A friend asked me to suggest some of the best films from queer cinema for Pride Month. This list is not exhaustive, but it includes classic films that deal with LGBT themes, gender-bending, non-hetero sexualities, generally queer-related topics, or that have significant LGBT characters. The majority of these stem from the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s.
Read moreWomen Directors Have Made Some of the Greatest Films Ever. Here Are 11 You Might Not Know.
March is Women’s History Month, and there is no better time to watch some outstanding films made by women directors. Directors like Agnès Varda, Julie Dash, or Chantal Ackerman might not be household names, but they have made an indelible imprint on hundreds of films and filmmakers that came after them. From the feminist psychedelia of Daises to the anti-colonialist, coming-of-age drama Chocolat, these are eleven films directed by women internationally you might not have heard of but would not want to miss.
Read moreSplit Screen Cinema
Over many years of studying film, I have collected over 500 instances of visual influences, homages, and rip-offs in movies and art, and I will continually update them here.
Read moreRevisiting “Harold and Maude”
Rather than a simple black comedy, Harold and Maude is arguably one of the best satires to come out of the New Hollywood genre. Ashby’s direction, Colin Higgins’s narrative, and Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon’s acting “weave a gentle spell,” as film critic Matt Zoller Seitz put it, by providing the audience with “a romance, a tragedy, a satire, a paean to eccentricity, a philosophical statement, and a ‘trip’ film whose music montages seem to roll in like waves.” It is in that spirit that Harold and Maude deserves to be revisited, not just as a quirky, low-budget Hollywood offshoot, but as a serious work of cinema.
Read moreBest Films of the 2000s (So Far)
Here is a list of my favorite films from 2000 to 2020. A caveat: I am behind on catching some key films from the last decade, so I may add films to this list over time. There are some blockbuster films that are not on this list, and even some films I like that did not make it in the final tally. These are just my own personal favorites.
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