On Film

Did You See This?

Following a briefing on the crisis, we turn to a few items that might help us take our minds off it.

A war film that emphasizes personal drama over public platitude, this masterpiece by Mikhail Kalatozov features the vitality and freewheeling cinematic experimentation characteristic of post-Stalin cinema.

The director of Re-Animator (1985) who founded a theater company that launched plays by David Mamet was seventy-two.

As the Austin festival announces its award winners, many are wondering whether the entire festival circuit will be going online.

In this Technicolor film noir masterpiece, Gene Tierney stars as one of cinema’s most dangerous and sympathetic femmes fatales, a woman who finds it impossible to conform to postwar gender roles.

Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson, and Natasha Lyonne have some home viewing recommendations.

The new issue features interviews with Tsai Ming-liang and Heinz Emigholz; plus the latest on the crisis.

Deep Dives

British cinema’s mad genius Ken Russell dispenses with history, chronology, genre, and taste in this wild reimagining of the great composer’s life.

Did You See This?

Also this week: Filmmaker and filmmakers make their work freely accessible, an appreciation of Barbara Hammer, and an interview with Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Of the dozens and dozens of lists of streaming recommendations, here are a few that have caught our eye.

Behind her carefully crafted bombshell persona, the great Hollywood actor found ingenious ways of signaling how aware she was of the artifice of her own image.

For one of the most provocative and eerily prescient films of his career, Spike Lee confronted the racist neo-minstrelsy that continues to pervade mass entertainment.

The economic impact of the coronavirus crisis is immediate and harsh, but the lessons to be learned have been there for the taking for decades.

This month we’re reading about Helen Scott, a liaison between Paris and Hollywood; Anna Karina’s novels; William Faulkner’s screenplays; and more.

Did You See This?

Maybe in tough times we can draw strength from our passion for great cinema.

Canceled festivals and closed movie theaters: The impact has been tough, and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (Contagion) discusses what we should be doing next.

One Scene

The director of Beasts of the Southern Wild and Wendy finds inspiration in the 1973 documentary Dry Wood, one of his first cinematic encounters with his adopted home of Louisiana.

Two series, one on each coast, and an exhibition celebrate the work of the German filmmaker and photographer.

Chronicling the trials of a door-to-door salesman in midcentury America, this incisive portrait of consumer culture revolutionized the art of documentary filmmaking.

Over five days, visiting artists from around the world will present their formally innovative work in New York.

The towering Swede left indelible impressions as a medieval knight, a few tormented artists, two emigrants, and a loving father.

Michael Almereyda, Geoff Dyer, Shirin Neshat, Peter Strickland, and Colm Tóibín dive deep into moments from the Russian master’s work that continue to haunt them.

During a fertile period in American film history, Grammy-winning icon Quincy Jones used the cinematic medium as a platform for his wide-ranging musical ambitions.

Did You See This?

This week: Kelly Reichardt chats with Bong Joon-ho and Olivier Assayas, Jia Zhangke tells the story behind his debut feature, and more.