Kumbha Mela

Oct 12, 1998 — Inspired by the stranger-than-fiction true story of identical twin gynecologists, David Cronenberg’s psychological thriller is a melancholic meditation on our very existence.

Sep 8, 1998 — In David Lean’s Summertime, in which Rossano Brazzi seduces Katharine Hepburn—an aging, repressed Ohio “working girl” on vacation in Venice—the Continental lover reached his pinnacle and approached his end. In the next decade, he would be embodied by Marcello Mastroianni,...

The actor praises the melancholy tenderness of A Canterbury Tale, shares his admiration for Derek Jarman’s creative genius, and selects favorites like Sweetie and L’humanité.

Apr 29, 2025 — A black-and-white version of Julian Schnabel’s portrait of his fellow artist and friend Jean-Michel Basquiat accentuates the film’s melancholy mood while highlighting the deep commitment of Jeffrey Wright’s performance.

Mar 27, 2024 — The director of the films that launched the Zatoichi and Lone Wolf and Cub series made three virtuosic, melancholic dramas in the early 1960s.

Oct 2, 2023 — Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Claire Foy star in a melancholic story of romance and reconciliation.

Jul 23, 2014 — Jacques Demy’s miraculous, melancholy musical is the rare film to use pastiche and artifice to go straight for the heart.

Aug 29, 2012 — With humor and melancholy, Franc Roddam’s coming-of-age drama, based on the Who’s iconic album, shows us a g-g-generation on the edge.

Christmas is not always the most wonderful time of the year. Here is the melancholy side of the holiday.

Jean Ma is the author of Melancholy Drift: Marking Time in Chinese Cinema (2010), Sounding the Modern Woman: The Songstress in Chinese Cinema (2015), and At the Edges of Sleep (forthcoming). She teaches film and media studies at Stanford University.