FEATURES
Let the Sunshine In
By Andrew Chan
Juliette Binoche gets real in Claire Denis’s exquisite yet pragmatic reverie on obstructed romance
Plus: Interviews with Denis and Binoche by Yonca Talu
Cocote and New Latin American Cinema
By Violet Lucca
Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias single-handedly rejuvenates Dominican cinema with a furiously alive film on the tension between tradition and progress
Hereditary
By Michael Koresky
Old demons put a family through the ringer in the scrupulously detailed, horrifically effective debut feature from Ari Aster (who’s on hand to elaborate)
Marlene Dietrich
By Teo Bugbee
The Hollywood legend may have worked closely with many of the greatest directors of all time, but she ultimately only answered to one woman
Le Cinéma du Glut
By Nick Pinkerton
Everything all of the time is more than just a reality of the contemporary age—it’s become an aesthetic, from Hollywood hits like Ready Player One to visual avant-gardists like Cory Arcangel
Maternal Melodrama
By Shonni Enelow
The power of the enduring genre has often relied on the sacrifices and terrors of motherhood. A critic and new mother reflects
Peter Nestler
By Max Nelson
A German nonfiction artist demonstrates his love for people by focusing on the process of their work—without staying quiet about World War II
DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS
THE PRE-SHOW | News, views, conversations, and other things to get worked up about
News, Inspired: Boots Riley on Sorry to Bother You, Release Me: Ana Urushadze’s Scary Mother by Nicolas Rapold, Directions: Isabelle Huppert by Nicolas Rapold, Restoration Row: Fridrikh Ermler’s Fragment of an Empire by Max Nelson, and more
CRITICS’ CHOICE
Critics rate and comment on new releases
MAKE IT REAL | The wide, wide world of cinematic nonfiction
The minimalist image by Eric Hynes
ART AND CRAFT | Filmmaking according to the makers
Script supervisor Mary Cybulski
FINEST HOUR | One actor, one performance
Tsai Chin in The Joy Luck Club by Andrew Chan
OFF THE PAGE | The art of getting from book to screen
Mary Ellen Bute’s Passages from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake by Sheila O’Malley
SCARE TACTICS | The pleasures of cinematic horror
Sense-deprivation cinema by Laura Kern
PLAYING ALONG | Music and the movies
Ludwig Van by Daniel Witkin
CURRENTS | New and important work from festivals and elsewhere
Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still by Nicolas Rapold, Luise Donschen’s Casanova Gene by Jordan Cronk, Leigh Ledare’s The Task by Nicolas Rapold, André Gil Mata’s The Tree by Jordan Cronk, Burak Çevik’s The Pillar of Salt by Yonca Talu
THE BIG SCREEN | Reviews of notable new films opening in theaters (hopefully near you)
Reviews: First Reformed by Aliza Ma, Angels Wear White by Amy Taubin, In the Last Days of the City by Jeff Reichert, Araby by Mark Asch
Short Takes: Summer 1993 by Manu Yáñez Murillo, On Chesil Beach by Michael Koresky, En el Séptimo Día by Nicolas Rapold, Beast by Chloe Lizotte, The Guardians by Kristin M. Jones
HOME MOVIES | Cinema spun, streamed, and beamed
El Sur by José Teodoro, Specters of Freedom: Cinema and Colonization by Devika Girish, The Ancient Law by Steven Mears, Liquid Sky by Maitland McDonagh, Mon Mon Mon Monsters by Margaret Barton-Fumo, Moon Child by Violet Lucca, No Down Payment by Michael Sragow, The Outer Limits Season One by Bruce Bennett
Plus: 20 discs to watch and 20 titles to stream
READINGS | Books about all aspects of filmmaking and film culture
Robin by Dave Itzkoff, reviewed by Chris Shields; CinemaTexas Notes: The Early Days of Austin Film Culture by Louis Black, reviewed by Nick Pinkerton; The Ashtray (Or the Man Who Denied Reality) by Errol Morris, reviewed by Sierra Pettengill
GRAPHIC DETAIL | The art of the movie poster
Robert Grossman by Adrian Curry
