Glenn Heath Jr.
Image courtesy of Paolo Zuñiga
‘Lacustre’ patiently observes a deepening eco-crisis in Mexico
'Lacustre,' which screens Sunday, Aug. 25, is most certainty a film at ease, but only tonally. Underneath the surface there’s a level of probing anxiety reacting against feelings of helplessness. Read more
Fascism emerges slowly in ‘Rojo’
Benjamín Naishtat’s effectively droll 'Rojo' takes place in Argentina during the months leading up to the 1976 coup that ousted then president Isabel Martínez de Perón. Read more
‘The Nightingale’ sings a song of vengeance
An ambitious and angry genre film, The Nightingale (opening Friday, Aug. 16) is awash in confrontational iconography that reveals the high crimes of colonialist histories traditionally written by white men. Read more
‘One Child Nation’ harrowingly reflects on recent Chinese history
This quietly devastating document is so powerful precisely because it avoids being sensational or overtly critical. Read more
Kid kingpins rule ‘Piranhas’
Gripping and sobering, Piranhas (opening Friday, Aug. 9) examines how violent turnover morphs into a natural extension of our base desires for wealth and respect. Read more
‘Them That Follow’ is a morose bore
Venomous snakes are the literal manifestation of toxic blind faith in the morose new indie drama Them That Follow. Read more
‘At War’ presents working class strife in blunt terms
Under these trying circumstances, At War is most interesting when it asks this question: Can compromise really be achieved when money supersedes people? Read more
Regret and nostalgia converge in ‘David Crosby: Remember My Name’
'David Crosby: Remember My Name' opens with the famous rock musician lamenting all the bad decisions he’s made over his nearly five decades in show business. Read more
‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’ takes history for a ride
Tarantino has always been particularly fond of history’s bit players; the ones living in between fame and infamy. In the end, they are no less prone to embracing moments of selfishness, violence and brutality. Read more
History is for sale in ‘Sword of Trust’
The right wing conspiracy theorists in Sword of Trust are so ridiculous that their mere existence would be questioned in any other time period. Read more
Remembering heartbreak in ‘Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love’
Leonard Cohen’s iconic deep voice cemented him as the masculine musical poet of the early 1970s. Read more
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Lies help clarify the truth in ‘The Farewell’
Lulu Wang’s 'The Farewell', a passion project based on her own life experiences, stands out against the backdrop of this particularly insufferable blockbuster season. Read more
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‘The Art of Self-Defense’ kicks first, asks questions later
It’s unclear exactly what The Art of Self-Defense (opening Friday, July 19) is trying to say about the hierarchies of toxic masculinity other than they are bad and cyclical. Read more
‘Our Time’ is on uncertain terms with emotional honesty
Reygadas is known for intimately challenging and visually striking films (Silent Light and Post Tenebras Lux, for example) that use duration to expand upon the nuances of emotional disconnections. Read more
‘The Pieces I Am’ gives Toni Morrison her due
The acclaimed writer of Beloved and Nobel Prize winner has been defying the traditions fortified by a largely male literary world ever since her debut novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. Read more
‘Midsommar’ is a bloated meditation on trauma
All of it points to a filmmaker who thinks very highly of himself, thanks in no small part to the many critics (some of whom are glorified publicists) that have dubbed him the second coming of Stanley Kubrick. Read more
A ‘Maiden’ voyage worth remembering
Tracy Edwards was tired of being told no when she finally decided to recruit an all-women sailing team for the 1989-90 Whitbread Round the World Race. Read more
Image courtesy of The Film Arcade
Jim Gaffigan does double dad duty in ‘Being Frank’
Being Frank lazily plays with the idea of Philip using Frank’s secret as leverage, but the characters aren’t mean-spirited enough to carry this thread through to its naturally destructive conclusion. Read more
Image courtesy of Janus Films
‘Paris is Burning’ walks the walk
One of the seminal American documentaries on sexuality and race, Paris is Burning embeds itself in the world of competitive “balls,” elaborate drag competitions staged by Harlem’s LGBTQ community in the late 1980s. Read more
Tackling housing inequality in ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’
Thematic correlations between property and dignity are also highly relevant to The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a lovely, if not precious, indie where housing inequality and gentrification have pushed out communities of color. Read more