James Clavell’s Concerns About Moral Virtue
While James Clavell’s Orientalism and sexual politics are dated, his books are sympathetic toward homosexuality and gender; his concerns about moral virtue lie elsewhere.
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‘Artificial’ Is a Horror Film of Our Horrific Times
Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival, uncovers the rot at the heart of the American dream with help from a diabolical Andrew Garfield.
Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ Presses the Limits of Knowledge
If the detective story assumes that exposure brings understanding, and understanding brings justice, it mirrors the liberal belief in open information and discourse. In Chinatown, however, the truth is often already visible.
‘Tuner’ Recalibrates the Disability Narrative
Tuner illustrates a critical paradox within the disability narrative: the condition of being inherently valuable yet socially devalued.
Narcisa’s Will and the Fear of Becoming One’s Mother
Between grief and memory, the recent film Narcisa’s Will finds horror in what we inherit from our parents and how we use that inheritance.
Showbiz Drama ‘Primetime’ Peers into the Media’s Twisted Minds
Venice Film Festival’s steamiest premiere, Primetime, does a filthy dive into the twisted minds of American reality television’s apex predators.
Danny Boyle’s ‘Ink’ Gets Despicability Fabulously
Danny Boyle’s Ink shows how both sides of the sordid media war between Rupert Murdoch and Larry Lamb are despicable.
Claude Sautet Forged an Admirable Path in Character-Study Drama
Many of Claude Sautet’s films were pointed comments on how even the most assured families can be the victims of upheaval when cultural codes are challenged.
Every Christopher Nolan Film Ranked from ‘Batman’ to ‘The Odyssey’
Christopher Nolan, today’s most ambitious director, lets us have our cake and eat it too by mixing avant-garde daring and maximalist spectacle.
‘House of Cards’ Is a Faux-Hitchcock Thriller
House of Cards looks like a million francs in Techniscope and Technicolor and plays like a picture Hitchcock forgot to make.
Chile Under Pinochet: A Film Chronology of Dictatorship and Memory
From the 1973 coup to its afterlives in national memory, these films trace violence, silence, resistance, and the ways Chile continues to confront Pinochet’s violent legacy.
‘Esta Isla’ (‘This Island’) Contains Multitudes
From its opening title, Esta Isla (This Island) embraces the complexity and contradictions of Fredric Jameson’s formulation of “third-world” society and Puerto Rico’s unique situation.