‘Give Me Liberty’ Acts as a Manifesto for a New Style of Madcap American...
“Give Me Liberty” never comes to a halt. From its title card to its final one, director Kirill Mikhanovsky doesn’t allow you to breathe, kidnapping the entirety of your being for a nonstop moony...
‘Tel Aviv on Fire’ Channels Frustration Into Comedy
“Tel Aviv on Fire” is reflective of the experience of writer-director Sameh Zoabi and his experiences as a Palestinian living in Israel. Protagonist Salam (Kais Nashef), is given a production assistant job on his...
Sameh Zoabi: The Palestinian Director With an Israeli Passport
Professor Sameh Zoabi has had to explain who he is since the day he was born.
Born in a Palestinian village outside of Nazareth, Israel, Zoabi is a man stuck in the middle. When Israeli...
‘The End of the F***ing World’ Should Only Come Once
The end of the first season of “The End of the F***ing World” was not, in fact, the end. James and Alyssa are back. Maybe it was stock foolishness, but I was surprised to...
The Good, The Bad and ‘The Mandalorian’
I love “Star Wars.” Granted, not all of it, but I love the universe. So for me, “The Mandalorian, had everything going for it. A spaghetti western set in space? What more could I...
Professor Spike Lee Gives Talk on ‘Do the Right Thing’’s Writing Process
Filmed entirely on one block in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” examines the race relations between the Italian American and African American communities that reside there. Set on the hottest...
‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ is a Lesson in Forgiveness and Healing
How should we deal with anger? Why do we hold onto it instead of attempting forgiveness, hard as forgiveness may be? How can we begin to constructively deal with feelings holding us back? “A...
Documentary ‘After the Murder of Albert Lima’ Follows a Man Pursuing His Father’s Killer
Truth is stranger than fiction. “After the Murder of Albert Lima” is a documentary about a man named Paul Lima who spends the film seeking justice for his father Albert, who was killed by...
‘An Elephant Sitting Still’ Is a Portrait of Sadness for a Hopeless Generation
Richie Tenenbaum put it best: “Of course it’s dark, it’s a suicide note.” Completed shortly before he took his own life in 2017, “An Elephant Sitting Still” will forever be Hu Bo’s first and...
‘Waves’ Verges on Cinematic Sensory Overload
Don’t expect to watch “Waves” like a movie. That’s what it is, technically, but it is precisely “Waves’” technical elements that elevate it beyond all cinematic convention — it is a roller coaster of...
Beekeeping Documentary ‘Honeyland’ Is Utterly Sublime
“Honeyland” is a Macedonian documentary that follows the life of a beekeeper in the mountains of Macedonia, and what a picturesque life it is. The film is, in a word, gorgeous — it manages...
‘The Irishman’ Is Martin Scorsese’s Swan Song to the Goodfellas
“The Irishman” starts with a single-take long shot, not so different from the famous Copacabana sequence in “Goodfellas.” “In the Still of the Night” by the Five Satins eerily plays in the background as...
