There are two ways to approach Jon Avnet’s Three Christs, a drama based on the infamous 1959-1961 psychological study at Ypsilanti State Hospital where three paranoid schizophrenics who believed thems…
The Discreet Wonder and Triumphant Majesty of Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life
In a small Austrian church hidden in the mountains, a wizened painter lifts brush to marble, restoring life and color to the frescos adorning the walls. He pauses and gazes upwards towards the gold-fr…
Movie Review: Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms is a Synonym for Pointlessness
If I had to choose one word to summarize Nadav Lapid’s French/Israeli immigrant drama Synonyms, it would be “inexplicable.” It’s a film inexplicable in its creative decisions, inexplicable in its narr…
Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is a Towering, Tiring Meditation on Fatherhood, Love, and Grief
At a Q&A following a revival of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) earlier this year in New York City, screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi explained that he saw Scorsese’s upcoming film The Irishman as the…
The Film Canon – My Fair Lady (1964)
By the mid 1960s, U.S. cinema was in crisis. Every year, more and more viewers drifted away from the silver-screened cineplexes for the comforting glow of their own living rooms. Shows like Gunsmoke, …
The Lighthouse Review: A Fatally Ambitious Shipwreck
When the lights go down and the movie starts, it’s impossible not to feel captivated by the two black bars bordering the left and right of Robert Eggers’ new film The Lighthouse. For modern viewers us…
Six Fascinating Films from the 2019 Camden International Film Festival
Nestled way up in the south of Maine, the Camden International Film Festival is galvanized by incredible programming which spotlights offbeat, unusual films. The festival is a celebration of the best …