“What you are experiencing is just a metaphor. The emotions you are having are not your own. They are someone else’s.” Those words could be used to describe the act of watching virtually any narrative film. In this case, it’s a meta-moment belonging to the first mysterious scene of Madeline’s Madeline, the 2018 indie […]

  In 2014, Swedish director Ruben Östlund released his breakout film, Force Majeure. It explored the uncomfortable but humorous consequences of one man’s ignominious act of self-preservation after he turned tail and ran during an avalanche, leaving his wife and two children behind – alive but rattled. With his 2017 follow-up, The Square, Östlund once […]

  I Care a Lot is an enthralling comedy-tinged thriller that skillfully maintains our interest in the lives of horrible people. The lead character is alpha-female Marla Grayson, played by Rosamund Pike. At the start of the film, Marla declares in voiceover that there are two kinds of people: lions and lambs. She sees herself […]

  In a crowded nightclub that caters to young professionals, a group of guys are complaining about a female coworker when they spot a provocatively dressed, totally plastered woman sitting alone. They casually toss a few self-serving judgments back and forth, like “That is just asking for it,” and, “You’d think you’d learn by that […]

  Rewatching a film you haven’t seen in a long time can be an enlightening experience. As Joe Dante is fond of saying, “Movies don’t change. You do.” As does, of course, the world. Terry Gilliam, probably best known as the resident animator and only American in the British comedy troupe, Monty Python, released his […]

  The beginning of the New Year marks the time for resolutions, reflection, and… “Best of 2020” movie lists! One title that’s popping up a lot, even on Barak Obama’s annual roundup of personal favorites, is the Brazilian film, Bacurau. Bacurau is a unique and multifaceted work that starts off as a drama, slowly morphs […]

  The term “ammonite” refers to a group of extinct mollusks that were often protected by an outer spiral shell. Ammonite is also the title of the new film starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. Since this is the first time these two amazing actresses have shared the silver screen, it’s only natural to wonder […]

  Citizen Kane is justifiably regarded as one of the great American films. But who was the real genius behind the 1941 classic? According to David Fincher’s new film, Mank, it was not Orson Welles, but screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz. Fincher, working from a script penned by his late father and peppered with liberal doses […]

  Are we fully in control of our actions? That’s the question at the allegorical heart of Possessor, the new film from writer/director Brandon Cronenberg. Possessor is Brandon’s second film since his 2012 directorial debut, Antiviral. Despite the eight-year hiatus, his unique voice feels just as assured as his father’s, the famed Canadian horror master, […]

  Not many films are made in Serbia. Fewer still get past its border. Fortunately for fans of world cinema, one of them, entitled The Load, gained international recognition at the 2018 Cannes film festival, and went on to win multiple nominations and awards around the globe. And now, it’s available on multiple streaming platforms. […]