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“Janet Planet”: Melt the Icebergs
There’s some quietly ferocious, fiercely expressive dialogue in the playwright Annie Baker’s first feature, “Janet Planet,” and several moments of…
“The Bikeriders” Lends a Wild Bunch a Mythic Grandeur
Authenticity is a feeling and investigative fervor is an attitude. The Italian neorealist classics bear the marks of the journalistic…
“Shoeshine” Marked a New Era of Political Cinema
Though the Second World War continued in Europe through May, 1945, Rome was liberated from Nazi occupation in June, 1944,…
The Rediscovery of “Naked Acts” Expands Film History
Movies that rely on symbolism usually do so through conspicuous artifice, whether that of high style (Hitchcock, Hawks, Wes Anderson)…
“Flipside” Is a Treasure Trove of Music and Memory
Chris Wilcha’s new documentary, “Flipside,” is easy to summarize, but it defies summary nonetheless, because it advances by a lurching,…
Could Elaine May Finally Be Getting Her Due?
Elaine May became famous at twenty-five and rich soon thereafter, but it took her another decade to figure out what…
How Hindsight Distorts Our View of the Beatles in “Let It Be”
The catalogue of great posthumous movies, such as “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Rebel Without a Cause,” and “Amazing Grace,” also includes…
How Does “Challengers” Make a Love Triangle Feel So Empty?
All movies with complicated time schemes have the same problem to overcome: the movie’s dramatic sequences, like tiles in a…
“I Saw the TV Glow” Is a Profound Vision of the Trans Experience
The new movie by Jane Schoenbrun, “I Saw the TV Glow,” is among the most nocturnal films I’ve seen. Even…
“The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed” Is a Deceptively Plain Masterpiece
A decade ago, thinking about a pair of independent films more than a generation apart—Claudia Weill’s “Girlfriends” (1978) and Alex…