Written by Michael Clawson 100/100 Cooled-down melodrama: with performances perfectly calibrated to be heightened but not histrionic, Haynes very often takes the camera and backs away, shooting through windows and doorways to actively avoid magnifying the emotion of a scene. … Continue reading.
Written by Michael Clawson 70/100 The Nest in flyover country; tense marriage and family drama dressed up as a crime thriller rather than a horror movie, set amid the barren, snow-dusted streets and fields of small-town Utah in winter rather … Continue reading.
“The highest reaches of the actor's art begin, I believe, at the point where words cease to play a part.”Max Ophüls, Director of Letter from an Unknown Woman Links: Apple Podcasts | Castbox | Deezer | Gaana | Google Podcasts … Continue reading.
Written by Michael Clawson 80/100 “Even when you’re with me, it doesn’t feel like you’re with me,” Eun-joo says to her husband, Heung-joo, near the end of Jang Woo-Jin’s spellbinding Winter’s Night. A late-middle-aged married couple who we meet as … Continue reading.
Written by Michael Clawson 80/100 Giuseppe De Santis’ Bitter Rice is two great movies woven together for the price of one. The first is a richly detailed neorealist account of seasonal rice-field workers in Northern Italy, and the second, a … Continue reading.
“There's nothing better than finishing something and looking at it. Whether it be a script or a movie, it's this complete little thing that now exists and is hopefully immortal.”Cary Joji Fukunaga, Director of No Time to Die Links: Apple … Continue reading.
Written by Michael Clawson 80/100 Oniony, experimental doc with fewer layers than there are syllables in its title, but still quite a few: set entirely in Central Park, we see a film crew in action as they make a fictional, … Continue reading.
Written by Michael Clawson 80/100 Preminger's second noir outing with Dana Andrews (quickly becoming a favorite of mine) and Gene Tierney (most definitely a favorite), six years after Laura. Andrews is a hot-tempered city cop with a bad habit of … Continue reading.
Written by Michael Clawson 70/100 An understated, understanding, and sensitively observed character study set in 70’s New York City, in which an aspiring young female photographer named Susan Weinblatt (Melanie Mayron) independently navigates a new chapter in her life after … Continue reading.
Written by Michael Clawson 90/100 A 21st century spin on Rohmer’s Rendezvous in Paris, with the cinematic ingenuity of Hong Sang-soo, and an enchantingly light interpretation of Sirkian melodrama. Contrasting with Happy Hour, which had the sweep of an epic novel, Wheel … Continue reading.
