Influenced by Dreyer, Boleslawski’s cinematic version of Victor Hugo’s classic possesses both whole-hearted sincerity and unabashed Christianity. The lost life of the justifiably bitter and disillusioned Jean Valjean (Frederic March) is transformed by the mercy offered him by Bishop Myriel (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). Meanwhile, Javert Read More …
Wong Kar Wai has observed that critics tend to read the title of this movie ironically, but that for him there is no irony. No irony in the title, perhaps, but Happy Together is deeply concerned with the fundamental irony that mercy all too often can tip Read More …
“Make visible what, without you, might never have been seen.” The cinema of Robert Bresson is difficult to crystallize, but the great director himself came close with these words. The rhythm of a Bresson film has one purpose—to uncover, layer by layer, the effervescent connections Read More …
The Ox-Bow Incident is a movie about mercy refused. The citizens of Ox-Bow are hardened men and women, reacting in fear against an outside terror that binds them together into an unthinking mass and blinds them to the real humanity of their victims. Yet throughout the Read More …
Joel Coen’s film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s 17th-century play retains the source material’s themes of the corruptive powers of greed, treachery, and unfaithfulness. It is a cautionary tale of the dangers that may come from seemingly promising whispers of glory – falsities that are revealed Read More …
When two brothers are invited by a stranger—apparently their father—on a fishing trip, the boys’ journey becomes an epic struggle charged with resentment, distrust, and longing. Is this a rite of passage into manhood, or are they being led to their deaths? Zvyagintsev’s movie might Read More …
Tommy Lee Jones has proved to be a director of remarkable depth, and this film is no exception. Three Burials depicts a violent journey centered around the question “can a person be beyond redemption?” Driving the tension is one man’s determination to bring his friend Read More …
A fantastic storybook odyssey ranging from the sea floor to the citadel of the moon, The Thief of Bagdad weaves Arabian Nights magic around the hero’s road to redemption. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. plays a carefree street thief, a cheerful infidel who believes only in taking Read More …
While visiting Naples to close the estate of a deceased relative, two middle-aged sophisticates are forced to acknowledge the tenuous condition of their marriage. Roberto Rossellini moved his camera outside of the studio and into natural light, using documentary techniques to turn the rubble-strewn, post-war Read More …
Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s first feature-length film was conceived as a cinematic version of the Surrealist’s game, Exquisite Corpse, in which a work of literature or painting would be assembled from the efforts of several artists, each working independently but inspired by the others. Mysterious Object at Read More …