The Film Stage

Waves crash and spill over the rocky edge of the Earth in the protracted opening shot of Carlos Reygadas’s Heil Jupiter! With apocalyptically colorful skies and turbulent waters, the doomy sea-set scene looks like it’s taking place in the primordial...

Al Cook is both a true original and a derivative. He’s an Austrian blues musician who’s styled himself in the mold of Elvis Presley. With a salt-and-pepper pompadour and hairline to be jealous of, the septuagenarian looks like a cross...

About halfway through The Unspeakable Act, Dan Sallitt’s spare, somber, unflinching 2012 feature, teenager Jackie (Tallie Medel) begins attending therapy to address the underlying issue at the heart of the movie’s title: an attraction to her older brother Matthew (Sky...

One of the most striking films to play in New York Film Festival’s Currents section this year is John Torres sci-fi-tinged neo-noir The Remotes, which follows a grieving detective who investigates two sisters linked to a sinister navigation app, only...

At the beginning of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play Endgame, a blind curmudgeon named Hamm declares, “It’s time it ended and yet I hesitate to—to end.” Confined to a chair, he bickers with his servant Clov in a house where the...

Spooky season is here. Spooky movies? Not as many as you’d expect. For every Other Mommy (October 9) comes a pair like The Social Reckoning (October 9) and Street Fighter (October 16) to provide a one-two counter punch. That’s the...

Blockbuster films in America often have faceless, nameless enemies. Villainous, fictional countries attempt to rule the world, steal nuclear codes, or set off a bioweapon, only to be taken down by one of our aging Hollywood stars. Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla...

In 2021, the UNESCO World Heritage Center officially inscribed tbourida—a Moroccan equestrian military ritual dating back to the 16th century—onto its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. This ritual is the central subject of Tala Hadid’s all-encompassing, multi-threaded documentary Bardi....

18 years ago, The Film Stage was born in Buffalo. For those living in or near the Western New York city, the Buffalo International Film Festival should certainly be on your radar. Curatorial efforts are led by Artistic Director John...

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. Coyote vs. Acme (Dave Green) The first sign that we’re in good hands comes...