On Movies & Media

Like Jacques Doillon's Ponette and John Sayles's The Secret of Roan Inish, Céline Sciamma's new film is about very young children living with loss and grief. And, like those films, it casts an unforgettable spell. Don't miss it!

With full respect for arguments to the contrary, I'm of a mind to say that Robert Eggers's The Northman, while very clearly in the category of "Not My Kind of Movie," is a complex and meaningful film that deserves heavy cautions, the raising of certain concerns, and considerable praise. Viewer discretion is very forcefully advised.

The greatest films are becoming the most difficult to see in a theater. Memoria — the third transcendent cinematic experience I've enjoyed in 2022 — is, like the others, one that moviegoers will have to seek out on their own, and they're unlikely to ever see it on a big screen.

Did social distancing influence this Joel Coen production of the Scottish play? It has some great actors in it, but their performances seem strangely separate. And the film's striking images seem more like a gallery of evocative stills than immersive cinema.

This week: Malick's rollercoaster ride through the eons of history. Mia Hansen-Løve's film Bergman Island. All hail U2's The Edge!

Twenty years ago this weekend, I joined a fellowship at the local cineplex to witness an event that would change the art of movies — for better and for worse — for decades to come.