Silent Film’s Raymond Griffith Pulled Tricksters Out of Top Hats
In Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian, the two clever silent films Paths to Paradise and You’d Be Surprised, make a working-class hero out of a toff in a top hat.
Film
Andrea Pallaoro’s Trans Drama ‘Monica’ Has a Painter’s Touch
Andrea Pallaoro’s artful drama, Monica, is a reflection on how pain evolves, from the original words or actions to the silence and distance that hurts us more.
‘Heaven Stood Still: The Incarnations of Willy DeVille’
While Europe embraced Willy Deville’s Bohemian multi-genre artistry, most US listeners remained ignorant of his music. The documentary Heaven Stood Still was made, in part, to rectify that.
Old-Fashioned Modernisation in Pakistani-Dubai Drama ‘Pinky Memsaab’
Pakistani-Dubai drama Pinky Memsaab bridges the divide between the humble and the haughty and the traditional and the modern with simple lessons of respect.
Dare to Compare Hideo Gosha’s ‘Violent Streets’ with Today’s Spandex Superheroes and John Wick
The Japanese-ness of the yakuza cycle in films like Violent Streets connects with the era’s newly violent, high-octane gangster movies functioning as national parables.
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Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ Film Series Keeps Chipping Away at Racism
Small Axe fuses the political and poetic and reminds that oppression does not define communities; it is one element of a much richer cultural tapestry and emotional terrain.
Melodrama and Mystification from ‘Moment to Moment’
Made as a lush vehicle for Jean Seberg, Moment to Moment is an eye-catching, brain-teasing, and utterly bonkers melodrama that draws comparisons to Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
The ‘Master Gardener’ Is Another Paul Schrader Bad Guy with a Gun and a Past
In Master Gardener, Paul Schrader uses the curiously arch story of an ex-White Power killer hiding out as a gardener to deliver another story of a lonely avenger seeking absolution through violence.
Hideo Gosha’s ‘Samurai Wolf’ Is a Man of His Sword
Hideo Gosha’s Samurai Wolf films contain scenes and elements that feel like nods to Akira Kurosawa.
Enigmatic and Emotional ‘Three Colors’ Is a Hypnotic Triptych of Polish Cinema
Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors – Blue, White, and Red – are grand reminders of the little motions that gather slowly but surely, to deliver the quick, sudden turns that give even the most indolent life meaning.
Love Tragic and Stars’ Magic in Crime Drama ‘Martin Roumagnac’
Despite starring Marlene Dietrich and Jean Gabin, Georges Lacombe’s 1946 crime drama, Martin Roumagnac isn’t famous or appreciated as it should be.
The Broken Hearts Gallery: Love, Tech, and the Death of the Romcom
Romcom The Broken Hearts Gallery is aware that we are chained to technology, yet it shrouds social media in the kind of movie magic that can revive the ailing genre.
