† This is the Life

Jun 25, 2017 — New York. Edgar Wright Presents Heist Society is a BAMcinématek series running from Tuesday through July 23 and, over at the BAM blog, Wright’s got ultra-brief introductions to each and every one of the twenty-two films—including Walter Hill’s The Driver...

Jan 24, 2025 — We’re sampling new issues of Notebook, Senses of Cinema, and 032c and reading about Eisenstein and Charlotte Zwerin.

Feb 23, 2012 — Author John Voelker (a.k.a. Robert Traver) met musician Duke Ellington on the set of Anatomy of a Murder; he wrote this piece about the experience for the Detroit News Sunday Magazine in 1967.

Dec 15, 2017 — Unknown Pleasures, Berlin’s American Independent Film Festival programmed by Hannes Brühwiler and Andrew Grant (full disclosure: they’re friends), has announced the lineup for its ninth edition, running from January 12 through 28 at the Kino Arsenal and WOLF.Not only is...

Dec 1, 2017 — Press NotesOne of the great masters of melancholy comedy, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, returns to theaters today with The Other Side of Hope, his first film since 2011’s Le Havre. Continuing his empathetic exploration of global migration, Kaurismäki’s latest is...

Nov 16, 2023 — A new restoration of beguiling 1970 oddity opens this weekend in cities across the country.

May 30, 2023 — What makes Thelma & Louise truly a film for women, despite the fact that it was directed by a man, are its stars, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, who imbue their iconic performances with tender, unwavering specificity.

Nov 2, 2017 — Two leading figures in American independent cinema talk about the challenges of bringing their visions to life on shoestring budgets.

Jan 10, 2017 — Mass culture is the subject of both celebration and critique in our latest Short + Feature, premiering today on the Criterion Channel. This week’s program highlights two French films that satirize the ubiquity of consumerism: Jean Luc Godard’s inventively free-form...

Jan 22, 2007 — A delightfully old-fashioned morality tale, Robert Day’s low-budget space flick is far more than the standard monster fare it was initially sold as.