‘Hamnet’ Review: Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal Will Break Your Heart in Chloé Zhao’s Timeless Tale of Profound Loss and Boundless Love [A] Telluride
“All that lives must die,/Passing through nature to eternity.” -Hamlet Act One, Scene 2 Early in Chloé Zhao’s staggering Shakespearean fairytale, Hamnet, Agnes (Jessie Buckley)... Read More
Film Reviews
‘Tuner’ Review: Dustin Hoffman’s Piano Lesson is so Tightly Wound it Plays Entirely Off Key [D] Telluride
In the new film Tuner, an aging piano tuner and his young apprentice and assistant trapeze around the Tri-State area fine tuning pianos mostly for... Read More
Telluride Dispatch #2: Parties Galore, ‘Bugonia’ and ‘Jay Kelly’
Yesterday was an easygoing two-film day, bookended by parties. I kicked things off at the Focus Features event, where Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal dropped... Read More
‘Landmarks’ Review: Lucrecia Martel’s First Foray into Nonfiction is an Indignant Look at Injustice in Argentina [B] Venice
The acclaimed filmmaker goes close to home with the story of an indigenous landowner killed by developers – and their subsequent, often kafkaesque trial At... Read More
‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ Review: Jude Law’s Whiny Putin is Rare Highlight of Olivier Assayas’s Messy, Bloated Russia Drama [C+] Venice
The French director adapts an award-winning French novel about a fictional adviser to Vladimir Putin – to underwhelming results Most of what’s good in The... Read More
Telluride Dispatch #1: ‘La Grazia,’ ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,’ ‘Ballad of a Small Player’
The 52nd Telluride Film Festival began yesterday, August 29, and my ninth journey to this cinematic mecca started with a drive that felt like plunging... Read More
‘The Secret Agent’ Review: Kleber Mendonça Filho Returns with a Timely Tale of Brazilian Corruption and Persecution [A-] Telluride
One year after over-performing at the Oscars with the sleeper hit I’m Still Here, Brazil is poised to potentially do it again with another film... Read More
‘No Other Choice’ Review: Park Chan-wook’s Jet Black Comedy Reminds Us Why He’s One of the Best in the Game [B+] Venice
The first sign of violence in No Other Choice comes when our protagonist, paper factory manager You Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) explains the difference between losing... Read More
‘After the Hunt’ Review: Despite a Stellar Julia Roberts, Luca Guadagnino’s Latest is a #MeToo Misfire [C-] Venice
A lot has changed since 2017, when the first accusations against film producer Harvey Weinstein surfaced. One after one, the women who were sexually harassed... Read More
‘Hijra’ Review: Shahad Ameen Crafts a Moving Story of Self-Empowerment and Discovery [A-] Venice
In her second outing as a feature-length filmmaker, Saudi Arabian director Shahad Ameen goes bolder and deeper with Hijra, a quietly devastating film that is... Read More
‘Jay Kelly,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Task’ and More on AFI’s Top 10 Films and Television of 2025 Lists 
‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards 
Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award 
National Board of Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ Tops in Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor; Netflix Lands Four in Top 10