Spotlight
Under the Influence
In this ongoing series of videos, contemporary filmmakers talk to us about the movies that have had a lasting impact on their work.
The Current
A magazine of film culture past and present, with new articles, interviews, and videos published every day
The Movie Miranda July Knows by Heart
When the Kajillionaire director saw sex, lies, and videotape as a teenager, she was transfixed by its exploration of desire mediated by technology, a theme that would later emerge in her own boundary-pushing work.
John Dwyer’s Closet Picks
The underground rock veteran (and founding member of the band Osees, a.k.a. Thee Oh Sees or Oh Sees) stopped by our office to stock up on an eclectic mix of cinematic thrills.
Empty Theaters
The author of The Fortress of Solitude considers the meditative, “brain-rinsing” effects of the solo moviegoing experience.
Christ Stopped at Eboli: Memories of Exile
A monument of Italian literature, Carlo Levi’s novelistic memoir comes to the screen in a remarkably faithful adaptation that habituates viewers to close, attentive perception.
All in the Game: An Interactive Homage to the Samurai Genre
The designers of the highly anticipated video game Ghost of Tsushima look back on the work and research that went into translating the influence of chanbara classics into their own medium.
Laughs That Hurt: Albert Brooks’s Uncomfortable Comedies
Anxiety, panic, and chronic ambivalence course through the hilarious films of one of America’s most influential comedic voices.
Beau travail: A Cinema of Sensation
Grafted together from a wide array of sources, Claire Denis’s most acclaimed film combines cerebral rigor, sensorial intensity, and a powerful meditation on masculinity and foreignness.
Feeding the Appetites: Nan Goldin’s Movie Obsessions
In this in-depth interview, the legendary photographer and filmmaker explains how a lifetime of compulsive movie-watching has influenced her artistic practice.
The Money Pit: Uttam Kumar in The Hero
In the first of his two collaborations with Satyajit Ray, the Bengali superstar did not just rely on his image, he enriched it with a unique blend of charisma and craft.
Amy Seimetz’s Top 10
The multitalented filmmaker behind Sun Don’t Shine (now playing on the Criterion Channel) and She Dies Tomorrow shares a list of favorites that subvert narrative convention and dive into the mysteries of identity.
The Brush Behind the Film: How Painter Hélène Delmaire Created Our Portrait of a Lady on Fire Cover
The artist’s intensive collaboration with director Céline Sciamma yielded a wealth of preliminary studies that came in handy for the cover image of our edition.
Plymptopia
Childishly anarchic in worldview and distinctly analog in look, the animated films of Bill Plympton are a testament to the pleasures of painstaking craftsmanship.
