The Current
A magazine of film culture past and present, with new articles, interviews, and videos published every day
Recent Articles
When Actors Do Double Duty
From Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers to Kazuo Hasegawa in An Actor’s Revenge, performers who multitask as several characters in a single film tap into the essential uncanniness of cinema itself.
Moscow on the Hudson
World War II tears a young couple apart in the Palme d’Or–winning drama The Cranes Are Flying, playing on Sunday at Bard College.
Paradise Found: Il Cinema Ritrovato
An annual destination for cinephiles from around the world, this film festival in Bologna is a magical place to discover the richness of cinema’s past.
Claire Denis’s Closet Picks
The great French director talks about her formative experiences with the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer and gets wistful about Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika.
The Sprightly Civil Servant: Norman McLaren at the National Film Board of Canada
Can creative genius flourish on the federal dime? Animator Norman McLaren’s remarkably innovative, government-funded films suggest it can.
Mira Nair’s Guide to the Collection
The writer-director of Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay! takes us through an eclectic mix of favorite films, including works by Jane Campion, Lars von Trier, and Satyajit Ray.
A Newly Restored Bergman Obscurity in Vancouver
The Swedish master finds desire and despair in the fashion world in a key transitional film from 1955.
An Intense Curiosity: Chloé Zhao on The New World
The award-winning director of The Rider explores the deep respect for nature and subjective human experience in Terrence Malick’s masterful vision of early seventeenth-century America.
Through Her Eyes: A Conversation with Babette Mangolte
At a time when women were rarely seen behind the camera, Babette Mangolte created a bold, distinctive aesthetic with a mix of slow rhythms and hauntingly static compositions.
An Experiment in Handheld CinemaScope
“Master of light” Robby Müller, who passed away earlier this month, delivered some of his most daringly stylized work in Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves.
Video
Spotlight
Keeping Score
From melodic theme music to boundary-pushing soundscapes, the wide-ranging art of film scoring takes the spotlight in this selection of articles and videos.
