Uncertain Regards

Today, I'm introducing a new project – a retrospective – that should take me the better part of what's left of 2019 to complete. I don't promise it's going to be a fun ride, but I hope the essay I've put together today will serve as an overview of why I'm going to be doing… Continue reading Uncertainty Principles: The Malfunction of Criticism at the Present Time →

I’ve watched Let the Right One In (2008) for what must be the twentieth time, and I find myself once again struggling to understand why critics insist that Tomas Alfredson’s film is, above all, a romance – rather than a meditation on friendship. This is not to say that such categories must be mutually exclusive, and… Continue reading Making Friends: The Right to Bite in Let the Right One In →

I'm writing today to head off what I worry will eventually become a problem in the appreciation of Sebastián Lelio's latest film, the positively incandescent A Fantastic Woman, a problem that often afflicts movies with a self-conscious stance toward representation and are heralded widely as Important Works. I can already see it infecting the criticism. Its victory… Continue reading Chimera Lens: Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman →

I know. That image is a weird one. But bear with me, it's really important. Over the course of composing this post, I realized that I could probably write about The Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) every day for the rest of my life and not get tired of it. I am far from the first person… Continue reading Unreal Engine: The Superheroism of Speed Racer (The Guy and The Film) →

"Don't go in there." When I was a kid, first awakening to the distinct pains and compulsions of horror movies, I would often yell these words at the screen. I was old enough to know they couldn't hear me, but that didn't stop me from doing it. It was the least I could do, some… Continue reading Freud’s Mouth: Cancer and the Death Drive in Annihilation →

The title of this essay comes from St. Vincent’s "Digital Witness," which serves as a poppy preamble to the points discussed below. Have a listen. If I'm being perfectly honest, I'm not sure what the real title of Ari Folman's 2013 follow-up to Waltz with Bashir even actually is. Most reviewers and promotional materials, anyway (as… Continue reading Won’t Somebody Sell Me Back to Me?: Robin Wright at the Congress →

"We wanted the students to see that the school part, the building part, was back to normal." -- Trent Lovett, the superintendent of Marshall County School District in Kentucky, where 2 high school students were shot January 23, 2018 "They're just not the same. You can tell, just from the way they're talking, they're just… Continue reading Trading Sight for Sound in Gus Van Sant’s Elephant →

“One time Grandaddy told me to go grab up a handful of dirt from the yard, and I did. He asks me “What are you holding?” I said “Dirt”. He says “that’s right now give it to me.” So I do and he says “Now what’s this I’ve got in my hand?” “Dirt” , I… Continue reading Unclean Thing: Mudbound’s Critique of the “Southern Gothic” →

The Shape of Water is certainly not the best film I've seen this year, even if it's the best "Best Picture," though it's important for me to start by saying that in the moment, in the theater, I got what it was going for. Under the direction of Guillermo del Toro, a very specific America… Continue reading Out of Love for the Other: The Shape of Water →

“I always had a sense of ‘it’s not enough’ or ‘I’m not right,’ of not wearing the right things. Particularly for girls, they attach a lot of their self worth to their family’s economic situation, because they judge each other on how much they spent on their clothes. With Lady Bird, it’s also that she… Continue reading The Unknown Known: On Privilege in Lady Bird →