A film about the face as an open and accessible site of truth, leaving any attempt to conceal, deny, or disfigure the face a crime against Nature.

A film about women sharing their histories and memories.

Gene Tierney plays an icon who entrances everyone around her, but the performer’s life off-camera lends the role tragic insight that makes the film unforgettable. 

The film’s lasting effect has less to do with its narratives than the unusual, beautiful, and unforgettable cinematic language Kobayashi creates in their service.     

Its power rests not in intellectual contexts but in the emotionally draining and intense experience it creates.   

In Raise the Red Lantern, Zhang Yimou’s most widely acclaimed film, the Chinese director portrays life as a series of performative gestures under the duress of cultural tradition, prescribed gender ro...

Somewhere between Hollywood and European arthouse cinema, between the twangy sounds of Tammy Wynette and the delicate piano of Fredrick Chopin, between blue-collar drudgery and upper-class conceit res...

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure takes its time implanting itself in your mind before completely taking you over, not unlike the mysterious killer at the film’s center. It resembles a traditional policier for ...

(This essay was expanded from a review published on November 21, 2014.) Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life features one of the most intricately detailed and affectionately realized worlds ever created...