The Film Stage

Cannes Review: Grand Tour Marks an Enchanting Return for Miguel Gomes
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If Chris Marker and Preston Sturges ever made a film together, it might have looked something like Grand Tour, a sweeping tale that moves from Rangoon to Manila, via Bangkok, Saigon and Osaka, as it weaves the stories of two...
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NYC Weekend Watch: Cutter’s Way, Princess Mononoke, Jacques Rivette, & More
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NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. Film ForumFilms by Scorsese, De Palma, Woody Allen, Coppola, Jarmusch, and the Coen Brothers play in “Out of the 80s,“ which includes Cutter’s Way on 35mm; Le Samouraï continues in a new 4K restoration; Raiders of the...
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New to Streaming: Civil War, About Dry Grasses, Ferrari, Stress Positions & More
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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. About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) Nuri Bilge Ceylan made a triumphant return to...
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Cannes Review: Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is an Overstimulating, Impressive Thrill
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Coralie Fargeat made a splash with her debut Revenge. But she was only standing in a puddle, endearing niche corners of the global cinephile community to her cinematic bloodlust for sexually violent men and gore-horror filmmaking. With her second, The...
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“Films Can’t Fix Lives”: Arnaud Desplechin on Filmlovers!, The Fabelmans, and Jean-Luc Godard
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When it was announced Arnaud Desplechin’s next feature Spectateurs! (titled the less-appealing Filmlovers! in English) would be a) a docu-fiction hybrid; b) about cinema and, in particular moviegoing; c) a continuation of the Paul Dedalus saga that’s starred Mathieu Amalric...
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Cannes Review: Universal Language is a Beguiling, Surrealist Ode to Persian Cinema
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In Universal Language, a man makes a journey to his childhood home and meets the family now living there––these are at least the broad strokes. The director is Matthew Rankin, a Canadian filmmaker whose work usually requires less-basic terms. In...
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Cannes Review: The Surfer Knows Exactly What to Do with Nicolas Cage
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In The Surfer, an exploitation film set to pressure-cook, a mild-mannered man is pitted against a group who even Andrew Tate might find a touch extreme. It’s set in South Australia on fictional Luna Bay, the kind of place where...
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Cannes Review: Sean Baker’s Anora is a Devastating, Gut-Busting Beauty
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Up to this point, Mikey Madison––the fearless, explosive 27-year-old lead of Sean Baker’s Anora––is best-known for her chilling turn as the deranged killer in the 2022 Scream reboot. Before that she was the shrieking Manson girl in the finale of...
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An Anime Landmark Returns In Trailer for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence‘s 4K Restoration
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It’s opportune timing for a 4K restoration of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, the only anime feature to debut in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The 20 years since that premiere have been kind to Mamoru Oshii’s film,...
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First Footage From Leos Carax’s It’s Not Me Reflects on a Visionary Career
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Aside from Jean-Luc Godard’s last film, one of the shortest premieres at Cannes Film Festival that was among our most-anticipated is Leos Carax’s 40-minute cine-memoir It’s Not Me. While our review of the latest work from the Holy Motors and...
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