Riveting ‘Retrograde’ Makes Warfare in Afghanistan Personal
Matthew Heineman’s dizzying documentary, Retrograde, sees the fall of Afghanistan through the eyes of one beleaguered Afghan general.
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti is an habitual scrivener on books and film for the lucky readers of PopMatters, Film Journal International, Film Racket, and Publishers Weekly, and has also been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Millions, The Barnes and Noble Review, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and New York Film Critics Online. His books include Filmology: A Movie-a-Day Guide to the Movies You Need to Know, Eyes Wide Open 2013: The Year's 25 Greatest Movies (and the 5 Worst), and The Sci-Fi Movie Guide: The Universe of Film from 'Alien' to 'Zardoz'. His writings can be found here.
The Elites Who Are Just So Over Humanity
The depth of anti-humanist sentiment related by Douglas Rushkoff in his latest book, Survival of the Richest, is harrowing and illuminating.
Punk Rock Documentary ‘Nightclubbing’ Gives Max’s Kansas City Its Due
Danny Garcia’s chaotic, discursive documentary Nightclubbing, argues that Max’s Kansas City, not CBGB’s, was the true font of American punk rock.
‘The Forgiven’ Looks Starkly at Cynicism and World-Weary Outrage
What happens in the stories within The Forgiven is predictable and yet compelling, due largely to the stark dialogue and McDonagh’s anti-romantic viewpoint.
The High Price of Gay Life in Washington, D.C.
James Kirchick’s riveting history of gay life in Washington, D.C. is a Cold War epic of hypocrisy, surveillance, and survival.
The “Who” in ‘Who Killed Vincent Chin?’ Is a Suggestive Misdirect
The piercing documentary ‘Who Killed Vincent Chin?’, airing on PBS on 20 June, shows how economic anxiety and racial demagoguery make a toxic brew.
Tribeca Film Festival: ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ Goes All in on the Manic Pixie Dream Boy
Cooper Raiff’s romantic comedy about a likeable slacker falling for an older woman, Cha Cha Real Smooth, has a bullying need to be liked.
‘The Northman’ Is Operatic But Viciously Anti-Romantic
Robert Eggers’ witchy, weird, and pitilessly violent Viking revenge saga, The Northman, features operatic scope and magical imagery that will burn into your retinas.
On Ireland’s Painful Emergence into the Modern World
Fintan O’Toole’s lucid history of Ireland, We Don’t Know Ourselves, is a vivid telling of how his country’s culture of silence and repression was broken open.
Mariama Diallo’s Horror Film ‘Master’ Blends Race-Conscious Academic Satire and Ghost Story
The subtle microaggressions in Mariama Diallo’s Master say far more about the sorry-not-sorry state of racial consciousness in America than the witch does.
Kogonada’s Sci-Fi Film ‘After Yang’ Has a Sharpened Point of View
Kogonada’s seemingly gentle sci-fi film After Yang carries an undercurrent of anger toward anthropocentric arrogance.
‘How Civil Wars Start’ Interrogates American Exceptionalism
The same forces that tore apart societies from Yugoslavia to Iraq, Columbia, Northern Ireland, and the West Bank are fully present in the US, warns How Civil Wars Start.
