The Film Stage

In 1978, journalist Elizabeth Becker was one of three westerners granted permission to enter Cambodia while under the communist rule of the Khmer Rouge. “We were all conscious of our role as singular witnesses of the revolution,” she writes in...

The first words we hear in Brandon Kramer’s Holding Liat are spoken, over the phone, by a person named in the subtitles as “Israeli Army liaison.” In this short call the male voice tells a perturbed 70-ish man that his...

Less than a year since his first English-language feature premiered, Pedro Almodóvar has already embarked on his next project. Bitter Christmas (translated from Amarga Navidad) is now shooting in Madrid and Lanzarote throughout the summer, with a cast including Bárbara...

Reteaming with Joaquin Phoenix after the divisive, impressively anxiety-inducing Beau Is Afraid, Ari Aster is back with his fourth feature. His western Eddington, which world-premiered in competition at Cannes, stars Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Austin Butler, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal...

A fact often gone unacknowledged is that, as we age, our desires unwittingly change. When it does, the terms we used to define ourselves and those around us must undergo a process of deconstruction, after which one can fashion a...

With David Lynch’s passing came the reminder—which not all of us needed—that his final decades were often spent attempting projects that were eventually rejected by studios, Netflix chief among them. Though they’d accepted a pitch for his series Unrecorded Night,...

One of my favorite directorial debuts from 2022 is finally getting a U.S. release. Graham Foy’s atmospheric, bifurcated coming-of-age tale The Maiden, which played at Venice, TIFF, and New Directors/New Films, has been picked up by Altered Innocence. Ahead of...

Premiering at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Sophie Brooks’ Oh, Hi! provides an entertaining twist on the romantic comedy for reasons best left unspoiled. Starring Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, John Reynolds, and David Cross, Sony Pictures Classics...

Since his acclaimed 2013 drama Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass has had a bit of a rocky career. There was an unnecessary return to the Bourne franchise, the misstep that was 22 July, and the pandemic-hobbled release of News of the...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. Brooklyn Center for Theatre ResearchIn anticipation of The Jag, a new play produced by yours truly, Paul Felten and Joe DeNardo present Jean-François Stévenin’s Mountain Pass on Friday. Film at...