One of the most pernicious tendencies in the way we talk about cinema is to reduce films to quantifiable objects—things that can be assessed in terms of how much or little goes on in them. It’s the kind of approach that says a lot less about the movies themselves than it does about our dispiritingly […]
The post Cannes Review: Double Freedom Is an Entrancing Homecoming of Sorts for Lisandro Alonso first appeared on The Film Stage.
In Ben’Imana, the perpetrators of a genocide are being put on public trial, but it just as often feels like the families of their victims are being forced to plead their case. The first Rwandan film to premiere in Cannes’ official selection is set in 2012, a generation removed from the 1994 atrocities in which […]
The post Cannes Review: Ben’Imana Is a Powerful Drama About Lingering Anguish first appeared on The Film Stage.
A (lonely) man meets a (beautiful) woman who would go on to change his life––a tale as old as time. Transformations, physical or psychological, are part and parcel of storytelling, even if the heteronormative reality of such an encounter can be considered anecdotal. While one might scoff at meet-cutes and conventional romcom plot points, The […]
The post Cannes Review: The Unknown Stumbles on Its Own Gender Binarisms first appeared on The Film Stage.
Criterion’s summer is more or less complete. As June and July prove fine months, August does not buck any trend: they’ve announced today a 4K release of Todd Haynes’ Safe (complete with audio commentary by Haynes, Julianne Moore, and producer Christine Vachon and Haynes’ little-seen 1978 short The Suicide) and, fresh off the Cannes premiere […]
The post The Criterion Collection’s August Lineup Includes James Gray, Todd Haynes, and More first appeared on The Film Stage.
James Gray had left the comfort zone of the native New York he chronicled over the first two decades of his career, sending Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, and Tom Holland into the Amazon jungle for The Lost City of Z and launching Brad Pitt into space with Ad Astra. With his previous feature, Armageddon Time, […]
The post Cannes Review: James Gray’s Paper Tiger Is a Masterfully Measured, Quintessentially Subtle New York Tale first appeared on The Film Stage.
A full decade since The Neon Demon—with mega-length streaming projects Too Old to Die Young and Copenhagen Cowboy perhaps comprising a separate, wholly worthwhile career—Nicolas Winding Refn has returned to feature filmmaking. From the first look, it seems little, thankfully, has changed. Ahead of Her Private Hell‘s Cannes debut today, the first teaser (featuring Sophie […]
The post Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton Lead First Teaser for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell first appeared on The Film Stage.
It’s never night in Hope Harbor. At least so long as we’re there. The eschatological events of writer-director Na Hong-Jin’s high-octane, highly anticipated Hope unfold over the course of one long, grueling, nonstop chase of a day for its rag-tag team of small-town South Korean cops, yokels, and hicks, an ensemble that ranges from heroic […]
The post Cannes Review: Na Hong-Jin’s Hope Is a High-Octane Creature Feature That Falls Flat first appeared on The Film Stage.
A pair of international cinema’s greatest directors have confirmed their next features. First up: while Jia Zhangke is at Cannes to premiere his new, 32-minute short Torino Shadow, he’s unveiled his next feature, following the culminating Caught by the Tides. He’ll next direct Mamma Dunhuang, which begins production this winter, Variety reports. The film “tells […]
The post Jia Zhangke, Claire Denis, and Sam Raimi Set Next Features first appeared on The Film Stage.
There’s a spot on the windswept island around which Dominga Sotomayor’s La Perra unfolds where gas bubbles up from the sea. A pipeline has burst by the shore, and fumes have gurgled out of it since time immemorial. It’s a local miracle: people come to flick their lighters and watch the flames dance on the […]
The post Cannes Review: Dominga Sotomayor’s La Perra Ditches Facile Metaphors for Allusive Mysteries first appeared on The Film Stage.
It might not have the fervent awards chatter that’s followed Sandra Hüller’s current run of form, but for the London-born actress Sophie Okonedo, 2026 is already looking like a quietly spectacular comeback year. After seeing Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s ace coming-of-age drama Mouse earn raves at the Berlinale, and just a few months shy […]
The post Cannes Review: Clarissa Provides a Formally Adventurous Showcase For Sophie Okonedo first appeared on The Film Stage.
