Variation

May 26, 2003 — Embracing the world while pretending to sneer at it, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s crime film is rich, deep, and wily.

Nov 13, 2000 — Featuring what may be the only 1950s monster that could not be destroyed, this cult classic warns parents to listen to their kids because the world they understood and controlled is over.

Nov 1, 1999 — The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a profoundly beguiling movie about sex, love, and rebellion.

Jul 21, 1998 — Samurai III, Duel at Ganryu Island, is the last and best part of Hiroshi Inagaki’s Trilogy. In contrast to the earlier, more action-oriented Samurai I and II, this final section shows its hero Musashi (Toshiro Mifune) struggling with questions as...

Oct 31, 1988 — The wittiest, most sophisticated thriller ever made, North by Northwest is one of the crowning achievements in the careers of its director, Alfred Hitchcock, and its star, Cary Grant. Released in 1959 to both critical and public acclaim, this classic...

Jul 25, 2023 — The protagonists in Budd Boetticher’s five classic Columbia westerns are paired with opponents who, venal though they may be, almost always have their reasons.

Feb 3, 2015 — Jean-Luc Godard returned to the character-driven intensity of his earlier films with this satirical but serious-minded take on men, women, and money.

Born in 1981, Juliet Jacques is a writer and filmmaker based in London. She has published four books, including Trans: A Memoir (2015) and a short story collection, Variations (2021). Her fiction, journalism, and essays have appeared in numerous publications,...

Sheila O’Malley writes weekly film reviews for RogerEbert.com, and has also written for Liberties Journal, Film Comment, and the New York Times, among other outlets. In 2025, she wrote The Art and Making of “Frankenstein,” the official companion book to...

Jul 16, 2026 — Marking the publication of Rohmer’s only novel, Élisabeth, the Six Moral Tales cycle is revived in four U.S. cities.