Dumont’s signature inscrutability remains intriguing but perhaps more frivolous here; Seydoux’s inspired performance helps to ground it.
Author Archives: Kathleen Sachs
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Sacrificing story for shock and awe
In his explicitness about one thing, it seems Almodóvar is reluctant to be less explicit about the others, unwilling to sacrifice shock in support of a larger, more heartrending awe.
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Red Rocket is simple stuff about a simple man
What it dispenses in salaciousness fails to account for the lack of any meaningful undercurrent that might make the vulgarity interesting.
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The Power of Jane Campion
The Power of the Dog, Campion’s newest film in 12 years, is among the year’s best.
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The Souvenir: Part II
Writer-director Joanna Hogg’s artistic choices formulate something that isn’t easily explained and is fathomable only in the viewing of it.
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El Planeta
Like the films of French master Philippe Garrel, conceptual artist and filmmaker Amalia Ulman’s feature debut is both of its time and yet somehow not.
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Celebrate Silent Movie Day with The First Degree
Over the past year and a half, as the pandemic has dragged on and the sociopolitical landscape became ever more fraught, we’ve learned a lot about what life might be like going forward. This applies as much to moviegoing as anything else; it’s likely that masks, social distancing, and vaccination or testing requirements will become […]
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Storm Lake
Beth Levison and Jerry Risius’s profound documentary is simultaneously a love letter to and a eulogy for local news—even more than that, it’s a sincere inquiry into the meaning of community and the role played by the dissemination of information in holding together further distabled societal connections. John Cullen began publishing small-town Iowa newspaper The […]
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Anne at 13,000 Ft.
Everything’s up in the air for Anne (Deragh Campbell)—both literally, after she becomes preoccupied with skydiving following an excursion for her best friend’s bachelorette party, and figuratively, as she contends with the uncertainty of life in her late 20s. A childcare worker in Toronto who’s just moved into her own place, the 27-year-old has more […]
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The Card Counter
If guilt could be considered a prison of the mind, then it’s no wonder that the strangely penitential William Tell (Oscar Isaac) acclimated nicely to prison. Having served time for his role in torturing inmates at Abu Ghraib, he reenters society as a nomadic gambler, traveling from city to city and casino to casino, pursuing […]
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The Year of the Everlasting Storm
Taken from onscreen text in the segment made by Thai experimental filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), the title of this high-concept anthology film poetically embodies its overarching premise: each work was made during and responds to the year-plus-long COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to Weerasethakul’s contribution, it includes short films […]
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Annette remains a mystery—but it’s a mystery worth watching
The brainchild of Leos Carax and Sparks is a delirious combination of imagination and frustration.
