A stuttering student is hypnotized to cure his impediment. A strong wind blows across a field. A ceiling collapses in a rainshower. A bird lands on a boy’s head. A sleeping woman levitates over her bed. A man clutches some feathers in his hand, and Read More …
With a rigorous style that is often off-putting to newcomers, Bresson eschews the usual emotional cues we’ve become conditioned to expect at the movies. His editing is, above all, efficient—refusing to emphasize one moment over another. We’re forced to pay fierce attention and draw our Read More …
“What is the true meaning of life?” Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski has asked. “Why get up in the morning? Politics doesn’t answer that.” The Decalogue, Kieslowski’s extraordinary, challenging collection of ten one-hour films made for Polish television in the dying days of the Soviet Union, doesn’t Read More …
In 2020, I earned 5 minutes on the phone with Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Fitzcarraldo), and I assailed the man with questions on a topic that is always on my mind: how the canon of cinema is changing and solidifying now that the art form Read More …
Myths and legends abound with humble blokes who endure the hero’s journey, overcoming the odds and coming out strong on the other side. They accomplish this due to their inherent goodness, honesty, and strength of character. The Green Knight takes place in a Camelot that Read More …
The walls are immense. We quiver just to look at them. When we imagine scaling their heights, we tremble all the more because we know that to fall from them would be our death. This is us, the audience, at the start of Asghar Farhadi’s Read More …
The first time I wrote about Annette I compared it to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Mulholland Drive. I still think that is one of the most apt comparisons to describe Leos Carax’s hypnotic and meta musical. In my appreciation of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Read More …
Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story begins with what looks like a shot from the director’s 1998 film Saving Private Ryan. The camera hovers over a crumbling city, swooping past a wrecking ball as it haunts the remains of a once bustling neighborhood. Eventually, Read More …
In Luke 4:5-6, the devil tempts Jesus by showing “him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment in time” and tells him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give Read More …
When a radical act of mercy and forgiveness serves as the climax of a film, the love it has for all its characters is apparent. When that act references Babette’s Feast, Chef, and Ratatouille, the love extends not only to the characters but to our Read More …