The Current
A magazine of film culture past and present, with new articles, interviews, and videos published every day
Recent Articles
A Feast of Vigo, Newly Restored
The complete works of French cinema rebel Jean Vigo are coming to theaters in gorgeous new restorations.
A Touch of Class in the Comedies of Gregory La Cava
The sheer strangeness of wealth and class divisions is fodder for screwball hilarity in Gregory La Cava’s Depression-era masterpiece.
The Fab Four’s Big-Screen Debut in Santa Monica
Travel back to the height of Beatlemania and the swinging sixties with Richard Lester’s infectious rock-movie classic A Hard Day’s Night, screening this weekend at the American Cinematheque.
Hollywood’s Top Dog
One of cinema’s most charismatic canines shows off his comedic chops in Leo McCarey’s screwball masterpiece The Awful Truth.
Lucrecia Martel’s Closet Picks
The Argentine master behind such enigmatic, formally audacious films as Zama and La Ciénaga reveals her love of genre cinema.
My Man Godfrey: The Right Kind of People
Once called “the great directorial genius of Hollywood” by Carole Lombard, Gregory La Cava struck comedy gold with this mix of madcap high jinks, irresistible romance, and social commentary.
Finding the Life of the Party in Cold Water
Olivier Assayas revived the spirit of the 1970s in one of cinema’s most evocative party sequences, which serves as the centerpiece of his acclaimed 1994 film.
The Tree of Life: Let the Wind Speak
The imitation of nature becomes a devotional act in Terrence Malick’s cinema, which reaches sublime heights in this exploration of childhood, memory, and grief.
David Byrne’s Wild Texas Odyssey in Chicago
The Talking Heads front man mines the extraordinariness of ordinary American life in his surreal genre hybrid True Stories, playing at the Gene Siskel Film Center tomorrow and Tuesday.
Traveling Across the Eons in The Tree of Life
Visual-effects supervisor Dan Glass offers a glimpse into the complex process of creating the film’s majestic vision of the cosmos.
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.
