“In ‘Kompromat,’ Truth Is Compromised”

A film so dull that I could hardly bring myself to write my review. Continue reading →

“Alice Diop’s ‘Saint Omer’ Is a Harrowing Look at Ambivalent Motherhood”

One of the most severe movies of 2022 / 2023 is also one of the most subtly constructed. Continue reading →

“Frederick Wiseman Stunningly Melds Fiction and Documentation in ‘A Couple'”

Frederick Wiseman? He’s made some good movies. More than…a couple. Continue reading →

“‘Petite Maman’ Makes The Arthouse Film Accessible To Everyone”

In which one of the best films of 2021 is let down by its distributor, and then becomes one of the best films of 2022, but again, its distributor let it down. Continue reading →

“‘The Summit Of The Gods’ Review: In Patrick Imbert’s Breathtaking Animated Film, Everest Is The True Star”

Sorta like the nectar of the gods and manna from heaven, but with more near-death experiences. Continue reading →

“Cuddle Up with ‘Teddy’s’ Outsider Angst”

Not that kind of Teddy, or the other kind of Teddy. It’s just a guy named Teddy. Life is boring sometimes. But this movie isn’t! Continue reading →

“Fun, Sun and French Ennui in ‘Summer of 85′”

Sorry, what’s that? I can’t hear you over the number of movies released this year that have to do with Jewish funereal rights, much less one set in France. Continue reading →

“‘The Complete Agnès Varda’ Criterion Box Set Is A Spectacular Tribute To A Unique Filmmaking Voice”

My relationship with the work of Agnès Varda began in 2017. Strictly speaking it began in college, when I first saw Vagabond, but when Faces Places opened in 2017, I firmly and immediately put the film on my best-of list for the year and began exploring her films beyond these two, culminating in some words on One Sings, … Continue reading →

“‘Deerskin’ Wears Its Mystery Well

Stop the presses, Quentin Dupieux made a movie that I’m not ambivalent about! Continue reading →

“‘Young Ahmed’ Needs Time To Grow Up”

Hey, did you know that a new Dardennes movie just came out less than a month ago? Bet you didn’t. I bet even the Dardennes didn’t! Continue reading →

“‘Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’ Is About Truly Being Seen By Another”

One of the “best films of 2019” is now actually opening in theaters, so really it’s one of the best films of 2020, but really it’s a great movie in any year and you should see it. Continue reading →

“In ‘Zombi Child’, White Tears Dampen Haitian History”

“Go do that voodoo that you do,” says the spoiled white girl to the mambo, foolishly throwing cash at something she doesn’t and never will understand. Continue reading →

“In Synonyms, the Search for Identity Does Not Lead to the Same Destination as the Search for Happiness”

Quick, find a word that means something similar to “this is a real gosh darn good movie.” Continue reading →

Review: A Faithful Man, 2019, dir. Louis Garrel

There are worse reasons to make a movie than to get two very lovely actresses to kiss all over your face, even when one is terribly age inappropriate and the other is your spouse. Ah, the French. Continue reading →

“Gaspar Noe On Climax, Accidental Allegories, Catastrophe Movies And More”

Andy interviews an Argentine-born French filmmaker whose work he’s followed since 2002, and ends up looking kinda foolish but it all works out in the end. Continue reading →

Review: Let the Sunshine In, 2018, dir. Claire Denis

For a movie with such a cheery, upbeat title, Let the Sunshine In is determinedly melancholic. Check the director’s name and that makes sense: Claire Denis doesn’t really make straightforwardly upbeat movies, from Trouble Every Day to White Material, so naturally she’d make a romantic comedy dripping in sadness. But it’s a good kind of sadness founded on a real … Continue reading →

Review: Revenge, 2018, dir. Coralie Fargeat

In the words of Michael David Cummings, everybody needs a little vengeance, especially rape victims, and then especially rape victims left for dead in the desert by their married boyfriend and their boyfriends’ friends (one of whom is the rapist). That’s the set-up for Coralie Fargeat’s excellent debut, Revenge, a French genre exercise that’s as gory and … Continue reading →

Review: Mrs. Hyde, 2018, dir. Serge Bozon

Nothing like watching a weird-ass movie adaptation of one of your favorite books that is nigh-unrecognizable from the book, am I right? I doubt Serge Bozon wants me to be mad about Mrs. Hyde; I doubt he made the movie expecting it’d actually make anyone mad. Without a doubt, though, I can say that the movie did … Continue reading →

Review: Godard Mon Amour, 2018, dir. Michel Hazanavicius

Honestly? I can’t imagine a more useless exercise than making an airy biopic, one-part screwball comedy and one-part “great man” drama, about Jean-Luc Fucking Godard, if not because I find him repellent (even though I dig his films), then because Godard would probably definitely find the idea utterly useless. (Note: He called the movie a “stupid, … Continue reading →

“The 100 Best French Films of All Time”

I don’t hide my predilection for Italian cinema over French cinema, mostly because I’m comically loyal to my Italian roots and to the old “Italian and French folks don’t get along” stereotype, but I’ll let you in on a secret: I like French movies. I like them so much that my name appears a whole … Continue reading →