Hammer to Nail

Get ready to strap in this awards season with Oliver Laxe’s unpredictable desert rave thriller, Sirât. Somewhere in the realm of Sorcerer and Mad Max, it made waves after shocking viewers to their core at this year’s Cannes, where it...

(Here at Hammer to Nail are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films of yesteryear that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week Brad Cook crosses the bridge...

After a highly buzzed festival run and plenty of acclaim from audiences and critics alike, Joachim Trier’s funny and emotional Sentimental Value will finally be released in U.S. theaters this November! Co-written by Trier and his writing partner Eskil Vogt,...

Check out Chris Reed’s Coexistence, My Ass! movie review, it’s in theaters now! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Noam Shuster-Eliassi is an Israeli comedian and politically progressive activist. A self-described “brown Jew,” she is the daughter...

Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi (3 Faces) just won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival with his latest movie, It Was Just an Accident, which asks viewers to consider what they would do if offered a chance...

“Where’s my water? What did I do with the water?” a priest mutters, patting and digging into his pants pockets.  Standing on a fisherman’s dock, wearing a fedora and sunglasses hanging from his shirt pocket, he looks slightly out of...

(The Middleburg Film Festival ran October 16-19 in Middleburg, Virginia, and lead critic Chris Reed is on the ground doing coverage for us. Check out his Rental Family movie review! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Tunisian director Kaouther Ben...

(The Middleburg Film Festival ran October 16-19 in Middleburg, Virginia, and lead critic Chris Reed is on the ground doing coverage for us. Check out his Rental Family movie review! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In Rental...

(The Middleburg Film Festival tan October 16-19 in Middleburg, Virginia, and lead critic Chris Reed is on the ground doing coverage for us. Check out his Nouvelle Vague movie review! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Franco-Swiss filmmaker...

It may be incongruous to characterize a film about war and destruction as “gentle,” or a film of loss and ethnic cleaning as “tender,” but Emily Mkrtichian’s debut feature There Was, There Was Not is a film that continuously breaks...