The Film Stage

Across two decades of crafting animated features, director Mamoru Hosoda has made both intimate dramas like Wolf Children and high-concept films like the science-fiction spectacle Summer Wars. In 2019, his family fantasy Mirai was nominated for an Academy Award, becoming...

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. My Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Kogonada) If there’s a thread running through Kogonada’s films...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Venice coverage. The Mastermind opens in theaters on October 17. For the second time in three years, Cannes’ competition ends with a film in which Josh O’Connor plays a...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Venice coverage. Frankenstein opens in theaters on October 17 and arrives on Netflix on November 7. In the rather niche academic field of monster studies, the common understanding of...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Berlinale coverage. Blue Moon opens in theaters on October 17. There was Dewey Finn, Ned Schneebly, Willoughby, Mason Evans Sr.––now there’s Lorenz (or Larry) Hart. Richard Linklater likes a...

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...