It’s a fascinating situation where a film is such an enormous sensation, everything related to it, whether narratively or thematically, is indelibly associated with that particular work. This is most notable when it comes to historical dramas, whereby true events serve as the foundation for some compelling tales. In the case of Moulin Rouge, it’s…

While he was a highly prolific director, one can separate Vincente Minnelli’s work into some major groups, classifying nearly all of his efforts under one of the few categories in which he mostly thrived. Some of his most cherished work falls under the grouping of his melodramas, with many of the films that made him…

Through her capacity as one of the film industry’s preeminent artistic revolutionaries, Agnès Varda introduced many distinct ideas into the global film culture, among them was the concept of cinécriture (“film writing”), perhaps her most important idea, since it is the one factor that not only bound her films together under a single artistic theory,…

One needs to wonder whether, when they were conceiving of the proverbial American Dream in the early 20th century, whether the collective of writers and intellectuals ever considered that the most poignant and effective demonstration of their ideas would come from a film made by a transgender immigrant from the Filipinos. Regardless of whether this…

In the canon of great filmmakers, one who is rarely ever mentioned outside of a dedicated, small group of devotees, is the wonderful Delbert Mann. The main reason why he has resided in relative obscurity, despite demonstrating remarkable longevity in the industry, as well as collecting an impressive array of collaborators throughout the years, is…

One of the great mysteries of cinema has always been how Ingmar Bergman was capable of being so prolific, often producing at least one film a year during his peak, but yet managed to make nearly every one of them a profound and insightful work that looks deep into one aspect of the human condition….

It’s difficult to imagine a time in which Xavier Dolan wasn’t an omnipotent presence in the contemporary arthouse. A filmmaker who has shown the ability to be both prolific and an exceptional craftsman, Dolan as become a staple of many conversations as to the current generation of filmmakers. However, there was a time in which…

The World of Apu (অপুর সংসার)is less of a film, and more of the end of a journey – and as we can all undeniably attest, sometimes the destination isn’t the part we look forward to, but the methods of getting there. The concluding chapter in Satyajit Ray’s masterful The Apu Trilogy is quite simply…

The second film in a trilogy is in a strange position, particularly when we’re considering a series of films that has been intentionally designed to be told over multiple entries (rather than the tendency for the industry to try and capitalize on major successes by commissioning sequels after the fact). In many ways, the film…

In the tranquil parks and plazas of Seoul reside a small group of elderly women who spend their days patiently waiting to sell bottles of Bacchus-F, a popular energy drink, to a variety of men who come their way. In reality, these beverages serve to be a signal that these women are actually prostitutes who…