Films as dark and subversive as Le bonheur are not usually so beautiful. Drenched in a rich, chromatic palette and played to the tune of twee renditions of Mozart (played by Jean-Michel Defaye), the third feature fromRead Full Review

The characters in Sátántangó are used to persevering through brutal conditions. The rain never stops, the sky a permanent overcast grey which promises no hope for warmth or light. Their homes are crumbling and dilapidated, their belongingsRead Full Review

The restoration and re-release of Cane River in 2018 brought independent director Horace B. Jenkins’s film to many who had not heard of it before. Jenkins’s death in 1982 occurred shortly after the film was finished, which stuntedRead Full Review

Place Hu Bo among the ranks of the tragic artists, the ones lost well before we were prepared to see them to go. An Elephant Sitting Still is his only feature film. He committed suicide in 2017Read Full Review

The human race has a fraught relationship with the natural world. We have taken much more than it was ever meant to give. We’ve given ourselves rules, and placed ourselves in a society to maintainRead Full Review

Stories that circle behind the production of Mr. Arkadin are deliciously Welles-ian. An unfinished film, pieced together by the cineastes who adored him, with a convoluted plot that is rescued by inventive filmmaking. What more canRead Full Review

Aside from being one of the preeminent rock stars of the Twentieth Century, David Bowie proved to be a rather talented actor. His roles are few – on several occasions, he was simply asked toRead Full Review

An experimental filmmaker by trade, Cheryl Dunye’s feature debut, The Watermelon Woman, has very little interest in perpetuating mainstream filmmaking sensibilities. Her fusion of documentary and narrative, as well as her inclusion of metafictional aspects should alienateRead Full Review

In about thirteen years, Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed over forty feature films before dying of a drug overdose at the age of thirty-seven. This doesn’t include his ambitious television projects which includes that gargantuan Berlin Alexanderplatz,Read Full Review

The legend of Streep having grown to such gargantuan proportions, she’s come to represent a very mainstream version of excellence. People think of her as an actress the way people think of Steven Spielberg asRead Full Review

The words “In the name of God” open the film Taste of Cherry. It’s a modest but forceful title card that appears before we see any action. Not that there is a lot of action in theRead Full Review

The human tensions in Mike Leighs films far outweigh the political ones, though that doesn’t mean that there is one without the other. His characters are so often wrecked by implacable restlessness, worn out by theRead Full Review

Masculinity and moral codes abound in the filmography of legendary director Howard Hawks, and Only Angels Have Wings has tied both tightly within the film’s plot, influencing and often encouraging the characters. The script, by veteran JulesRead Full Review

Considering the polarizing response to Jojo Rabbit less than a year ago, you’d probably think that To Be or Not to Be would be perhaps a bridge to far for audiences sensitive to dark comedy involving NazisRead Full Review

One of the many joys to be found in the films of Satyajit Ray is his ability to delve into the humanity of his characters without judgment. His style is clear and aspires toward objectivity,Read Full Review

Sergei Eisenstein’s association with evolution in film editing is well-chronicled. He and his Soviet peers established the foundations of “montage” as a technique to rouse emotion within the audience, and Battleship Potemkin is often sighted as Eisenstein’sRead Full Review

In a short amount of time, Florence Pugh has shown herself to be a multifaceted talent as an actress. In half a decade, she’s shown an incredible range from her Oscar-nominated Amy March in Little Women,Read Full Review

Camp has always been difficult to tie down. Even minds as renowned as Susan Sontag have had their studious definitions called into question by those who prefer to use the eye test – “You knowRead Full Review

It may seem strange today – it certainly surprised me – to learn that Daughters of the Dust was, in 1991, the first feature film ever directed by a black woman to receive a theatrical releaseRead Full Review

“I’m never serious about anything.” – Warren Beatty as George Roundy in Shampoo Set on the day of the 1968 Presidential Election, Shampoo gives itself the benefit of hindsight. Released in 1975, the film’s characters traverse acrossRead Full Review

The ascension of a midnight movie comes from hitting that sweet spot between bubbling self-awareness and dismissive carelessness. People will make themselves blue arguing as to whether camp can be self-aware, or to what level it shouldRead Full Review

A trademark of European cinema from the 40’s through the 60’s is its expansion of cinematic forms, but even the word ‘expansion’ often feels limiting. Through expansion, filmmakers in countries like Italy and (most famously)Read Full Review

1982’s The Draughtsman’s Contract would kick off a fruitful decade for director Peter Greenaway. The muralist turned director, renowned for his strict formalist style and provocative themes, would be among the 80’s most celebrated and most polarizingRead Full Review