Thriller ‘The White Rabbit’ Ensnares Viewers in Hitchcockian Fashion
Thriller short film The White Rabbit ensnares viewers with a joke, a nightmare, and an illusion in a sly interplay that evokes Hitchcock’s Rear Window.
drama
Godzilla the Union Buster
There’s a bitter irony in how Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, produced by a notorious union-busting production company, is celebrated for its message of collective strength.
Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinematic Melodrama: ‘Victims of Sin’
In Emilio Fernández’s Victims of Sin, a galaxy of important Mexican film and music artists collaborate on a tale of mambo music, martyred mothers, and melodrama.
‘The Underground Railroad’ and Cinema’s Origins in White Supremacy
In adapting the alternative history The Underground Railroad, Barry Jenkins and his crew made cinema – a medium with origins in white supremacy – work for them.
‘The Boys’ Season 4 Is a Bloody Descent into Hell
Erik Kripke’s gory superhero satire The Boys takes a visceral plunge into political and personal tragedy, showing there’s more to fear than just corrupt superheroes.
Two Southern-Fried Slices of Sordid ’60s Hicksploitation Films
Angry old men, sexy strumpets, moonshiners, corrupt sheriffs, and dumb farmhands populate them thar hills in these two low-budget ’60s hicksploitation films.
Exiting the Comma: On Liminality and Redemption in Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas
In Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas, Travis is adrift, caught in the comma between the liminal ‘Paris’ and the redemptive ‘Texas’, between lost futures and the impermeable present.
Crime Sells in TV: ‘The Responder’, ‘Shardlake’, and ‘Eric’
For compelling and worrisome reasons, crime sells in our TV entertainment. The Responder, Shardlake, and Eric feed our brutal compulsion in varying ways.
The Eerie Beauty in Horror Film ‘I Saw the TV Glow’
With horror film I Saw the TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun creates an eerie, emotional journey into the intersection of identity and popular culture.
Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024: The Good, the Unremarkable, and the Dead on Arrival
Axe murder, motor scooter theft, projectile breast milk and more from a week at the Music Box Theatre for the Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024.
Philosophies and Ironies in Éric Rohmer’s ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’
In Éric Rohmer’s ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’, everything exists on an elevated Expressionist plane; every detail dovetails into its hermetic philosophies and ironies.
Debut Drama ‘Mabel’ Rejects the ‘Matilda’-Like Dream of Childhood
Nicholas Ma’s humorous, warm and sensitive directorial feature debut, Mabel, embraces the messy uncertainty of life, for children and adults.