France, 1918: Raphaël (Raphaël Thiery) has returned from the war to end all wars. His wife, Marie, died sometime while he was fighting, work has dried up, and the townsfolk look down upon him. On the plus side, Raphaël meets … Continue reading SCARLET
Located in the Baltic Sea, just off the southeast coast of Sweden, the island of Fårö is about 44 square miles and is home to a few hundred residents. It’s a beautiful island, full of limestone rocks and deep green … Continue reading BERGMAN ISLAND
Annette begins with a proclamation: “Breathing will not be tolerated.” What follows is meant to be taken in whole. For if you were to take it bit by bit, the whole thing would fall apart. Only totality can save Annette. Though I’m … Continue reading ANNETTE
Not everyone can shop for themselves. Some aren’t very good at it, some are too busy, and others are too well known to walk into Cartier without TMZ hounding them out the door. A personal shopper is a must for … Continue reading PERSONAL SHOPPER
What does the future hold? If one thing is certain, its past successes are of little indication for future endeavors. Yet, we can’t help but fall into that trap, thinking that we are going along fine and dandy before it … Continue reading THINGS TO COME
Once upon a time, there were five beautiful Turkish sisters whose parents died when they were very young. They were sent to live with their uncle and grandmother, high in the hills above the city of Istanbul. One day, a … Continue reading MUSTANG
If Jean-Luc Godard was correct when he surmised, “The history of cinema is the story of men filming women,” then the French auteur Olivier Assayas’s latest, Clouds of Sils Maria, adds the crucial word missing from that epigraph: young. The cinema is … Continue reading CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA
Abbas Kiarostami is an Iranian filmmaker who has been working quite prolifically since the early 1970s. Up to 2008, all of his films took place in Iran and walked a neo-realist line. Since then, he has left his native country … Continue reading LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
Michael J. Cinema 