Film
In The Girl and the Spider, Voyeurism Is Both Comical and Creepy
Everybody seems to be infatuated with everyone else in the film, locking eyes with an intensity that could shame a tantra guru.
Eileen G’Sell
Eileen G’Sell is a poet and culture critic whose work focuses on gender, sexuality, and economic class. She is a 2023 winner of the Rabkin Foundation Prize in arts journalism and teaches at Washington University in St. Louis.
Film
A Poignant Family Portrait in the Trappings of Sci-Fi
After Yang merges director Kogonada's fastidious attention to form with a rare empathy for the insecurity of the human condition, especially within the nuclear unit.
Film
Playground Looks at the Psychological and Physical Carnage of Childhood
Laura Wandel’s debut film examines the psychological — and physical — carnage wrought between children when grown-ups look the other way.
Art
The Figural Ghosts of Oliver Lee Jackson's Expressive Abstraction
Jackson's two-dimensional surfaces lead us into a maze of shapes and visual gestures, yet tease us into recognizing the figures hidden within.
Film
The Worst Person in the World Is Among the Best Portraits of Modern Womanhood
Part of the glory of the film is that its heroine’s choices, however unexpected, are taken seriously.
Film
On Camouflage and Control in The Velvet Queen
Rather than celebrate intrepid man capturing, and controlling, the magic of “nature,” the film focuses more on how nature watches us.
Film
Bruno Dumont’s France Is a Cogent, if Convoluted, Critique of Celebrity Culture
This may not be a great film, but its narrative and tonal weaknesses throw into relief just how strong Léa Seydoux is as its thumping heart.
Film
C’mon C’mon and Mike Mills’s Vision of Masculine Vulnerability
In the films of Mike Mills, sensitive male characters reckon with who they are when who they are doesn’t seem to measure up.
Film
The Automotive-Erotic Body Horror of Titane
What’s more natural, the film seems to ask — the “body parts” under the hood of a car or those pulsing beneath a woman’s navel?
Film
The Brutality of Innocence in Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher
Lynne Ramsay’s 1999 debut film is arguably one of the masterpieces of 20th-century depictions of childhood poverty.
Film
As a Mockumentary About Celebrity, Nowhere Inn Just Bores
In this film about stardom, the viewer has nowhere to appreciate and connect with the characters and concepts.
Film
For Udo Kier in Swan Song, Flamboyance Is Its Own Redemption
Todd Stephens’s new film is a celebration of willful, collective flamboyance that flourishes within small cities.