‘The Handmaiden’: A Sensuous, Sumptuous Tale of Secrecy, Sex and Subversion
“Park demonstrates how the complicated relationship between role-play, desire, secrecy, power and revenge prove ripe for darkly comic (and perverse) fodder.”
Coffee and Cinephilia: A Conversation with Richard Peña
Alejandra Rosenberg Interviews Richard Peña
Album Review: Ryan Adams ‘Prisoner’
“The songs on ‘Prisoner’ seem shackled to the chains of (unrequited) love.”
Landscape of Awkwardness: On Maren Ade’s ‘Toni Erdmann’
“‘Toni Erdmann’ understands what’s at stake: not the private destiny of an individual, but her ongoing relationship to her era.”
Two Violences: ‘Shield for Murder’
“Movies aren’t neutral vessels that we can stuff with our cultural baggage.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Yasujirô Ozu’s ‘I Was Born, But…’
“If Ozu has taught us anything, it’s that life doesn’t get any easier. But life does go on.”
‘Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood’: Some Thoughts from a Mark Kozelek Fan
“Kozelek is present, combative and always original. He forces you to listen to his music on its own terms.”
Album Review: The Raveonettes ‘2016 Atomized’
“‘2016 Atomized’ is an apt title for an album full of songs that are obsessed with nuclear and romantic annihilation, each track a finely distilled blast of musical essence from The Raveonettes’ particularly heady bouquet.”
Review: Pema Tseden’s ‘Tharlo’
“Pema Tseden’s all-Tibetan film is a confrontation of old and new, of solitude and togetherness, of dreams and reality.”
Looking Back and Forward: Mike Thorn and Anya Stanley on the ‘Halloween’ Franchise
Mike Thorn and A.M. Novak discuss the ‘Halloween’ franchise.
When the Male Gaze Breaks: Between ‘The Neon Demon’ and ‘Black Swan’
“In Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’ and Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘The Neon Demon,’ the female body is used in its most delicate and presumptuously feminine form.”
Genre Whiplash: The Surprising Genius of Karyn Kusama
“By providing viewers with a satirical undertone, Kusama offers a place to rest, making the subversion of viewer expectations all the more potent.”
Album Review: Migos ‘Culture’
“‘Culture’ could already be described as a career-defining work, except Migos’ career is still being defined.”
We Have Another Reptile on the Loose: ‘The Lair of the White Worm’
“Rare is the horror comedy that evokes laughter while also giving one the creeps.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Mikhail Kalatozov’s ‘I Am Cuba’
“‘I Am Cuba’ is more than a picturesque travelogue. It is a pulsating ethnographic profile, an excavation of sorts, uncovering and unleashing its discoveries with a sweeping scope.”
IFFR 2017 Review: Sophie Goyette’s ‘Mes nuits feront écho’
“We can’t always get what we want, but ‘Mes nuits feront écho’ shows that, in our dreams, we are in charge.”
The Many Peculiar Virtues of Wes Craven’s ‘My Soul to Take’
“As the second last film in one of the great contemporary horror filmmaker’s careers, it’s an extraordinary example of artistic self-reflection and development.”
A Woman’s Touch: The Trinity of the Body in ‘American Mary’
“With ‘American Mary,’ the Soska sisters tell a story that deserves a place alongside the likes of ‘I Spit on Your Grave’ and ‘Hostel’ in its bold but nuanced steps that push forward the genre entire.”
Album Review: Ty Segall ‘Ty Segall’
“A greatest hits package featuring brand new material. Sell that, Time Life!”
IFFR 2017 Review: Pedro Aguilera’s ‘Demonios tus ojos’
“All in all, ‘Demonios tus ojos’ is a movie about the excitement of doing something prohibited.”