‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ Makes Tragedy Tawdry
Lee Daniels’ melodramatic mess, ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’, squanders every chance to turn Holiday from a victim into a person.
Film
‘Claudine’ Is a Sweetly Embroidered Drama of Class Struggle
John Berry's Claudine is a compelling watch featuring performances that leave impressions upon the heart long after the film is over.
‘Minding the Gap’ Skateboarding Documentary Mines Surviving Domestic Violence
For those who proclaim that people are solely responsible for their life's choices, Bing Liu's, Minding the Gap shows what costs come with attempting to break cycles of violence, poverty, and addiction.
Chabrol Dives into Time-Warping Fantasy with ‘Alice ou la dernière fugue’
Using Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as the basis for his film, Claude Chabrol essays a woman's metaphysical journey into fear in his fantasy-themed Alice ou la dernière fugue.
‘Finding Yingying’ Raises the Bar on True Crime Films
First-time director Jiayan "Jenny" Shi highlights the reverberating effects of trauma with breathtaking tact in Finding Yingying.
#IFFR2021: Director Tagnati on ‘I Comete: A Corsican Summer’
With his debut feature I Comete: A Corsican Summer at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Director Pascal Tagnati reflects on the filmmaking process.
Sundance 2021: Poonpiriya’s ‘One for the Road’ Explores Brotherhood
Baz Poonpiriya's broken misfits in One for the Road are raw products of loneliness.
Time-Transcending Paranoia in ‘The Parallax View’
Fear of unseen powers causing public tragedies was so widespread in 1974 America that filmmakers knew audiences would believe the corporate murder machine of The Parallax View.
Danny Kaye Is the Most Motley Fool Ever in ‘The Court Jester’
Danny Kaye was as equally adept with vine-swinging, dancing, and hypnotizing as he was with tongue-twisting patter, as seen in the 1956 comedy, The Court Jester.
Sundance 2021: Edgar Wright’s Quirky ‘The Sparks Brothers’
Using collage, clay animation, and 2D anime-style art with traditional archival footage and modern black-and-white interviews, Edgar Wright tries to capture the Sparks as a "Hollywood" band with an obsession for European visual art.