The Master’s Voice: Gregory Monro’s ‘Kubrick by Kubrick’
“‘Kubrick by Kubrick’ has the effect of placing the notoriously particular and media-shy subject in the room with the eager listener/viewer.”
On ‘The House That Jack Built,’ Art Monsters and Not-So-Guilty Pleasures
“Von Trier’s fixed dedication to craft comes across as weirdly puritan, but it’s precisely this fixed tunnel vision of artistic dedication that betrays a distinctly white and male creative privilege.”
Interview With Director Don Coscarelli, Author of ‘True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking’
Zach Vasquez Interviews Filmmaker Don Coscarelli
In Kubrick’s Shadow: Tony Zierra’s ‘Filmworker’
“Zierra builds several excellent sequences detailing Vitali’s sponge-like thirst for film production knowledge and the benefits it yielded (and continues to yield), including a virtually perfect and encyclopedic recall regarding Kubrick’s exacting color timing specifications.”
VV Shudder Selects: Ciara Pitts on Harry Kümel’s ‘Daughters of Darkness’
“‘Daughters of Darkness’ invites the audience into a cold, dreamlike experience that explores the versatility of desire.”
Ari Aster’s ‘Hereditary’: Hollow Horror
“What’s truly terrifying about ‘Hereditary’ is how empty it really is.”
A Community in the Dark: Dispatches from the TCM Classic Film Festival
Michael J. Casey on the TCM Classic Film Festival 2018
Vague Visages Writers’ Room: Weekend Vibes 2.23.18
Weekend Vibes is a Friday column about streaming recommendations, new release hype and entertainment events.
Critics in Conversation: Talking about Filmmakers and Talking with Them
Manuela Lazic and Adam Nayman on Conducting Interviews and Writing about Directors
Critics in Conversation: The Critic and the Actor
In the second part of a three-chapter conversation conducted over months via a large Google Doc, Manuela Lazic and Adam Nayman discuss acting and how film critics interpret performances.
Review: Feng Xiaogang’s ‘Youth’
“Achieving a vibrant mix of swooning sincerity and bitter irony, Feng Xiaogang’s ‘Youth’ walks the tightrope of Chinese history with a showman’s flair and a subversive wit, channelling its conflicting perceptions of the past into a single cohesive, ultimately jaded vision.”
Vague Visages Writers’ Room: Favorite Neo-Noir Films
In the Vague Visages Writers’ Room on Facebook, freelancers were asked to comment about their favorite neo-noir films in celebration of #Noirvember.
Review: Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’
“As a portrait of differing wartime experiences, ‘Dunkirk’ is too plot-oriented to be successful.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Solaris’
“The film goes beyond strict and narrow generic classification and touches upon something universal, something profound about undying affection and the unreliability of reality.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Beguiled’
“‘The Beguiled’ plays out exactly as one might expect and never really stretches beyond its contained premise.”
Coffee and Cinephilia: A Conversation with J. Hoberman
Alejandra Rosenberg Interviews J. Hoberman
‘Arrival’ and the Perils of Science Fiction
“What is awkward about these reviews is how they oppose the film’s best qualities to its generic roots.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Fear and Desire’
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: A Column Devoted to the Streaming Platform FilmStruck
No Exit: Access and Isolation in Babak Anvari’s ‘Under the Shadow’
“‘Under the Shadow’ is an admirable film, albeit not wholly original.”
A Mother’s Twisted Love: Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s ‘Evolution’
“Elliptical and predominantly visual, ‘Evolution’ will frustrate any viewer unwilling to let go of common sense.”