Secret

David Ehrenstein has been writing about film since 1965, for such publications as Film Culture, Film Quarterly, Film Comment, Cahiers du cinéma, and Positif. His books include The Scorsese Picture: The Art and Life of Martin Scorsese and Open Secret:...

Apr 16, 2020 — Performances If Richard Milhous Nixon, the thirty-sixth president, continues to inspire a morbid fascination in some of us, the reasons for this extend beyond the obviously exceptional aspects of his career—his reelection in 1972, one of the largest landslide victories...

Jun 17, 2019 — Performances I can’t remember a time in my childhood when I saw a grown-up cry. It wasn’t that the elders around me were all that even-tempered; most of them were no less capable of lashing out in anger or indignation...

Feb 6, 2019 — On the Criterion edition of Secret Sunshine, Lee Chang-dong describes his creative process as one of utter despair. That should come as no surprise to anyone who knows his work. Since making his feature debut, Green Fish, in 1997 at...

Aug 24, 2011 — NOTE: The following essay contains spoilers. Not long into Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine (2007), a melodrama about suffering, salvation, and the dangerously blurred line between belief and madness, the heroine encounters the first of several challenges to her way of...

Dec 4, 2008 — With Ron Howard’s big-screen adaptation of Peter Morgan’s play Frost/Nixon opening today, the editors at New York magazine remind us that Frank Langella is hardly the first actor to get all jowly for the camera. They’ve put together a list...

Aug 19, 2026 — BAM presents visions of a few possible utopias—and plenty of dystopias.

Aug 19, 2026 — This month’s highlights include a retrospective dedicated to the always-provocative Abel Ferrara, the classic series Neon Genesis Evangelion, and a collection of high-energy tales of female rockers.

Aug 17, 2026 — Top prizes go to Florin Șerban, Hong Sangsoo, Alessandra Sanguinetti, and Beatrice Gibson.

Jul 24, 2026 — September will bring new films from Lee Chang-dong, Julia Loktev, Barbara Kopple, Mariano Llinás, and Takashi Miike.