The Film Stage

Venice Review: Cover-Up Is the Most Important American Documentary of the Year
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Three years after Venice welcomed (and awarded the Golden Lion to) Laura Poitras’s documentary about artist and activist Nan Goldin, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, another filmic portrait by the Academy Award-winning director graces the Lido. Cover-Up, co-directed by Poitras...
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Venice Review: Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt Offers a Regressive, Unimaginative Take on Post-MeToo Era
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“It’s a fucking minefield, Alma,” the Dean of Humanities at Yale warns Julia Roberts’ Dr. Imhoff. Barely a few days have passed since her colleague, Hank (Andrew Garfield), has “crossed the line” with one of her students, Maggie (Ayo Edebiri),...
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Venice Review: Ghost Elephants is Werner Herzog’s Yearning, Materialized
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What opens Werner Herzog’s Ghost Elephants, even before we hear the German filmmaker’s distinctive cadence, is the National Geographic logo. While production credits are far from noteworthy in most cases, this one may stand out to the viewer by implying...
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Venice Review: Strange River Announces Jaume Claret Muxart as a Major Talent
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Traveling in a foreign land can be disorienting. Established routines lose their meaning. Unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells may trigger old memories or brand-new desires. Premiering in the Orizzonti sidebar of the 82nd Venice Film Festival, Catalan filmmaker Jaume Claret Muxart’s...
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First Teaser for Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother Arrives Ahead of Christmas Release
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Six years since The Dead Don’t Die (long enough for that film to now be underrated), Jim Jarmusch is back with Father Mother Sister Brother, which finds him returning to the episodic structure of Night on Earth and Coffee and...
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New to Streaming: It’s Never Over Jeff, Buckley, Together, She Rides Shotgun, Venice 2025 Shorts & More
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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. Emergent City (Kelly Anderson and Jay Arthur Sterrenberg) Full transparency: I’ve been to Sunset...
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NYC Weekend Watch: New Orleans, Shinji Sōmai, Charlie Chaplin & More
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NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. Museum of Modern ArtA series on New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina includes Déjà Vu on 35mm; the Michael Caine retrospective continues. Film at Lincoln CenterDouble-feature pairings of M. Night Shyamalan...
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Venice Review: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia Honors Its Korean Predecessor with a Potent Mix of Comedy and Horror
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After dabbling in dystopian fantasy (The Lobster) and period comedy (The Favourite), shocking us along the way with original creations (Dogtooth) and fanciful adaptations (Poor Things) alike, Yorgos Lanthimos has proven time and again that there’s not a single uncreative...
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U.S. Teaser for Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Cannes Winner The Secret Agent
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Six years since his last narrative feature Bacurau (we might call 2023’s Pictures of Ghosts a notable interlude) Kleber Mendonça Filho made a splashy return with The Secret Agent, which––more than its rave reviews––earned an ultra-rare two prizes at this...
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Venice Review: MEGADOC Takes Us Behind the Scenes of Francis Ford Coppola’s Legendary Big Swing
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A risky filmmaking project with Francis Ford Coppola––what could go wrong? Or more accurately: imagine what might go legendarily right. Not all of his films have had troubled, turbulent productions, but the essential chaos of creativity he tries to harness––and...
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