It could totally turn out that you haven't been missing anything, if his films are not your speed. But as someone who admires De Palma's movies, I can share with you (if I may) what I like about them. My favorite trait of his films at their best is how he is able to take the audience to a dream-like fever pitch while…

I have been a De Palma fan for a long time, but there was a period of my life (mostly high school) when everyone I talked to about his movies seemed intent on making me hate them, or at least reconsider my initial reactions. I'm actually glad that it was older family members who led me to first appreciate his films,…

I'm trying to think of filmmakers that seem to me to be closer to Jia's sensibilities and interests than Salles - not because they would necessarily make a better film about the Chinese filmmaker, but because they might sound like a more natural pairing. Jia is arguably the foremost poet of globalization (and many of…

A little correction: the Dido song sampled for Eminem's "Stan" is "Thank You," not "White Flag."

I knew Elle was based on a novel. I just wanted to direct attention to a similarly themed film. And I was merely pointing out the connection between the contexts of the women protagonists, who are members of a contemporary upper-middle class. Because you are right, that idea is not new.

The plot of Elle sounds a lot like the story of the Russian film Twilight Portrait (2011), directed by Angelina Nikonova and co-written by her and star Olga Dihovichnaya. That one is powerful and disturbingly ambiguous, but it seems to suggest the character's decision to start a relationship with her attacker comes…

What do you think changed after Tenenbaums and then changed again with Moonrise Kingdom? Because I think I would agree that MK renovated some interest in him after he tried to do films that actually seem different rather than familiar for him with Life Aquatic, Darjeeling Limited and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Did these make…

See the recent appropriation of Astruc's concept of the camera-pen, “La caméra-stylo: Notes on Video Criticism and Cinephilia” in the book The Language and Style of Film Criticism. That essay is referenced in this piece for Press Play:

When do you think he fell into the familiar and then bounced back to enjoyable? I wonder if there's some agreement on that among his fans.

Sounds like a sequence that you would find in a Nuri Bilge Ceylan film.

Your response to Graduation makes me think of what others have said about the Dardenne Bros. (and not just in connection to their recent Unknown Girl), in that the structure and style of their films tends to be reliably predictable. I think there's an argument to be made there about that. Cinephiles can routinely…

You bring up a good question: who is Spain's current, most internationally renowned filmmaker that is not Pedro Almodóvar? Some spoke, perhaps reductively, of Almodóvar as the most influential Spanish director after Luis Buñuel. Now, Almodóvar didn't acquire that reputation until well after Buñuel's final film. But…

Re: engrossing duration vs. satisfying ending. I'm not sure which kind of movie I would prefer. I've seen good examples of both: speaking of ghost's stories, Conor McPherson's The Eclipse seems to be building up to something special and then it underwhelms; Antonioni's L'Eclisse bored me to tears throughout its run…

Another great chat. Thanks guys! Putting these two films together reveals all sorts of possible conversations. One thing that struck me as I watched the video was that on a surface level, and judging by their previous films, Lanthimos seems to me a much more natural fit for adapting Ballard than Wheatley. Ballard's…

Dumont's L'humanité gave me one of my most memorable viewing experiences for two reasons. It was my introduction to his work, which was certainly something I hadn't seen before in the early stages of my cinephilia. But what I remember most is the reaction of the buddies I saw it with - one of them said he was certain…

And there is something about Dan making sure Peter knows the former has been to Daisy's apartment, and then Peter's apparent reassurance to Daisy that he didn't notice Dan was rude to him - which I also read as his assertion that Dan matters next to nothing to him, and thus staking his claim to Daisy - that strikes me…

I love how Peter's answer "She's dead" is punctuated with Daisy switching off the lights, which gives her a moment to pause and consider his demeanor after the revelation. When she notices he opens the door after his declaration without missing a beat, she simply carries on, taking the cue from him that he can handle…

Check out this provocative essay by A.O. Scott:

I have not seen it, nor have I seen the Portuguese adaptation of Low-Flying Aircraft. Those sound really ambitious as well and should be mentioned, even if they were lower-profile. The Atrocity Exhibition is very difficult to classify, and the short story "Low-Flying Aircraft" is a good example of Ballard's wonderful…

Very excited about this. Ballard is easily one of my top three favorite writers, and the fact that very few film- and tv-makers have attempted to mine his visually-rich novels is somehow both astonishing and logical: his worlds are so completely realized that they would pop on the screen, but his strange obsessions…