Critic's Notebook

The Place Behind 'The Place Beyond the Pines': Shannon Plumb's 'Towheads'

In "The Place Beyond the Pines," Derek Cianfrance's time-spanning look at guilt and responsibility across multiple generations, Ryan Gosling plays a reckless stunt driver suddenly thrust into fatherhood and engaged in bank robberies to provide for his newly discovered son. Despite his apparent commi...

From 'Trance' to 'Spring Breakers,' Is This the Golden Age of Film Noir?

Technically speaking, film noir's heyday ended when fedoras and chain smoking were still chic without irony. However, the qualities that made noir distinctive suggest that its spirit is more alive in new movies than ever before.

Critic's Notebook: Why 'Ginger and Rosa' Is Sally Potter's Best Film

After a diverse and lengthy early career that encompassed experimental film, dance, theater and music, and following the success of her 1992 arthouse hit "Orlando," Sally Potter settled into a semi-sustained period of more-or-less narrative filmmaking, directing six pictures from "Orlando" through h...

Critic's Notebook: Why 'Easy Rider' Still Matters 45 Years Later

On Feb. 23, 1968 -- almost exactly 45 years ago -- in the midst of the Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans, Dennis Hopper began shooting a low-budget film about two drug-dealing bikers who hit the road for the Big Easy and take an acid trip.

Critic's Notebook: Lessons from the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival

For the subset of movie viewers for whom the process of discovering movies takes place at major film festivals around the world, there is no greater question mark than the Berlinale. Otherwise known as the Berlin International Film Festival, this hefty gathering commands plenty of attention for its ...

Critic's Notebook: From 'Hard Times' To This Week's 'Bullet to the Head,' How Walter Hill's Movies Tap Into the Essence of New Orleans

Critic's Notebook: The Biggest Oscar Snub Isn't Kathryn Bigelow; It's Jafar Panahi

When the Oscar nominations were announced on Thursday morning, pundits immediately centered on one notable omission: Kathryn Bigelow. While "Zero Dark Thirty" landed nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, Bigelow's immersive account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden clearly took a ...

Critic's Notebook: With 'Unknown Pleasures,' A German Perspective On U.S. Indie Film

Critic's Notebook: Was Caveh Zahedi "Blacklisted" By Thom Powers? It's More Complicated Than That

The latest provocation from performance artist/filmmaker Caveh Zahedi, "The Sheik and I," began as a short film illustrating "art as a subversive act." While it was bound to push some buttons, no one could have predicted the series of conflicts it would create.