The Film Stage

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2026 Sundance coverage. The film opens in theaters on September 18. Gold is such an apt metaphor for greed. It’s shiny, it’s heavy, it’s superficial, and it’s obtained through someone’s...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2026 Sundance coverage. The film opens in theaters on September 18. Finding poetic beauty in the quotidian, Walter Thompson-Hernández’s If I Go Will They Miss Me centers on coming of...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2026 Sundance coverage. The film is now on YouTube. What exactly is artificial intelligence? Where does it come from? And precisely how powerful is (or will) it become? Valerie Veatch’s...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. Museum of Modern ArtA Yuen Woo-ping series has begun, featuring films by the choreographer and Ang Lee alongside prints of Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Matrix, and Kung Fu Hustle....

The Criterion Channel has long excelled in horror programming, making little surprise that this year’s October lineup is replete with thrills and chills. The scares get expansive with Highway Horror, which features The Hitcher, Maximum Overdrive, and Spielberg’s Duel, plus...

Twenty years after its premiere at MoMA, Ou Ning’s Meishi Street (2006) returns to New York, documenting residents’ resistance to the demolition of the Dashilar neighborhood ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Most of the film was shot by local...

Eugene Kotlyarenko is a filmmaker operating in the present tense—for better or worse, depending on how you look at it. No matter how online you think you might be, he’s probably more online, his films moving at a relentless pace...

Old ladies need movies as festivals like TIFF need world premieres. So is the case with A Talent for Murder, which can be applied to a subgenre known as Mirrenslop. Other highlights (or rather lowlights) include the Israeli hagiography Golda...

On a stormy night in Rome, Anna Colonna (Jasmine Trinca) shows up unexpectedly at the apartment of her daughter Alice (Romana Maggiora Vergano). With a look of distress, Anna explains that the purpose of her sudden arrival requires her to...

Anyone who’s taken a vacation with an old buddy knows it can be a hotbed for resentment, evasion, and antagonism. There’s baggage and jealousy among the best of friends. Italian filmmaker Irene Dionisio mines this fertile territory for her second...