London Film Festival Review: Harry Macqueen’s ‘Supernova’
“‘Supernova’ is a film that many will cherish if audiences can be absorbed by the overt metaphors and can look beyond the Rich White Male vantage point.”
London Film Festival Review: Jennifer Sheridan’s ‘Rose’
“Many British micro-productions focus on Britain’s mud. ‘Rose’ shows us the frost.”
The Gothic Splendour of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rebecca’
“Rebecca’s greatness stems from its faithful approach to the Gothic roots of du Maurier’s novel, foregrounding all of the most important themes like repression of the past and marriages full of conflict.”
Memories of Place in Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Virgin Suicides’
“Although the events in ‘The Virgin Suicides’ may not be presented through an innately nostalgic lens, they become a binding source of nostalgia by viewing the film 20 years after its initial wide release.”
Take This Leap: Revisiting the Optimism of ‘Joe Versus the Volcano’
“‘Joe Versus the Volcano’ is as thoughtful and sensitive as it is goofy. It brims with the sort of amazement that can reawaken forgotten feelings, and resuscitate a heart clogged by ennui.”
Dreams and Horrors in Bohemia: ‘Marketa Lazarová’ and ‘Valerie and Her Week of Wonders’
“As much as I love a good story, the best movies always transport me, in an intangible sense, through the base elements.”
‘But I’m a Cheerleader’: Celebrating 20 Years of Style and Sincerity
“In cinema, it’s tough to depict sincerity without it coming across as contrived or sickly-sweet, but it’s a feeling that myself and many others yearn for, especially when it comes together as beautifully as it does in ‘But I’m a Cheerleader.'”
Review: Boaz Yakin’s ‘Aviva’
“Aviva and Eden’s dances — together and apart — mobilize Yakin’s film, and function as bodily mirrors and emotional mirages; gain and loss, self and love.”
From ‘Sex’ to ‘Girls’ to ‘Insecure’: HBO’s Feminist and Intersectional Chronicle
“HBO has come a long way in representing the intersectionality of race and gender.”
A Stone-Dumb Genius: On Charles Grodin’s Performance in ‘The Heartbreak Kid’
“Under May’s stare in ‘The Heartbreak Kid,’ and through the provocations of scene partners, Grodin creates a character of rare stature: a horrifying, stone-dumb genius.”
Tearing Down the Monument: Sean Connery’s 1970s
“In my hatred for the Bond franchise, I feel I may have done a disservice to its star. I have always had a tendency to discount Sean Connery as an exquisitely sculpted statue, capable of filling out a tuxedo very nicely but little else.”
Review: The Shakespeare Sisters’ ‘Soundtrack to Sixteen’
“The Shakespeare Sisters boldly attempt to capture a young romance, but the film occasionally loses momentum with its loose script and clunky editing.”
Interview: Jeremy Gardner, Christian Stella and Justin Benson on ‘After Midnight’
Leslie Hatton Interviews ‘After Midnight’ Filmmakers Jeremy Gardner, Christian Stella and Justin Benson
Why Criticism: Nichols / Soderbergh
“In their conversations, Soderbergh and Nichols work together to dismantle the artificial dividing line between art and criticism, neatly moving between the two…”
Not the End: Celebrating the Directing Career of John Cassavetes
“Cassavetes’ films form a mosaic of artistic fortitude, glued together with thought.”
Edward Yang’s ‘Yi Yi’ in the Era of Social Distancing
“‘Yi Yi’ is a film for grown ups in the sense that the characters have lived long enough to understand how memories of people can stay with them over the course of their lives. Keeping your distance from people is not the same as giving up on them.”
Review: Pablo Larraín’s ‘Ema’
“‘Ema’ is a challenge to the walls we build around ourselves, to the baggage we leave behind for our children and the folly of the damage we can do to each other.”
Interview with ‘Moffie’ Filmmaker Oliver Hermanus
Alistair Ryder Interviews South African Filmmaker Oliver Hermanus About ‘Moffie’
World Cinema Project: Beyond the Bounds of Narrative – ‘Limite’ and ‘Mysterious Object at Noon’
“Abstract and disjointed, the narrative of ‘Mysterious Object at Noon’ is progressively piecemeal, and what occurs in ‘Limite’ is even more inconclusive.”
12 Angry Films: Sidney Lumet on Justice #10 – ‘A Stranger Among Us’
“As a chronicler of the justice system in a dozen or more films, Lumet is intimately concerned with the ways in which it represses individual thought and fails to live up to its supposedly defining principles.”