The Film Comment Letter

Bubble wrapped: this year's festival attempts to avoid the controversies rocking the outside world, providing a sealed-in microclimate for duds and indulgences like Quentin Dupieux's The Second Act and Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis

Going home: Carol Mansour's documentary is a heist of sorts, depicting the ways in which exiled Palestinians, denied the right of return, keep their heritage alive

Serve and volley: Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is a tennis love triangle where the building tension between the players is consistently frustrated by their physical separation—a basic rule of the sport

Natural's not in it: the Japanese director discusses coincidence and confusion in his latest, which places the shape-shifting music of Eiko Ishibashi front and center

Golden hour: this year’s reimagined edition was invigorated by a selection of archival Palestinian shorts and gems such as A Grasscutter’s Tale and The Soldier’s Lagoon

Refracted light: Jerome Hiler’s Cinema Before 1300 is a discursive exploration of Gothic cathedrals’ luminous stained glass and a crucial part of a retrospective at MoMA

Rise up: Alain Kassanda’s documentary captures Nigeria's campus protests—and the role that cinema can play in politics

Fire and brimstone: in Alex Garland’s Civil War, the CGI spectacle is bombastic and the politics conveniently vague

Free spirit: Film at Lincoln Center’s 49th Chaplin Awardee brings something of himself to every role—and yet does it differently each time

Window on the world: incarcerated journalist Phillip Vance Smith, II delves into how people in prisons watch movies—the streaming devices available, the viewing options, the costs of renting a film, and more