‘I see the moon, and the moon sees me…’ The first thing we see in First Man is Neil Armstrong in the rattling interior of a test cockpit, fighting against gravity to break Earth’s atmosphere, then fighting against the push of the same atmosphere to go back Read More …
For the last decade, Hirokazu Koreeda has been world cinema’s metronome, ticking off empathetic masterpieces with virtuosity so efficiently it is perhaps too easy to take for granted. His run of eight films from 2008’s Still Walking to last year’s Shoplifters was capped with a well-deserved Palme d’Or at Read More …
Tender, empathetic, and visually rich, Chloé Zhao’s contemporary neo-Western both affirms and subverts its generic roots, deconstructing and reconstructing the masculinity, violence, and individualism of the American myth of the Cowboy. The titular rider here is Brady (Brady Jandreau), a rodeo cowboy and horse trainer Read More …
Leave No Trace is a cinematic gem that you must treat yourself to! Ben Foster stars as Will, a traumatized war veteran who is trying to live off the grid due to his lack of trust in the government. His daughter, Tom (Thomasin McKenzie), is his Read More …
The enigmatic eponymous phrase, “light from light,” is found the Nicene Creed: “God from God, light from light, true God from true God.” It’s a statement about Christology, how the Son of God is both fully human and fully divine in one person, the invisible Read More …
The Last Black Man in San Francisco invites the viewer to contemplate the painful beauty of change through its cinematography. The camera insistently pushes its lens through the windows and door frames of an old Victorian house as Jimmy, who once lived in the house with Read More …
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood had the misfortune to arrive on the heels of Morgan Neville’s underrated Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and Bryan Singer’s overrated Bohemian Rhapsody. The inevitable biopic pendulum had swung towards hagiography and appeared ready to swing back towards deconstruction. Indeed, after Neville’s Read More …
A friend once told me that in many situations, “No one wins in a divorce when kids are involved. The husband loses; the wife loses, and the children especially lose out.” I have seen first-hand the truth of that statement. As a child, I had Read More …
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, according to its opening titles, is “based on an actual lie.” Billi’s Nai Nai (grandmother) has been diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer, but the rest of Billi’s family has chosen to hide this diagnosis from Nai Nai. They tell Nai Nai Read More …
Greta Gerwig’s approach to retelling Alcott’s famous story is one that has earned her both praise and criticism. In my opinion, her nonlinear approach to the story of the four March sisters is a stroke of genius—heightening the bonds between each sister, while giving each Read More …