Dead Drop

Jan 10, 2020 — How many times, in cultural history, has surrealism been declared out for the count? For the German philosopher Walter Benjamin, writing in 1929, surveying the surrealist literature of André Breton, Robert Desnos, and Louis Aragon, the glory days of this...

Nov 12, 2019 — The Daytrippers came out in theaters in 1997, back when I was in graduate school at NYU. That was a year when you could rent videotapes everywhere—at Blockbuster, but also at a Laundromat or a bodega. There were still phone booths...

Oct 10, 2019 — Dark Passages Where the sea and the city meet, they corrupt each other. Around docks, the ocean’s margins are scummy with oil and floating garbage; the water corrodes hulls, encrusts pilings, and slimes steps. Ports cater to men who come...

Sep 10, 2019 — The comedic murder mystery in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie has scored an outstanding round of early reviews.

Sep 4, 2019 — The late actor became an icon of his generation with this moody, brilliant non-performance, informed by his intimate knowledge of chaos and death.

Aug 20, 2019 — With The Hired Hand, Fonda created a classic of the new era ushered in by Easy Rider.

Jul 11, 2019 — The great Italian actress worked with Truffaut, Fellini, Antonioni, Losey, Dassin, Bava, and Robert Wise.

Jun 3, 2019 — Wisdom from the Pope of Trash, the making of Raging Bull and The Wild Bunch, and studies of Tarkovsky and the Berlin School all figure in this month’s round.

Apr 30, 2019 — With its fresh vision, and yes, box office success, Boyz n the Hood (1991) made Singleton a force to be reckoned with for nearly three decades.

Apr 5, 2019 — Deep dives into the work of Bob Fosse and Buster Keaton and a mash note to Aki Kaurismäki lead this week’s highlights.