“While Lang never fully embraced socialist principles over the course of his career, he always seemed to have a violent distaste for the men who stood on the shoulders of those who were less fortunate, knowing full well that social class does not correlate a strong moral conscious.”
“The film has an unusually conservative vibe for a noir, maintaining that the status quo may be boring but criminality has nothing to offer — not even carnal thrills.”
“Carpenter doesn’t frame the film as being about an outlier male abuser, but a culture that has little respect for a woman’s personal space.”
“At the heart of ‘Prince of Darkness,’ the failures of religion and science reflect the limits of the human mind to grasp the immensity of the universe and our menial position within it.”
“In John Carpenter’s ‘In the Mouth of Madness,’ the delicate reality in which we live exists only as far we as believe it.”
“Much of Luchino Visconti’s ‘The Leopard’ has a labored energy of theoretical dramaturgy.”
“‘American Gigolo’ doesn’t necessarily work as a neo-noir, but it still has enough romance and intrigue to be well worth watching.”
“A fever dream of marital discontent, Charlie McDowell’s ‘The One I Love’ tackles a failing marriage with sci-fi panache.”
“An incredible failure, ‘The Rose Tattoo’ has value in understanding the confines of the production code and the importance of good direction.”
“‘Gilda’ is one of the great examples of onscreen masochism.”
“‘Blood for Dracula’ is confusing thematically, but I think that’s part of the point. As pulpy as it is, Morrissey’s film strongly confronts and challenges our ideas of purity and gender.”
“Of all Sam Peckinpah’s films, the violence in ‘The Getaway’ often strikes me as the most senseless.”
“Cable Hogue ogles and desires Hildy because she appeals to him sexually: there are no shades of grey here, no self-reflection. In the world of Peckinpah, sex is often just sex.”
“‘Black Orpheus’ embraces sex as multiplicitous. This somehow makes the love more noble, because it is not confused with lust, and sex becomes a celebration rather than a symbol of it.”
“Pasolini suggests in ‘Mamma Roma’ that the spiritual beauty of humanity often emerges from vulgarity and contradiction.”
“The strength of ‘Tabu’ lies in how powerfully sex is captured, offering aural and visual textures that inspire sensorial memories.”
“If you have an ounce of capitalist discomfort, ‘La cérémonie’ will surely begin to boil your blood, and that’s where things get interesting.”
“‘Les biches’ remains one of the more elusive and symbolic films of Chabrol’s career, as the narrative adopts a dreamlike structure that often obscures reality and truth.”
“‘Les bonnes femmes’ pushes the boundaries of expectations, leaving the audience in a place of vulnerability.”
“Youth is central to ‘Violette,’ and Isabelle Huppert’s petite frame and almost childlike features lend the film a skewed point of view that is colored neither by experience or shame.”