Fiction

Dec 30, 2008 — It’s the last day of 2008, and all the balloting is finally done. Here’s a rundown of how Criterion rated in the best DVDs of the year polls: The Sight & Sound list included Criterion’s “gripping morality tale” Death of...

Jan 4, 1988 — The Secret Agent (1936) came to life in the prime of Alfred Hitchcock’s British period. It arrived between the popular triumph of The 39 Steps and the box-office rejection of Sabotage, a more daringly downbeat work. Secret Agent partakes of...

The director of Cowboy Bebop shares his love for The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and how John Cassavetes blurred the line between fictional drama and realism, talks about what makes Branded to Kill a mesmerizing masterpiece, and finds inspiration...

Apr 19, 2023 — Paul Thomas Anderson, Maria Schneider, and fictional figures—Blanche DuBois and Juliet Capulet—figure in this month’s roundup.

Jul 31, 2020 — This week we’re reading about Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Luc Godard, Luchino Visconti, Amy Seimetz, and the cinematic allure of fictional cults.

Writer-director Michael Lennick’s Discovery Channel series Rocket Science explores the real history of humanity’s first steps into space though he’s very fond of most of the fictional versions too. Find out more at foolishearthling.com.

Sep 8, 2026 — Riding raves for Lee and his four leads, the film heads next to Toronto and New York.

Aug 7, 2026 — This week: Conversations with Jane Schoenbrun, Ngozi Onwurah, and Kent Jones and writing on Jean Epstein and Stanley Kwan.

Aug 7, 2026 — The members of this influential leftist collective created a formally adventurous body of work that examined the nation’s tumultuous history through a postcolonial lens.

Jul 30, 2026 — Gene Tierney, Robert Kramer, Chantal Akerman, and Alfred Hitchcock are among the many personalities featured this month.