Review: Josh Appignanesi’s ‘Female Human Animal’
“It’s a confusing enterprise all around, but — at the very least — ‘Female Human Animal’ is unlike anything else out there, for better or worse.”
Arrow Video FrightFest Review: Franck Ribière’s ‘The Most Assassinated Woman in the World’
“‘The Most Assassinated Woman in the World’ is not, by my estimation, a horror film, but a film about horror spectatorship; the joy of discomfort.”
Arrow Video FrightFest Review: Pascal Laugier’s ‘Incident in a Ghostland’
“Both characters are lazy, ugly sketches of deviancy, leaning on ableist and transphobic stereotypes in the place of characterisation.”
An Interview with ‘You Were Never Really Here’ Cinematographer Tom Townend
Sam Ankenbauer Interviews Cinematographer Tom Townend
A Terrain of Violence: Clio Barnard’s ‘Dark River’
“‘Dark River’ excels in the areas where Barnard has already proven herself adept: she draws stellar performances from her cast across the board, and creates a vibrant naturalism without sacrificing tone or style.”
Lost Amidst the Architecture: Aaron Katz’s ‘Gemini’
“In straining to emulate something in the order of a traditional thriller, Katz and his team of long-time collaborators find themselves sliding perilously towards the formulaic.”
Ari Aster’s ‘Hereditary’: Hollow Horror
“What’s truly terrifying about ‘Hereditary’ is how empty it really is.”
The Inside Is Now the Outside: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s ‘Cure’
“Memory and identity are inextricably linked.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Asghar Farhadi’s ‘Everybody Knows’
“Though it’s not one of Farhadi’s best films, ‘Everybody Knows’ is still an effective, impactful thriller.”
‘Bullitt’ at 50: On Peter Yates’ Mastery of Visual Storytelling
“Yates delivers the message that our chosen professions and work environments define who we really are. One cannot successfully live a dual existence. Love requires the joining of oneself to another person as well as that person’s job.”
Review: Lynne Ramsay’s ‘You Were Never Really Here’
“Ramsay and Phoenix eloquently communicate the trappings of depression, and how it grips the sufferer.”
Seeing the Giallo Truth in Dario Argento’s ‘Four Flies on Grey Velvet’
“One of the great characteristics of ‘Four Flies on Grey Velvet’ and numerous other giallo films is their willingness to destabilize traditional notions of subjectivity.”
Days of Future Past: History and ‘Blade Runner 2049’
“As ‘Blade Runner 2049’ suggests, perhaps the way forward into a future of possibility is through a deeper investigation of the past’s secrets.”
Review: Francis Lawrence’s ‘Red Sparrow’
“In post-Hunger Games mode, Jennifer Lawrence continues her streak of pushing the envelope.”
Could Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ Break Horror’s Dry Spell at the Oscars?
“Art is a product of its time; is it Get Out’s fault that the time mostly resembles a horror production?”
Framing the Breakdown: Visual Psychosis in Lucrecia Martel’s ‘The Headless Woman’
“Martel’s film is an absolute masterpiece in visual symbolism and deserves to be seen on that basis alone.”
Review: Joachim Trier’s ‘Thelma’
“It’s an odd little film, more melancholy and plaintive than outright scary or troubling, that slowly crawls under your skin.”
When Hansel and Gretel Live in a Bus: Paakhi A. Tyrewala’s ‘Pahuna: The Little Visitors’
“In a country whose cinema is often just classified under the homogenous canopy of ‘Bollywood,’ a film in Sikkimese is not only a welcome change but also a political reversal of existing canons. It is a small but eventful beginning, a small step towards a more inclusive ‘Indian’ cinema.”
Vague Visages Writers’ Room: Favorite Halloween Movies
In the Vague Visages Writers’ Room on Facebook, freelancers were asked to comment about their favorite Halloween flicks.
London Film Festival Review: Todd Haynes’ ‘Wonderstruck’
“This kind of world recreation doesn’t come cheap, and it’s a delight to see a filmmaker of Haynes’ caliber given such a worthy budget.”