The Film Stage

Emulsion Ep. 17 – Stephanie LaCava on Nymph, Chantal Akerman, and Abel Ferrara
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Given her work in and around cinema, it’s no surprise that Stephanie LaCava would write a novel that is, no small feat, cinematic. Said novel is Nymph, a slim and elliptical and fully satisfying character piece about a young woman,...
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BFI London Review: Kevin B. Lee’s Debut Feature Afterlives Interrogates Terrorist Propaganda
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So much of filmmaking and film-watching boils down to either lending your eyes to another or accepting that loan as a viewer––a process so quick, so immediate when done right that one can easily forget it’s about exchanging consent. To...
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Aftersun Director Charlotte Wells to Helm Debbie Harry Biopic
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After directing not only the best debut of 2022, but the best film of that year, with the emotionally piercing, structurally captivating Aftersun, we’ve long awaited word on what the next feature from Charlotte Wells would be. It now seems...
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Cristian Mungiu on Fjörd, Family, Sebastian Stan, and the State of the World
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For all the glories that Romanian cinema has enjoyed in the last quarter-century, 2026 has the potential to outshine them all. If one man will be responsible for this, it is probably Sebastian Stan, an American mega-star of Romanian extraction...
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Kelly Reichardt on The Mastermind: “Question Why You Want the Things You Want”
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The characters in Kelly Reichardt’s films drift and wander. Her leads often work their way through the world, struggling against bad impulses and worse decisions, attempting to find community, solace, or calm. They’re working-class people on the margins, not remarkable...
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Adam Driver Reveals Steven Sodebergh’s Cancelled Star Wars Movie
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The stories of Star Wars‘ creation are nearly (sometimes more) compelling than the films themselves––personal ambition, institutional politics, and empires (the evil of which is in the eye of the beholder) bearing a strange mirror to the dealings in a...
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Mistress Dispeller Review: Subdued Doc Explores Saving Marriages in China
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For as long as there have been relationships, there have also been affairs. It is perhaps one of the most durable narrative devices, so universal that just about anyone can find a perspective into such a story. To this, Elizabeth...
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Restorations of Olivier Assayas’ Paris Awakens and A New Life Making North American Debut at BAM on November 4
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Restorations and retrospectives are plentiful enough that it’s hard to believe Oliver Assayas’ early career bears no imprint on American film culture. While certain pre-Cold Water titles could be obtained if one looks hard enough, 1991’s Paris Awakens and 1993’s...
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Recommended New Books on Filmmaking: The Mighty Clint, Abel Ferrara, Reapprasing Ed Wood, Jonathan Demme & More
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The world has long needed a memoir from Abel Ferrara, and now we’ve got one, along with smart studies of the lives and careers of Clint Eastwood, Jonathan Demme, and Ed Wood. Plus, a stunning exploration of The Crow and...
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NYFF Review: Late Fame Is a Towering Portrait of the Artist as a Newly Famous Man
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“Klara remembered who she was. She pulled away from the window and she was a sculptor, although she didn’t always believe it, an artist––she believed them sometimes when they said she wasn’t.”— Don DeLillo, Underworld It is early into Kent...
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