What is it about a debut film that excites me so much? There is something so profoundly fascinating about the first film of a filmmaker’s career – and we can look back at the early work of any of the great stalwarts of cinema and find clues in their debuts that would evolve into their…
Black Girl (1966)
I’ve recently decided to broaden my horizons slightly and move out of my comfort zone (even if, based on my diverse taste in a wide-range of genres, I don’t have a well-defined comfort zone). One of my resolutions was to explore some unheralded cinema, such as films made in Africa, which have remained shockingly under-represented…
You Were Never Really Here (2018)
Lynne Ramsay has made four feature-length films, each of which have been tense, gritty and relentlessly realistic views of society, with Ramsay being particularly adept at showing the most explicit and shocking version of humanity through her films. Her latest film is You Were Never Really Here, a brutal crime thriller that manages to be…
Still Walking (2008)
Recently, in celebration of his victory of winning the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, I chose to watch a film by Hirokazu Kore-eda, a filmmaker I have been very aware of but had not had the opportunity to explore for myself yet. The film I opted to watch was Still Walking (Japanese:…
While We’re Young (2014)
I have been an ardent admirer of Noah Baumbach for quite a while now. From his beautifully nostalgic portrayal of the millennial lifestyle in Frances Ha and Mistress America to his delicate and moving portraits of family in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and The Squid and the Whale, he has found his niche in…
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
I think we can all remember where we were when we watched our first John Hughes film. Whether it was The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, John Hughes was a formative force in the cinematic education of many of us today. Despite being born just outside of his glorious reign…
This Is America (2018)
I’ve reviewed roughly 550 films. I recently reviewed a television series (if you consider Twin Peaks to be a television series, but that’s not the discussion right now). However, today I am breaking a few boundaries and writing a piece on something entirely unconventional, something entirely new ground for me: a music video. Not just…
Certain Women (2016)
In a contemporary independent cinematic landscape, there are few filmmakers as consistently reliable as Kelly Reichardt, who has gone relatively underpraised throughout her career, despite the fact that she has made some astonishing films that push the boundary of independent storytelling. Films such as Meek’s Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy are exceptional examples of minimalist…
Last Tango in Paris (1973)
I may be able to understand the secrets of the universe, but… I’ll never understand the truth about you. Never. These haunting lines, spoken by Marlon Brando, ring out like a cacophony of unconventional truthfulness in Last Tango in Paris, a film that left me almost entirely speechless, unable to articulate my thoughts precisely (this…
The Visitor (2008)
Last weekend, I watched and reviewed Spike Lee’s 21st-century crime masterpiece, 25th Hour, a film that connected the post-tragedy New York City to the rehabilitation of a prisoner as he ponders his life over the course of his final twenty-four hours of freedom. Purely by chance, I watched a film that may be entirely different…
The Postmodern Pelican 