Schmuel (Géza Röhrig) has recently lost his beloved wife to cancer. The well-liked cantor and father of two finds his world thrown into disarray with this tragic incident, and as a result, he recedes from public view, becoming a shadow of his former self, constantly burdened with nightmares and dark thoughts about his late wife,…

Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young woman who has recently moved to New York City, finds an abandoned bag on the subway. She decides to return it to its rightful owner, who turns out to be Greta (Isabelle Huppert), a friendly French piano teacher who is very grateful to the younger woman for her act…

I first watched Network about a decade ago, when I initially sought it out after discovering that it is considered a seminal piece of New Hollywood filmmaking, and an essential example of satire. I thought it was a splendid film, but one that felt fundamentally cold and detached, and no matter how hard I tried,…

When it comes to making controversial, transgressive cinema, John Waters reigns supreme – throughout his career, especially in the earlier stages, he relished in shocking viewers and leaving the audience shocked. His films are still twisted and perverse by today’s standards, and we look at them through the rose-tinted glasses of cult nostalgia. Imagining audiences…

In 1996, Danny Boyle established himself as a filmmaker to watch with his sophomore film, the dark comedy Trainspotting, which would go on to become a cult classic, and an iconic piece of renegade filmmaking. Something about Trainspotting (both the film and the novel it is based on) just made it a sensation – whether…

Three sisters reuniting in the farmhouse that they grew up in, in their rural Mississippi community. Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart is a staple of community and amateur theatre and has been a reliable production ever since debuting decades ago, with its story of family and community resonating with audiences. It also received the…

Best F(r)iends is either one of the worst crime films ever made, or one of the most genius, self-aware comedies of the past few years. In fact, it is very possible that it is both. At this point, it isn’t necessary to venture too deeply into the folklore surrounding The Room – I have written…

I recently revisited Serial Mom for the umpteenth time, and it remains one of the most brilliant films of the 1990s. I have often mentioned how I am an ardent admirer of John Waters – despite his earlier works being grotesque, vulgar and beyond transgressive, he has always had a renegade appeal that strikes me…

England in the 18th century – an era filled to the brim with stately manors and state-like manners, enormous, overflowing dresses and an abundance of appearance-altering cosmetics, allowing people to constantly reinvent themselves every morning, especially those in the upper-class who found their homes in the drawing halls and ballrooms of the wealthiest and most…

You need to have good taste to appreciate bad taste, which is an adage oft-repeated by the great stalwart for transgressive cinema, John Waters. One of the forefathers of the movement that took audiences on repulsive journeys into some very darkly comical places was Roger Corman, who remains one of the greatest filmmakers of his…