The Film Stage

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 TIFF coverage. Good Fortune opens in theaters on October 17. To hear a story from Azrael (Stephen McKinley Henderson) is to know the full potential of an angel’s work....

November, Noirvember, tomato, tomahto. The Criterion Channel continue their quest to find every known subgenre with “Blackout Noir,” which places Terence Fisher’s semi-eponymous 1954 picture alongside In a Lonely Place, The Blue Gardenia, and some lesser-knowns. Not included therein are...

Returning after Bacurau and Pictures of Ghosts, Kleber Mendonça Filho has garnered the most acclaim of his career thus far with The Secret Agent. Earning an ultra-rare two prizes at this year’s Cannes (Best Director and, for Wagner Moura, Best...

One of my favorite documentaries of the year explores the very form of non-fiction filmmaking in immensely entertaining fashion. Charlie Shackleton’s Zodiac Killer Project finds the director walking through his failed attempt to adapt Lyndon E. Lafferty’s book The Zodiac Killer...

The most interesting thing about Gabe Polsky’s new documentary The Man Who Saves the World? is that it is unsure of its intentions. The film tells the story of Patrick McCollum, a spiritual leader living in Moraga, California. The twist...

As we get closer to the end of 2025 and various critics and voting bodies collate their year-end lists and ballots, the question of what is eligible for such selection often crops up. It’s become common practice for distributors to...

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.  Today we talk about a performer that we lost far too...

Criterion will not begin 2026 on a quiet note. It’s notable enough that we now have Edward Yang’s Yi Yi, a consensus pick for the 21st century’s greatest film, upgraded to 4K, but two titles long rumored for the treatment...

Jafar Panahi arrives in the United States as both a vector of history and blank slate. His profile would be enough were he only one of Iran’s leading filmmakers, a contemporary and collaborator with the likes of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Mohammad...

It’s that frenzied time of year as each country puts forth its pick for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards; the decision is always striking when the selection is for a directorial debut, showing utmost confidence in an emerging...