The Film Stage

After finally unveiling One Battle After Another last week with a Steven Spielberg-anointed screening and conversation, the early praise for Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece of a comedy-action epic has been rightfully rapturous. While the story of revolutionaries is inspired by...

The past rears its not-so-ugly head in Two Pianos, Arnaud Desplechin’s latest film exploring the ways gorgeous people make an even bigger mess out of the messiness of life itself. Set amidst the world of classical music in Lyon, this...

You can’t accuse John Early of not committing. Through the majority of his acting career, the comedian has become a reliable avatar for a palpable, toxic, hilarious narcissism, playing characters oblivious to the world outside the bubbles they’ve so thoroughly...

A key collaboration between modern China’s most significant actress and director, Zhang Yimou’s Gong Li-starrer Ju Dou has been restored and will receive a 35th-anniverary rerelease that starts at Film Forum on October 3. Ahead of this we’re pleased to...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. Museum of Modern ArtA complete Chantal Akerman retrospective has begun; series on New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina includes films by Spike Lee’s If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t...

How do you want to spend eternity? That’s the primary question at the heart of David Freyne’s Eternity, a high-concept relationship comedy (which he co-wrote with Patrick Cunnane) that envisions the afterlife like a never-ending theme park vacation. Instead of knocking...

It’s a fleeting, impermanent moment. At a concert, Fleur (Nina Meurisse) locks eyes with Julian (Laurence Roothooft) just as she takes her seat, and suddenly a spark takes hold. The fascination and mutual attraction quickly becomes a courtship, then a...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Cannes coverage. The History of Sound opens in theaters on September 12. It’s strange to hear backwood Appalachian fiddle folk in a French theater at the hand of a...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Venice coverage. Happyend opens in theaters on September 12. “Something big is about to change,” is surely one ominous beginning for a debut fiction feature, but director Neo Sora...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Sundance coverage. Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) opens in theaters on September 12. Filmmaker Sierra Falconer’s Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) captures a bittersweet feeling....