Tells the stories that need to be told Storytelling plays a crucial role in Transit, a film about displacement during wartime, directed by Christian Petzold and adapted from Anna Segher’s novel. There’s a scene in which Georg (Franz Rogowski), a…
The most intense bonds are often the most unstable The best movies tell only the stories they need to tell, with only the resources they need. Directed by Debra Granik, Leave No Trace is perfectly minimal. Based on Peter Rock’s…
Film Review: ‘Mary Shelley’ Recalls with earnestness and urgency the fascinating life of a towering figure Writer of the most influential science fiction novel of all time, Mary Wollstencraft Godwin Shelley lived a torrid life. Straddling poverty, she shacked up…
Celebrates the universal spirit of rebellion Berlin, 1956, and the wall is not yet built. People from the Soviet-controlled East can take a train to the Democratic West, but they need identification papers and a good, temporary reason for doing…
A promising director’s most accomplished work yet Playing at this year’s American Essentials Film Festival, Lynn Shelton latest, Outside In, is easily her most accomplished work yet. She applies the improvised, almost dogme-like Mumblecore approach, headed by this film’s producers…
Sometimes the most modest films deserve the biggest screens As production companies continue to balk at theatrically releasing their movies, streaming behemoth Netflix snaps up the most interesting and daring contemporary movies. On the one hand, smaller, more challenging movies…
France’s most controversial director delivers one of its most beautiful films in years. Introducing the film, the director of the 2018 Alliance Française French Film Festival slipped in a cautionary adjective, referring to Albert Dupontel as one of France’s most…
Familiar beats in this coming of age tale feel fresh under Gerwig’s camera eye. Greta Gerwig is one of those artists who you can’t help but notice. If it isn’t a film about her or her character, she’s still probably…
Lost Gully Road In the Q&A following her film, director Donna McRae explained that she shot Lost Gully Road in the Dandenong Ranges. These isolated, lushly green hills that appear frozen in time are a perfect setting for films. McRae…
Jasmine Jakupi and Addison Heath understand why audiences endure great horror films. When I asked Jasmine Jakupi and Addison Heath, directors of The Viper’s Hex, why movie-goers love horror movies despite their intentions to scare you and make you uncomfortable,…