The Film Stage

“We’re all so fucked, right.” So says Mazzy (Sadie Sink), a young woman visiting her father Ben (Eric Bana). This observation matches the dreadful tone of the film as a whole. Titled A Sacrifice, written and directed by Jordan Scott...

Now in its 23rd edition, the New York Asian Film Festival has been delivering high-octane thrills, riveting drama, hilarious comedies, and beyond from across Asia and the world for over two decades. This year’s edition is no different, offering highlights...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here. AGGRO DR1FT (Harmony Korine) Is it possible to leave your enfance without losing your terrible? The one-and-only...

Tomás Gómez Bustillo’s charming, intelligent Chronicles of a Wandering Saint is a natural follow-up to the two short films for which he is known: Soy Buenos Aires (a strange, picaresque rags-to-riches tale) and Museum of Fleeting Wonders (a collection of...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about filmmakers! Not the films that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today, as a sort of B-Side to our...

Harmony Korine scholars no doubt mourn The Trap, a revenge thriller he once called his “most ambitious project” and which would’ve starred Benicio Del Toro, Robert Pattinson, Al Pacino, Idris Elba, and James Franco. He clearly hasn’t forgotten: nearly a...

It’s rare for a festival like the Berlinale to allow a genre film in its main competition, and this year it was Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s third feature, The Devil’s Bath, that stood out. The period horror film is...

Despite being seen exclusively on the festival circuit, Víctor Erice’s first feature in 30 years, Close Your Eyes, ended up at #20 on our best-of-2023 list. One imagines it’ll land higher when we take stock of 2024: it’s finally getting...

Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Megan Park’s coming-of-age comedy My Old Ass has a bit of a light sci-fi twist. On her 18th birthday, Elliott (Maisy Stella) is visited by an older, 39-year-old version of herself...

Premiering earlier this year at Sundance Film Festival, Sebastian marks the sophomore feature from writer/director Mikko Mäkelä (whose debut was the 2017 gay romance A Moment in the Reeds). Following a burgeoning young journalist who turns to sex work to...