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.
crime
The Best TV of 2025 You May Have Missed
These best TV shows you may have missed include a show that’s ludicrously funny, one filled with scattershot mayhem, one that’s brutal and macabre, and a surreal comedy.
Joker’s Prophecy About American Neoliberalism
Joker provides a keen understanding of the deleterious effects of American neoliberalism, which the authors dismantle in Send in the Clowns with a mordant deadpan wit.
Capitalism’s Moral Rot in Three New York-Centered Films
Capitalism’s moral rot is tracked in three NYC films: from heroin dealers who risk arrest to insider traders who risk indictment to men in masks who risk nothing at all.
‘Bugonia’ Is an Apolitical Fever Dream
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia blends modernity and absurdity to create a sharp satire with a thriller’s pacing.
Batman Returns’ Delirious Psychosexual Tension
The stitches, the shadows, the skin and the other psychosexual tension and animalistic identities of Batman Returns.
‘It Was Just an Accident’ Hides Life’s Extremes in Plain Sight
Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning revenge thriller, It Was Just an Accident, slices into memory and the desire for revenge with a double-edged knife.
‘Streets of Fire’ as Global Myth
Streets of Fire boldly rejects conventional genre boundaries, merging action, rock opera, MTV video, and neo-noir into an audacious and stylized urban myth that resonates globally.
French Political Thrillers Deliver Never-Ending Paranoia
In these two political thrillers from Henri Verneuil, neither is above faking out the viewer and both are obsessed with the architecture of the modern city.
‘Los Golfos’ Returns from Franco-Censored Purgatory
Carlos Saura’s once censored Los Golfos exists in a purgatory between the relatively plot-less freedom of some neorealist films and the excesses of delinquent youth melodrama.
‘Keep Quiet’ Pits Inner Peace Against Social Turmoil
Crime drama Keep Quiet may seem abrupt and pared-back, but there’s confidence and depth in its study of inner peace amidst social turmoil.
‘Cairo Station’ Jumbles Sex, Politics, and Noir
With bustling filming and moments of hybrid musical lyricism, the Nasser-era Cairo Station is half neorealism and half noir melodrama.