FEATURES
Let the Sunshine In
By Andrew Chan
Juliette Binoche gets real in Claire Denis’s exquisite yet pragmatic reverie on obstructed romance
Plus: Interviews with Denis and Binoche by Yonca Talu
Cocote and New Latin American Cinema
By Violet Lucca
Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias single-handedly rejuvenates Dominican cinema with a furiously alive film on the tension between tradition and progress
Hereditary
By Michael Koresky
Old demons put a family through the ringer in the scrupulously detailed, horrifically effective debut feature from Ari Aster (who’s on hand to elaborate)
Marlene Dietrich
By Teo Bugbee
The Hollywood legend may have worked closely with many of the greatest directors of all time, but she ultimately only answered to one woman
Le Cinéma du Glut
By Nick Pinkerton
Everything all of the time is more than just a reality of the contemporary age—it’s become an aesthetic, from Hollywood hits like Ready Player One to visual avant-gardists like Cory Arcangel
Maternal Melodrama
By Shonni Enelow
The power of the enduring genre has often relied on the sacrifices and terrors of motherhood. A critic and new mother reflects
Peter Nestler
By Max Nelson
A German nonfiction artist demonstrates his love for people by focusing on the process of their work—without staying quiet about World War II
DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS
THE PRE-SHOW | News, views, conversations, and other things to get worked up about
News, Inspired: Boots Riley on Sorry to Bother You, Release Me: Ana Urushadze’s Scary Mother by Nicolas Rapold, Directions: Isabelle Huppert by Nicolas Rapold, Restoration Row: Fridrikh Ermler’s Fragment of an Empire by Max Nelson, and more
CRITICS’ CHOICE
Critics rate and comment on new releases
MAKE IT REAL | The wide, wide world of cinematic nonfiction
The minimalist image by Eric Hynes
ART AND CRAFT | Filmmaking according to the makers
Script supervisor Mary Cybulski
FINEST HOUR | One actor, one performance
Tsai Chin in The Joy Luck Club by Andrew Chan
OFF THE PAGE | The art of getting from book to screen
Mary Ellen Bute’s Passages from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake by Sheila O’Malley
SCARE TACTICS | The pleasures of cinematic horror
Sense-deprivation cinema by Laura Kern
PLAYING ALONG | Music and the movies
Ludwig Van by Daniel Witkin
CURRENTS | New and important work from festivals and elsewhere
Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still by Nicolas Rapold, Luise Donschen’s Casanova Gene by Jordan Cronk, Leigh Ledare’s The Task by Nicolas Rapold, André Gil Mata’s The Tree by Jordan Cronk, Burak Çevik’s The Pillar of Salt by Yonca Talu
THE BIG SCREEN | Reviews of notable new films opening in theaters (hopefully near you)
Reviews: First Reformed by Aliza Ma, Angels Wear White by Amy Taubin, In the Last Days of the City by Jeff Reichert, Araby by Mark Asch
Short Takes: Summer 1993 by Manu Yáñez Murillo, On Chesil Beach by Michael Koresky, En el Séptimo Día by Nicolas Rapold, Beast by Chloe Lizotte, The Guardians by Kristin M. Jones
HOME MOVIES | Cinema spun, streamed, and beamed
El Sur by José Teodoro, Specters of Freedom: Cinema and Colonization by Devika Girish, The Ancient Law by Steven Mears, Liquid Sky by Maitland McDonagh, Mon Mon Mon Monsters by Margaret Barton-Fumo, Moon Child by Violet Lucca, No Down Payment by Michael Sragow, The Outer Limits Season One by Bruce Bennett
Plus: 20 discs to watch and 20 titles to stream
READINGS | Books about all aspects of filmmaking and film culture
Robin by Dave Itzkoff, reviewed by Chris Shields; CinemaTexas Notes: The Early Days of Austin Film Culture by Louis Black, reviewed by Nick Pinkerton; The Ashtray (Or the Man Who Denied Reality) by Errol Morris, reviewed by Sierra Pettengill
GRAPHIC DETAIL | The art of the movie poster
Robert Grossman by Adrian Curry
