James Y. Lee

One of the first notable visuals in Laura Poitras’s landmark documentary, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, is an excerpt slideshow from Nan Goldin’s legendary photography collection, “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” — as good a time…

LEVINE. To those even decently well-versed in the classical music world, the name James Levine is likely to bring forth a slew of contradicting reactions. On one end is a sense of deep reverence: Levine…

When you envision the legacy of jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, you’re probably familiar with his distinct improvisation style — his winding melodies, harmonies, techniques, and dissonances that have since gone down as hallmarks in jazz…

An expansive, white-walled studio. A camera crew helmed by director Ruth Beckermann. A lavish, pink-red sofa that’s previously been used for erotic films. And 100 men, aged from 16 all the way to 99, who…

The legacy of South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo seems largely separated from the stylized and dramatized sensibilities of his Korean New Wave contemporaries — the more minimalistic and theatrically conversational mise-en-scéne of his films seems…

While it’s easy to look at the repertoire of films about COVID and deem them redundant, oftentimes incredibly lazy ways to artistically reflect a universal experience, perhaps the most distinctive among them have been the…

There’s a scene towards the middle of Abi Damaris Corbin’s Breaking (originally titled 892 at its Sundance 2022 premiere) in which former Marine Lance Corporal Brian Brown-Easley (played by John Boyega), after being withheld from his disability check for…

It may be an obvious sentiment at this point, but it’s become genuinely difficult to look at the world around us and not think that something’s gone completely, ineffably, and gradually wrong. In the midst…

It brings me no joy to report that an indie comedy film evidently made in earnest did not resonate or connect with me, but Parker Seaman and Devin Das’s debut feature, Wes Schlagenhauf Is Dying, is…

There’s a certain type of fascination in watching a film where you can immediately tell that other people’s enjoyment of it will be almost entirely predicated on how much they’re able to live with its…

Expanding on the thematic foundation established by his previous feature, The Killing of Two Lovers — a film in which a father of four, emasculated by his wife’s relationship with a new partner in the midst of a…

Hot off the heels of winning the SXSW Audience Award with his charming, witty, and near-universally loved directorial debut, Saint Frances, writer-director Alex Thompson’s return to the silver screen appears to be a complete tonal shift,…

A devious recipe of psychological manipulation, profoundly unsettling family dynamics, and grisly horror that never quite feels like it coalesces into a full meal, Peter Hengl’s Family Dinner is certainly one of the more interesting horror…

The absurdly long-overdue second installment of Films from the Peninsula has finally arrived! In keeping with this column’s aim of recommending classics in Korean film history (the first of which was Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine), I’ve chosen…

Adapted from author Annie Ernaux’s quasi-memoir of the same title, and having instantly propelled itself into a modern canon of films about the stark realities of abortion — among them being Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3…

Underneath the surface of most films about online life are commonplace themes about appearances and authenticity: the consequences of anonymity, the rapid spread of misinformation, the ways that social media limits expression of our genuine…

To discuss Pedro Almodóvar is to acknowledge not just the transgressive streak of his early filmography, but also the post-Julieta change of pace that the Spanish auteur has undergone with his latest few works. With…

Manitoban filmmaker Rhayne Vermette’s Ste. Anne is a fascinating directorial debut — a loosely constructed tapestry of hypnotic sounds and grainy cinematography, and an enigmatic 80-minute experience that operates in pure abstraction. Unfolding a series…

Capturing the spirit and history of the French working class over the past 70 years is a gargantuan task of historical retelling and curation — especially if it’s through an 80-minute documentary strung together solely…

Daniela (Daniela Zahlner) can’t sleep lately. After spending some time traveling in New York and returning to Berlin, she’s slowly come to the realization that her continued insomnia isn’t just from her jet lag anymore,…

It’s only fitting that New York City‘s biggest film festival has chosen to premiere Cohen Film Collection’s new 4K restoration of Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street — a film so obviously tied to the city’s legacy…

To say that a two-and-a-half-hour-long film is on the shorter side of a director’s filmography may sound like a deeply confused claim, but for Filipino auteur Lav Diaz — whose works are less like films…

Few snippets of on-screen text in modern foreign cinema have been as intriguing as the opening blurb of Tsai Ming-liang’s latest film, Days — “This film is intentionally unsubtitled.” — not just because it points to a…

Calling Ryoo Seung-wan one of the most successful South Korean directors of his time is not an incredibly far stretch — even when comparing him to his more acclaimed contemporaries — thanks to just how…

Take one look at, say, Netflix’s vast documentary catalog, and you’ll instantly realize that the true-crime documentary genre has found itself in a state of oversaturation. From the litany of same-ish docs on streaming services…

Eccentricity and innovation have always been defining features of any given artist — even more so for documentaries that specifically go out of their way to train a lens on them. Whether it be the…

I: Context It’s difficult to name a director more influential to the teenage film landscape than John Hughes; for that matter, it’s difficult to name a director who left such a tangible mark on Hollywood…

Intro It’s no secret that Korean cinema is having a bit of a moment these days — whether it be due to the wild success of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, the recent love for Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari,…