Tag
Films
“Invention” Probes the American Mind in the Post-Truth Era
Whether a film is a documentary or a fictional drama, all modern cinema is in a sense docu-fictional, because most viewers know that a…
The Powerful Films of the L.A. Rebellion
In the nineteen-seventies, U.C.L.A.’s Ethno-Communications program, founded to increase minority enrollment, attracted a critical mass of…
How to Watch This Year’s Oscar-Nomianted Films
Nominations: Best actor in a leading role (Adrien Brody), best actor in a supporting role (Guy Pearce), best actress in a supporting role…
The Nocturnal Masterwork “Toute Une Nuit” Comes to Light
When Chantal Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”—proclaimed the best film of all time in Sight and Sound’s…
The Art of Film Criticism
“Somebody asked me, ‘When you write a pan of a movie, are you recommending that I not see it?’ ” the film critic Richard Brody recalled.…
Independents’ Days: Standouts from Sundance 2025
I’ve never been to Park City, Utah, where the Sundance Film Festival takes place, but for years I’ve been going to Sundance in New York,…
How the Oscar Race Got as Messy as “Conclave”
Stop me if you’ve seen this one. A committee of august personages convenes, with much pomp and circumstance, to choose the best of their…
“The Fishing Place” Puts History Into the Present Tense
The best filmmakers, looking to the past, see the future. The Holocaust and the Nazi menace to Europe have been filmmakers’ mainstays for…
Mourning David Lynch in a City on Fire
One night in January, 2002, during the initial theatrical run of David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” a friend and I, students at the…
Chinese films dodging censors have no place to go. Can they crack into Taiwan?
TAIPEI, Taiwan — When producer Wang Zijian was making the movie “Bel Ami,” or “Beautiful Friends,” he knew it had no chance of airing in…
Catherine Breillat’s Unsettling Cinema of Desire
In the French director Catherine Breillat’s film “Fat Girl,” from 2001, two adolescent sisters go on summer holiday with their parents…
David Lynch’s (Possible) Realism
In his memoir, “Room to Dream,” from 2018, David Lynch recalled an idyllic time in his life. He was in his late twenties and had just…
The 2025 Oscar Nominations and What Should Have Made the List
With the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominations, the members of the Academy have, in effect, responded to the natural and political…
The Enigmatic Artistry of Terrence Malick
Biographies of great artists are of inherent interest, but in the case of Terrence Malick, one of the greatest living filmmakers, there’s…
The Liberated Life of Colman Domingo
The last time I talked to Colman Domingo, in 2021, his life was completely different. At fifty-one, he was a successful character actor,…
Filmmaker Tom Stern recounts losing home in Eaton fire: "Just gone"
Filmmaker Tom Stern says that the site of his Altadena, California, home now "looks like Hiroshima" after being destroyed by the ongoing…
Who and What Should Be Nominated for the 2025 Oscars
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday that, because of the devastating wildfires raging in and around Los…
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“Babygirl” Never Really Makes a Mess
In November, the reality star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian posted a series of images and videos to her social-media accounts, in which…
“A Complete Unknown” Shears Off Vital Details in the Life of a Colossal, Complicated Artist
One doesn’t have to be a Dylanologist to know, or even to sense, that “A Complete Unknown,” which opens on December 25th, simplifies Bob…
The Best Films of 2024
The two most daring and accomplished American movies of the year are also, at first glance, the most dissimilar. RaMell Ross’s “Nickel…
Remembering Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespearean Heyday (and Forgetting His Recent Lear)
So—a few weeks ago, I saw Kenneth Branagh in “King Lear” at the Shed. Maybe you did, too? It’s been a while, but I’ve been hesitating to…
The Best Performances of 2024
Midway through the A24 film “Sing Sing,” Divine G, an incarcerated man played with poise and panache by Colman Domingo, appears before a…
Great Books Don’t Make Great Films, but “Nickel Boys” Is a Glorious Exception
It’s harder to adapt a great book than an average one. Literary greatness often inhibits directors, who end up paying prudent homage to…