The world of art has often made a point of exploring the concept referred to as a “national novel”, which is defined as a work of literature that embodies every aspect of that country, encompassing both its history and present culture, and touching on many issues that are faced by their citizens, condensing them into…
Marius and Jeannette (1997)
“This is a movie dedicated to all those common but great proletarians” These are the final words spoken by the narrator towards the end of Marius and Jeannette (French: Marius et Jeannette), director Robert Guédiguian’s gloriously triumphant ode to the unimpeachable beauty of modern romance. It is a perfect summary of the previous ninety minutes,…
The Boys in the Band (2020)
When it was announced a few years ago that Joe Mantello, an actor and director known for his electrifying stage productions, would be mounting a revival of Mart Crowley’s powerful play The Boys in the Band, the response was divisive – it’s a text that has carried great significance over the past half a century,…
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)
I’m not sure what any of us expected from Hillbilly Elegy, but if it was a good film, it seems to have been something of a tall order, and one that simply could not be met in any conceivable way by a film that seems, more than anything else, entirely unnecessary to begin with. Naturally,…
School for Scoundrels (1960)
It goes without saying that comedy is very subjective, and that what is funny for one individual may not be the same for another. As a result, a great deal of comedy tends to struggle to be carried over geographical and temporal boundaries, which often results in films that are beloved at first, but tend…
Proxima (2020)
A lot is simmering below the surface of Proxima, the daring space drama (which doesn’t actually show the proverbial “final frontier” at all, one of several fascinating directorial decisions made in the creation of this film) from Alice Winocour, who plucks a number of timely, incredibly relevant themes and throws them together into what can…
Elmer Gantry (1960)
When composing the canon of great American films, there is one in particular that occupies a very strange space – Elmer Gantry is a film mostly remembered for the dynamic performance given by Burt Lancaster, who was already one of the industry’s most interesting leading actors, and very little else. Richard Brooks was a filmmaker…
In the Dusk (2020)
Artistically, war comes in many different forms. There are the rousing battlefield films that show the harrowing conditions of warfare, the intimate chamber dramas that attempt to show the machinations that go into some of history’s most definitive moments, and the general psychological thriller that situates itself on the outskirts of the most prominent moments,…
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
Where does one start when talking about Luchino Visconti? A filmmaker who consistently challenges conventions, while becoming quite a formidable creative force in his own right, his career was populated by a wide array of films occurring across multiple genres, each one a masterpiece that challenged certain conventions while immediately proving themselves to be worthwhile…
Monsoon (2020)
When thinking back on his childhood, Kit (Henry Golding) doesn’t remember much, with his younger years in Vietnam being nothing but a blur, since his family fled the country when he was barely six years old, taking him to the United Kingdom, where he spent most of his life. Three decades later, Kit finally has…
The Postmodern Pelican 