Roadrunner doesn’t revolutionize the portrait documentary, but it does execute its essential elements with pathos and formal precision. The late culinary connoisseur Anthony Bourdain once…
George Romero’s two 1978 releases, Dawn of the Dead and Martin, represent the director at the apex of his career as an artist who had…
In La Civil’s final shot, Cielo (Arcelia Ramírez) sits on a bench outside her home in Mexico. At the end of a long, fruitless journey…
One of two films debuting in this year’s Directors’ Fortnight by actresses thrust into the spotlight thanks to Céline Sciamma’s masterful Portrait of a Lady…
The forest greens and crumbling modernist estates of the Eastern French town of Forbach provide the backdrop for Softie (Petite Nature), a queer coming-of-age story…
Cow Depending on your perspective — and depending on the film — Andrea Arnold’s cinema vacillates between kitsch and kitchen sink, her intended brand of…
The Halt is another epic and epically long Lav Diaz effort, one that might be his most accessible work yet. When dealing with Lav Diaz,…
Though the films of John Cassavetes are often erroneously described as “improvised” or “verite,” claims that belie Cassavetes’s formal fidelity, it was a modernist, Virginia…
Like Blindspotting before it, Summertime is glib in its politics and hollow in its messaging. In one of the more telling recent Hollywood career leaps, L.A.-based music video director…
Fear Street Part 2 improves on Part 1 in nearly every way, a slick slasher of high energy, genre play, and legitimate pathos. The second film in…
The Woman Who Ran continues Hong’s run of affecting personal exorcisms, here crafting a memorable protagonist who is equally mysterious and familiar. Hong Sang-soo’s excoriating relationship…
During an interview with Jump Cut in 1976, director Monte Hellman described Two-Lane Blacktop as such: “It’s a film about inner life rather than outer…
The Witches of the Orient once again testifies to Faraut’s facility with crafting surprising, poignant sports docs with plenty of formal character. It’s exciting to see…
Scales is an undeniably distinctive film, but one that doesn’t quite feel fully conceived or executed. Saudi Arabian director Shahad Ameen’s Scales was notable in the…
The Neutral Ground succeeds as both zippy, deadpan commentary and a moving personal document. With Juneteenth a newly-minted federal holiday, it’s a fitting opportunity to…
Premiering at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival, before going on to win the prestigious Dragons & Tigers Award for emerging Asian cinema at that same…
This first Fear Street entry suggests possible upward momentum for the trilogy, but disappoints as a slasher in its own right. There’s promise to Fear…
It’s nice to see Fox back in the horror saddle, but Till Death’s stronger elements too often fall victim to its thriller conventionality. Is it…
Good on Paper wittily upsets rom-com conventions, but doesn’t produce much substance beyond this initial fake-out. Following a string of stand-up specials and a sketch…
Being a Human Person ends up a bit formless, but it presents a complex portrait both of an artist and of the disconnect between action…