On Film
Kenji Misumi’s Sword Trilogy
The director of the films that launched the Zatoichi and Lone Wolf and Cub series made three virtuosic, melancholic dramas in the early 1960s.
Saint Omer: Shades of Motherhood
In her first fiction film, director Alice Diop brings the skills of observation she has learned from her documentary work to a thought-provoking exploration of race, power, and motherhood.
To Die For: You’re Not Anybody in America Unless You’re on TV
In Gus Van Sant’s wickedly funny tale of suburban depravity, Nicole Kidman plays a vacuous weather reporter whose hunger for fame anticipates our own era of digital celebrity.
Trash and Treasure at the Razzies
What makes a “bad” movie anyway? By surveying the bombs, disasters, and secret masterpieces (dis)honored at the Golden Raspberry Awards, we can learn much about American cinema’s prevailing standards of taste.
Víctor Erice’s Hauntings
Retrospectives in London and Hong Kong and a screening in Ghent are devoted to the work of the Spanish director.
Out of the Screen, Towards the Future
This week we’re revisiting two classic video essays and reading about great bio-pics, Med Hondo, and Haitian cinema.
The Long Strange Trips of Wojciech Jerzy Has
Film at Lincoln Center presents all fourteen features by the director of The Saragossa Manuscript (1964) and The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973).
Boston Underground 2024
BUFF’s twenty-fourth edition offers plenty of scares and local talent.
Melbourne Toasts Gloria Grahame
The Cinémathèque presents three double features, and all six films star “noir seductress nonpareil” Gloria Grahame.
How Dweller Charts a Path Through Black Queer Spaces
Ryan Clarke and S*an D. Henry-Smith—two curators behind New York City’s premier Black electronic music festival—talk about the films they selected for Radical Dreams, Underground Sounds, a collection now playing on the Criterion Channel.
The Runner: Cycles and Circles of Desire
One of the first postrevolutionary Iranian films screened and celebrated internationally, Amir Naderi’s autobiographical masterpiece is a lyrical exploration of childhood that showcases the director’s gift for radical simplicity.
March Books
It’s an eclectic bunch this month, featuring a new play, a ban on the color green, and Godzilla.
Living Memories
Brussels celebrates Chantal Akerman, Hirokazu Kore-eda remembers Ryuichi Sakamoto, and there are some intriguing projects in the works.
SXSW: Awards, Star Power, and Controversy
A bittersweet comedy and a documentary about a Shakespeare production in a virtual world take the top prizes.
BFI Flare Lights Up London
This year’s edition opens with Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Layla, and Elliot Page will be on hand to talk about Close to You.
Cinema Revolutionary: Fernando de Fuentes in Morelia
The subject of a revelatory retrospective at last year’s Morelia International Film Festival, this groundbreaking director ushered in Mexican cinema’s golden age with vibrant explorations of the nation’s folk traditions and revolutionary past.
First Look 2024
The thirteenth edition offers twenty features, new short films by Kevin Jerome Everson and Nathaniel Dorsky, workshops and more.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed: The Highest Stakes
In this profoundly emotional portrait of artist Nan Goldin, director Laura Poitras explores how her subject’s creative sensibility and commitment to activism spring from the same source.
Oppenheimer’s Big Night
After scoring eight nominations over more than twenty years, Christopher Nolan is finally taking home a couple of Oscars.
A Weekend with the Oscars
This week calls for notes on some of the best writing on each of the ten nominees for Best Picture.
Becoming Hou Hsiao-hsien
Though the Taiwanese director began working in commercial genres, even his earliest mainstream films contain the seeds of the inimitable style that would establish him as one of the world’s most important filmmakers.
Previewing SXSW 2024
The Austin festival presents action-heavy Headliners, creepy Midnighters, and promising Competition contenders.
Summer Strands in Bologna
Marlene Dietrich, Pietro Germi, Anatole Litvak: Il Cinema Ritrovato previews nine main programs.
Tricia Romano’s History of the Village Voice
The reviews are strong, and one excerpt focuses on the influential film pages.