The Assistant

Mar 17, 2008 — During the Second World War, when Hiroshi Teshigahara was a schoolboy, Japan’s cities—above all his hometown, Tokyo—were mercilessly firebombed. He, and his future associates in countless artistic undertakings, returned to a landscape of bleak ruins. The adolescent Hiroshi was particularly...

Dec 9, 2009 — Not that he himself wanted to be remembered. Rather, he wanted his work to be remembered. He once wrote: “Take ‘myself,’ subtract ‘movies,’ and the result is ‘zero.’” It was as though he thought he did not exist except through...

Jul 17, 2020 — Studio Ghibli for the kids, Bergman and Pasolini for the grownups, and more highlights from the week that was.

Oct 7, 2019 — Critics respond to the New York Film Festival’s selection of new moving image art.

Mar 11, 2002 — This compendium of visual delights displays director Federico Fellini’s team of performers, writers, and designers at full and exhilarating stretch.

Nov 21, 2008 — Author, actor, and historian Ricky Jay first worked with director David Mamet on House of Games. They have since collaborated often, including on seven films, the TV show The Unit, the one-man Broadway show Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants,...

Apr 25, 2011 — In 1981, the legendary critic went all out for Blow Out, which she thought was De Palma's most mature work to date.

May 31, 1990 — Isabelle Huppert shot from minor actress to full-fledged French star with a mesmerizing performance as, ironically, a young woman who is incapable of escaping anonymity. In Swiss director Claude Goretta’s elegant, beautifully observed tragedy/character study, Huppert is “Pomme,” a lovely,...

The legendary auteur returns to the Criterion Closet, where he selects new editions of favorite films like Down by Law and Wanda, talks about Kurosawa’s genius for recreating weather on-screen, and shouts out his former assistant director Claire Denis.

Michał Oleszczyk is an assistant professor of film at University of Warsaw, as well as the former artistic director of Gdynia Film Festival. He has written on film for Cineaste, RogerEbert.com, and other outlets. He has coedited a monograph on...