Pain and Three Kinds of Death in Dustin LaValley’s ‘A Soundless Dawn’
“Above all, it’s about style. LaValley plays fast and loose with grammar and punctuation, paying mind to cadence and tone.”
Cyberflunk 2017: Rupert Sanders’ ‘Ghost in the Shell’
“One of the hallmarks of good cyberpunk is the exploration of humanity in a post-modern world where technology is the dominant force. This philosophical probe falls short in Rupert Sanders’ ‘Ghost in the Shell.'”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Jean Vigo’s ‘L’Atalante’
“‘L’Atalante’ is a movie defined by it moments, images and emotive strength, not its ostensible plot.”
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán’s ‘Sambá’
“‘Sambá’ succeeds most when it draws inspiration from its setting and hooks the audiences with hard questions about crime and responsibility.”
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Tim Golden and Ross McDonnell’s ‘ELIÁN’
“It’s a miracle that Golden and McDonnell were able to create such a coherent document out of what appears to be bureaucratic chaos.”
Devious Dialogues: Mike Thorn and Anya Stanley on ‘The Exorcist’ Franchise
Devious Dialogues: A Horror-Themed Column by Mike Thorn and A.M. Novak
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Guillaume Canet’s ‘Rock’n Roll’
“Canet’s performance seems to come from a place of real insecurity, and the resulting film plays out like an externalized catharsis.”
Why We Make Films: On Kirsten Johnson’s ‘Cameraperson’
“‘Cameraperson’ is about genuine human connections, about the elements that connect us all, regardless of culture, geography, race or language.”
The Work: FEUD ‘You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends?’ (Recap)
“I think ‘Feud’ believes we should take another look, turn on another spotlight or two (or three, or four) and see people beyond the work… for all the things they are.”
Tribeca Film Festival Reviews: Men with Guns – ‘Sweet Virginia’ and ‘Hondros’
“What ‘Sweet Virginia’ and ‘Hondros’ have in common is the notion that men with guns aren’t as brave or bloodthirsty as they seem.”
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Drew Xanthopoulos’ ‘The Sensitives’
“‘The Sensitives’ is a gentle and affecting window into the isolated prison cell that becomes a sensitive person’s life.”
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Zefrey Throwell and Josephine Decker’s ‘Flames’
“At times, Zefrey and Josephine seem more in love with their own clever filmmaking than they are with each other.”
Delay in the Reflection: On Richard Kelly’s Definition of a Post 9/11 World in ‘Southland Tales’
“To catch the eye of ‘Southland Tales’ is to look back on our past and future simultaneously, on the limitations of our technology and the humanity that screeches through it.”
Coming of Age on a Volcano: The Quiet Feminist Power of Jayro Bustamante’s ‘Ixcanul’
“With ‘Ixcanul,’ Bustamante presents an honest and complex mother-daughter companionship that is sorely lacking in our current film and television landscape.”
Las Palmas Film Festival Reviews: ‘Still Life’ and ‘Knife in the Clear Water’
“These allegorical films remind of the original connections that we have lost.”
‘Mulholland Dr.’ 4K Restoration: Another Look Behind Winkie’s Diner
“Just as with life, ‘Mulholland Dr.’ is unexplainable.”
It Was Never Enough: FEUD ‘Abandoned‘ (Recap)
“‘Feud’ may not be the most honest depiction of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis as human beings, but it provides an authentic depiction of the way it feels to be a woman trapped in a system that isn’t made for them or by them.”
Album Review: CFM ‘Dichotomy Desaturated’
“Based on the music from ‘Dichotomy Desaturated,’ I’d say he’s destined for greatness.”
The Original Sin in ‘Ex Machina’: Ava Is the Origin
“‘Ex Machina’ is not a projection of A.I. fear, but more of a preliminary intervention on the organized process of fearing and hating women.”
Las Palmas Film Festival Review: Kôji Fukada’s ‘Harmonium’
“It’s the demons within that Kôji Fukada astutely brings to life in ‘Harmonium.'”