
Crime Scene #7: ‘Twilight’ and the Hungarian Hills
“In ‘Twilight,’ Fehér suggests, the force of authority truly loses its voice.”
Venice Film Festival Review: Michael Mann’s ‘Ferrari’
“‘Ferrari’ is a mixed portrait; a kind of freeze-frame of 50s masculinity, in all its ruthlessness and moral codes that have not adapted to a less binary society.”
Venice Film Festival Review: Pablo Larraín’s ‘El Conde’
“‘El Conde’ is an unhinged satire, more than any of recent memory.”