Ash is Purest White is a gangster movie. Well, sort of. Sure, the movie opens with a room full of low-level gangsters gambling, but openings can be deceiving. From there, it’s only a matter of minutes before one gangster pulls a … Continue reading ASH IS PUREST WHITE (江湖儿女)
Some movies are better left misunderstood. A Long Day’s Journey Into Night might be one of those movies. Sure, if you wanted to, you could noodle out the plot, the main characters’ desires, and what it all means. Or, you can surrender … Continue reading LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (地球最后的夜晚)
French critic cum filmmaker Jacques Rivette asserted that “Every film is a documentary of its own making.” While this is true of all movies, it is especially true of early cinema. The films documented people, places, and cultures now gone, … Continue reading DAUGHTER OF DAWN
Kino Cult is the latest addition to the streaming wars. The only difference: This one is free. Drawing on Kino Lorber’s deep catalogue, Kino Cult is a completely free service dedicated to midnight movies of every strip. Among the many … Continue reading A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
Things are going well for Renesha (Brittany S. Hall). She’s found success working in the nonprofit sector, and her relationship with Evan (Will Brill) has lasted long enough that they feel comfortable with one another while still taking time to … Continue reading TEST PATTERN
Despite some hokey moments with swelling, triumphal music, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 (streaming on Netflix) successfully captures a fractured moment in American history and the growing frustration with representation in the Democratic Party. Similarly, Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and … Continue reading NATIONTIME
Kino Now (an on-demand streaming service by the good folks at Kino Lorber) celebrated its anniversary this past October. To mark the occasion, they’re making eight films free to stream with the promo code KNBDAY until Nov. 15. The films: Beanpole, Boy, … Continue reading DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME
Divided into three sections: Fear, Flight, and Fate, Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, took an existentialist approach to Blackness in America. It’s right there in the titles of the section, and it’s baked into every frame of the 1951 cinematic adaptation … Continue reading NATIVE SON
Hubert Sauper is in search of a utopia. The Austrian filmmaker has been searching for some time now, just not as bluntly as in his latest documentary: Epicentro. Here, he opens with a man leaving a cinema to stand on a … Continue reading EPICENTRO
Michael J. Cinema 
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