Out of John Edward Williams’ three seminal novels — a trio of recently rediscovered bildungsromans about hapless young men who live uneventful lives (save for Gaius Octavius) filled with regret — Butcher’s Crossing, objectively the weakest of the bunch, was always going to be the easiest to adapt…
Blanket declarations about three-hour-plus runtimes always seem curious when filmmakers employ said length for wildly different purposes. Though the sweeping epic may be the most classic Hollywood implementation, the space can be used to house labyrinthine plots, emphasize repetition, or facilitate other experimental practices. In Rodrigo Moreno’s new…
Maestro When the 2018 remake of old Hollywood standby A Star is Born dropped, it marked the culmination of over a decade’s worth of effort to update the well-worn tale into something that might entice modern audiences. At its helm was first-time feature film director Bradley Cooper who,…
After dipping his toes in the waters of English-language filmmaking, Yorgos Lanthimos makes his return to his Greek roots with Bleat, inviting a cadre of international collaborators — notably, his current muse Emma Stone — to participate in a piece commissioned by the National Greek Opera for their…
At least a decade too late to cash in on the YA franchise craze, David Slade’s Dark Harvest sputters into a limited day-and-date theatrical/VOD release bearing all the hallmarks of a long-delayed, butchered-in-post-production boondoggle. Based on a well-regarded novel by Norman Partridge, the (barely 90-minute) film seems cobbled…
When was the last time you visited a foreign city and didn’t look up things to do? Didn’t crowd-source recommendations, rely on offline maps and translate apps, or post a constant stream of pictures and videos? Didn’t even take them, maybe? These days, it’s tough to even go…
William Friedkin’s The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is a final cry of olde — a stripped-down but stylized last film that announces its intentions and uses a lean visual form to hurry everything along. The film serves itself in four sections; or perhaps more usefully, in four separate acts…
A 32-minute queer cowboy melodrama paid for by Yves Saint Laurent, Strange Way of Life is Pedro Almodóvar’s second English-language short and, like The Human Voice before it, feels so listless and underdeveloped that it makes you question why it was ever made in the first place. Is…
Strange Way of Life A 32-minute queer cowboy melodrama paid for by Yves Saint Laurent, Strange Way of Life is Pedro Almodóvar’s second English-language short and, like The Human Voice before it, feels so listless and underdeveloped that it makes you question why it was ever made in…
Artificial intelligence as a source of existential angst is having quite the moment in pop culture. A central issue in this past summer’s two major film industry work stoppages, A.I. was both the “big bad” of the most recent Mission: Impossible film as well as a demagogued adversary…
In 1960, Merle Haggard was released from jail — he served a two-year stint in San Quentin for burglary. Before long, Hag started recording for the small Tally Records and notched a modest hit when Bakersfield icon Wynn Stewart gave his blessing to record the as-yet-unreleased “Sing a…
MMXX Few directors have explored the implications of real-time continuity — or a reasonable approximation thereof — as resolutely as Romanian director Cristi Puiu. From his early Stuff and Dough (2005) to his more recent Malmkrog (2020), he has drawn out the myriad consequences of a restricted spatiotemporal…
Few directors have explored the implications of real-time continuity — or a reasonable approximation thereof — as resolutely as Romanian director Cristi Puiu. From his early Stuff and Dough (2005) to his more recent Malmkrog (2020), he has drawn out the myriad consequences of a restricted spatiotemporal frame…
Irish poet and playwright W.B. Yeats once wrote, “It is love that I am seeking for, but of a beautiful, unheard-of kind that is not in the world”. Yeats’ romantic yearnings can certainly sound of a different time, especially in a present world where the day-by-day is predominantly…
The Delinquents Blanket declarations about three-hour-plus runtimes always seem curious when filmmakers employ said length for wildly different purposes. Though the sweeping epic may be the most classic Hollywood implementation, the space can be used to house labyrinthine plots, emphasize repetition, or facilitate other… [Previously Published Full Review.]…
Next Goal Wins Consider the fortunes of Taika Waititi in just the last five years. Briefly heralded as one of the more exciting voices in pop filmmaking — he emerged from Thor: Ragnarok not only unscathed, but instilling false hope that an actual idiosyncratic sensibility could be smuggled…
He Thought He Died Before He Thought He Died (2023), a friend spoke on his misgivings about 88:88 (2016), Isaiah Medina’s hitherto best-known film, echoing sentiments that sounded familiar. He remarked that the film’s reflection on poverty was ironic, given that its reliance on academic language rendered it…
Following the success and acclaim of his reality-bending 1997 directorial debut Perfect Blue — a feverish take on the Giallo genre, filtered through a ’90s cyber aesthetic — anime director Satoshi Kon looked to his own country’s (extraordinarily rich) cinematic history when crafting his sophomore film. The idea…
Les Indésirables “The real problem [or] the central mystery of politics is not sovereignty, but government; it is not God, but the angel; it is not the king, but ministry; it is not the law, but the police — that is to say, the governmental machine that they…
“The real problem [or] the central mystery of politics is not sovereignty, but government; it is not God, but the angel; it is not the king, but ministry; it is not the law, but the police — that is to say, the governmental machine that they form and…