“I was with the woman of my life.” Cold War is a film from another time. It exists to be projected in a dark room, where people lean forward in rapt attention, perhaps smoking a cigarette or sipping on a drink. Afterward, they will go to a local bar, or walk beside the sienne, and…
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The following contains spoilers for Park Chan-wook’s 2003 film, Oldboy. Proceed with caution. Oh Dae-su has a story to tell. Dangling a man by his tie over the side of a building, a strange man with a stranger haircut sees this as the best time of any to start opening up. He wants his newfound companion to…
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There is a certain mythos behind the act of creation. It can be regarded as a kind of transcendence, as if godly, going places unimaginable to the average human. There are, of course, acts of creation happening on a daily basis from extremely regular people. We create sentences with a breath, we grow plants, we…
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Here is something I know to be true: I love American Beauty. It’s a small thing to say, but somehow, it feels huge. Because Sam Mendes’ 1999 success has had a rough go of things as of late. To profess love, in 2019, could be considered a controversial statement. It is, at the very least,…
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In Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami Malek does a whole lot to look like Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. He dons dentures, wears wigs, lip syncs, and moves his body in studied calculation. It is like watching a wax figurine come to life. Fascinating maybe, but only for a moment. Since when is this what denotes a good…
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My picks of the litter in a particularly great year in film. 18. The Tale Jennifer Fox’s cinematic memoir is an unflinching investigation into the sexual abuse she endured as a child and later re-worked in her memory, until a childhood story resurfaced, throwing everything back into the light. A typically excellent Jennifer Dern acts…
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For most movie fans, the Oscars hold a certain masochistic fun. They are a large, diverse voting body that often represents both the best and worst aspects of the film community. (This is the same organization that gave Moonlight Best Picture in 2016, but years prior chose to award Crash over Brokeback Mountain.) It is…
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