Sundance Film Festival Review: Josephine Decker’s ‘Shirley’
“‘Shirley’ is not just a film about the pain and struggle of creativity for all artists, but about women particularly.”
Sundance Film Festival Review: Eliza Hittman’s ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’
“‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ is an abortion drama that is so grounded in reality, so meticulous in its details, that it becomes one of the most moving and insightful movies made on the subject.”
Review: Chinonye Chukwu’s ‘Clemency’
“Chukwu avoids any overt didacticism in her storytelling, even if the mounting pressure on the beleaguered protagonist is delivered with quiet resolve and suffocating dread.”
IFFR 2020 Review: Roy Andersson’s ‘About Endlessness’
“Andersson depicts fragments of humanity, stitched together with humour and relatability, and without a hint of loftiness or condescension.”
Why Criticism: You Can’t Take the “Film” Out of Film Criticism
“Over time, a film critic should be able to engage with cinema in an all-encompassing manner, acknowledging the interior and exterior forces of what makes a movie…”
March of Time: The Enduring Magic of Federico Fellini
“The persona, the artist, the maestro, the ringmaster — one can’t help but bask in the direct, subjective joy and the elegiac reverence for cinema itself.”
I Could Grow to Love This Place: On Bill Forsyth’s ‘Local Hero’
“The films of Bill Forsyth are well-observed, genial comedies — and yet the director’s humor is intermingled with a powerful strain of sadness, an attentiveness to protagonists lost and longing.”
Review: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s ‘Honeyland’
“In her mysterious way, Hatidze’s character is as gorgeous and singular as the breathtaking images collected by cinematographers Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma.”
Review: Kantemir Balagov’s ‘Beanpole’
“Many directors twice Balagov’s age could only dream of making a film this unwavering and unsettling — so explicit in its understanding and exploration of extreme female pain.”
Review: Sam Mendes’ ‘1917’
“With a fresh, new approach, Mendes memorializes not only his grandfather, but all the brave soldiers of WWI, reminding viewers of the individual tragedies that comprise warfare.”
12 Angry Films: Sidney Lumet on Justice #7 – ‘The Verdict’
“‘The Verdict’ is Lumet’s morality play, a palate-cleanser after the bitter cynicism of his previous film that affirms the fundamental goodness of a few ordinary people within the justice system.”
First as Tragedy: ‘Winter Kills’ and the Twilight of the Conspiracy Thriller
“The demise of the conspiracy thriller pointed to a broader shift; it signalled the rise of a new credulity, a willingness to re-engage with the idea of America in spite of its reality.”
‘A Woman Is a Woman’: Falling in Love with Karina, Godard and the Wave
“It is Karina who embodied the freedom, fascination and the unpredictability that would define the French New Wave. It is Karina who made so many fall in love — with her and with cinema as an extraordinary, exultant medium.”
‘A Hidden Life’ Shows Terrence Malick at His Most Inquisitive and Incisive
“Every frame of ‘A Hidden Life’ is informed by unapologetic inquisitiveness. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful tapestry of faith, systemic inhumanity, humility and transcendent love — made with rare sublimity and sincerity.”
Review: Mati Diop’s ‘Atlantics’
“Diop’s feature debut is one that embraces the strange, joyous and tender moments that extend beyond boundaries and linear temporalities. Neither love nor life moves in a straight line.”
The Spirit of Revolution: How World Cinema Defined the 1920s
“There is a danger and dynamism to 20s cinema which was gradually eradicated by the standardisation of production processes.”
Review: Alexandra McGuinness’ ‘She’s Missing’
“More mood piece than cohesive story, it’s impressive chiefly in how McGuinness mirrors the desolate bleakness of the protagonists’ lives with the parched cinematography of their surrounding landscape.”
Review: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’
“Greta Gerwig continues to exercise her command of cinematic storytelling with ‘Little Women,’ a perfectly wrapped and beribboned Christmas gift as welcome as a steaming cup of cocoa after a frosty skate around the local frozen pond.”
Review: Meryam Joobeur’s ‘Brotherhood’
“A sharply-shot film, ‘Brotherhood’ effectively uses the short running time to question familial responsibilities/motives, and the central performances make Joobeur’s planned feature adaptation even more intriguing.”
Review: Ico Costa’s ‘Alva’
“A showcase of the potent purity of visual expression, ‘Alva’ concerns itself with consequence, more specifically the consequences we attribute to ourselves, as well as those we put upon others we can never truly know.”