Lost: Akira Kurosawa Noir
“In Kurosawa’s noir films, characters struggle to move beyond loss — personal, financial and national — only to find that more loss awaits them.”
The Modern Netherworld of Akira Kurosawa’s ‘The Bad Sleep Well’
“Kurosawa was rarely more bitter and dejected than he is here, crafting a sprawling noir tragedy from Shakespeare’s text, grappling desperately with identity in the nightmare of faceless modernity.”
Small Tokens of Faith in John Ford’s ‘The Fugitive’ and Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’
“In between Ford’s wide shots and Scorsese’s close-ups, there is an effort by each filmmaker to make faith real.”
Killing the Samurai: ‘Kuroneko’ and the Myths of Imperialism
“Kuroneko’s otherworldly visuals evoke a reality shaped by great and sinister powers, and a world where fate will always scupper the impudent plans of hubristic men.”
The Birds and the Beats: How ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’ Achieved Ultimate Serenity
“Ghost Dog glides through the story with the swiftness of an avian being in a film that never fails to be cathartic.”
Hidden Gems of Soviet Cinema: On Sergei Loznitsa’s IDFA Top 10
“Now free to travel, these films now face the trouble of traveling well.”