‘Mailin’ Is a Dark Fairy Tale of Survival
María Silvia Esteve’s Mailin drifts toward a dreamscape of surviving trauma and injustice.
Film
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about film, covering the latest as well historical topics.
The Microbudget Making of Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater’s largely ignored pre-Slacker microbudget movie was just the start of his ambitious, driven, disciplined dream come true.
‘Hamnet’, Memory and the Politics of Allegory
Zhao’s Hamnet subverts the “great man narrative” not by centering on the rising career of Shakespeare, but instead on the cost of his genius.
What ‘Bridge of Spies’ Gets Right About America
A ten-year-old Steven Spielberg movie starring Tom Hanks may seem a strange inspiration to fight anti-immigration in 2026, but that’s exactly what Bridge of Spies provides.
‘A Fox Under a Pink Moon’ Shows a Primal Method for Survival
In one of A Fox Under a Pink Moon’s sharpest insights, imagination is one of the few available means of surviving a crisis.
Jack Benny Tries to Be a Lothario in These Saucy 1930s Comedies
It’s absurd to think of Jack Benny or his characters as lotharios, but he does his best in these 1930s saucy, censor-restricted comedies.
Motel Destino’s Heat and Architecture of Desire
Karim Aïnouz’s films portray characters in states of displacement. In Motel Destino, that displacement becomes spatially literal.
How ‘Aguirre’ and ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ Defy the Wrath of the Green Inferno
Herzog’s Aguirre and Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust present the Amazon as a space of destruction, survival, and moral reckoning. Both approaches raise ethical questions.
Teuvo Tulio’s Martyrs for Love and Cinema
Finnish director Teuvo Tulio’s films go so far over the top that sometimes you wouldn’t think the actors could breathe up there.
Ichi the Killer’s Scar Couture
Ichi the Killer transcends gangster archetypes, becoming a model of how agony can be elevated to art and self-destruction a powerful form of self-expression.
‘Sun Ra: Do the Impossible’ Achieves the Seemingly Impossible
In its gorgeous embroidery of color, sound, and thoughtful reflection, Sun Ra documentary Do the Impossible achieves the seemingly impossible.
‘Josephine’ Crawls Under Your Skin and Stays
With crime drama Josephine, Beth de Araújo has crafted a film that first and foremost doesn’t need to be reckoned with so much as sat with.