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Intimacy in World Building: Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl on their Indie Sci-fi Film, 'Prospect'

Directors Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl reflect on a lack of wisdom for their practical film school with their debut feature, Prospect, and an aspiration to evade the trappings of sci-fi filmmaking.

Film

'Her Smell' Is a Rollicking Fever Dream of Abuse and Redemption

Director Alex Ross Perry, a master of acidic comedy, continues his stellar partnership with Elisabeth Moss in Her Smell, a fast-burning rock drama that takes place mostly behind-the-scenes.

Film

'One Deadly Summer' and the Boundaries of Desire and Mania

There's almost never a moment in One Deadly Summer that doesn't recall a crushing nostalgia, using tone and texture to evince a sort of empathetic longing.

Books

Faceted Depictions of War: On Jan Němec's 'Diamonds of the Night' (Démanty noci)

Are fantasies mixed up with memories in Jan Němec's film adaptation of Arnošt Lustig's autobiographical story of surviving WWII, Diamonds of the Night (Démanty noci)? Will these babes forever be in the woods?

Film

Silent Pleasures: An Engaging Guide to the 24th San Francisco Silent Film Festival, May 1st - 5th

For those who haven't lost all sense of happiness in our terrible era's fearsome lack of joy, the 24th San Francisco Silent Film Festival, May 1st-5th, has offerings that can rearrange your cinematic perceptions for life.

Film

'Pet Sematary' Is a Welcome Resurrection

Tense, unflinching, and completely self-aware, Pet Sematary veers away from its source material in satisfying ways, yet remains true to Stephen King's uncompromising vision.

Film

On Despair and the Philosophy of 'Berlin Alexanderplatz'

Franz of Berlin Alexanderplatz doesn't occupy a privileged space of sovereignty over the world. He's not the avatar for divine individuality that we so often take ourselves to be.

Film

Jordan Peele's 'Us', Postmodernism, and Free-Floating Racism

Before terrifying us, Peele overwhelms with cultural signifiers untethered from their referents in his latest, Us.

Film

Fernando Lamas Shows His 3-D Assets in Kino Lorber's 'Sangaree' and 'Jivaro'

If you care about 3-D history, or about Lamas, or about how far the '50s could push erotic buttons (or un-buttons) within family entertainment, you'll have a good time with 'Sangaree' and 'Jivaro'.

Film

'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' Amplifies What Happens to Us When We Experience Narrative Without Form

Without a set form, there can be no water-cooler talk about Bandersnatch, no collective reflection and analysis, because each viewer watched a different movie.

Film

Jordan Peele’s 'Us' Is a Conceptually Dense Study in Uncanny Horror

The budding auteur's follow up to Get Out, Us, is murkier than its predecessor but features a treasure trove of potent references to keep its ambitious premise afloat.

Film

'Social Animals' Focuses on the Highs and Lows of Instagram-Famous Teens

To say young people's identities are tied up in social media would be a failure to recognize that the digital is now intrinsically part of the real, as evidenced in the documentary, Social Animals.

Film

The Past You Can't Escape: Strained Camaraderie in Elaine May's 'Mikey and Nicky'

Childhood friends are tricky. They're the friends you leave behind but can never completely escape. Elaine May conveys this with disruptive technique in Mikey and Nicky.

Film

'Thor: The Dark World' Comes Close to Being a Viable Story

In Thor: The Dark World there's a dangerous villain, a universe-ending threat, and a star-crossed romance -- but none of it makes sense.

Film

Racist Violence Is a Family Thing in 'Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?'

Travis Wilkerson's essay film, Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? is stubbornly inward-looking, especially considering its subject matter of white on black violence in America.

Film

A Lucid Dream: Interview with 'Untogether' Director Emma Forrest

Emma Forrest reflects on a plot similarity to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, her love of the absence of narrative impetus in the cinema of Jim Jarmusch, and the joy of filming Jemima Kirke's face.

Film

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