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November-December 2019

Greta Gerwig interview on Little Women, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman confronts the void, the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems, Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Tamil action director Vetri Maaran, and Soraya Nadia McDonald on rape culture on screen. Plus: Rossellini’s history films, streaming Adam Sandler, composer Fatima Al Qadiri on Atlantics, and much more.

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Issue Details

FEATURES

Greta Gerwig on Little Women
Interview by Devika Girish
In a triumphant second solo feature, the writer-director brings the Louisa May Alcott classic to the screen for new generations with a richly satisfying sense of cinema, deepening the novel’s ever-modern aspects

The Irishman
By Nicolas Rapold
Spanning boisterous highs and shattering lows, Martin Scorsese’s life of a good soldier holds disquieting truths not just about crime and redemption but also about how we process death and deviance

Uncut Gems
By Michael Koresky
Things fall apart at the speed of light in Josh and Benny Safdie’s follow-up to Good Time, an even more anxiety-drenched urban nightmare starring Adam Sandler as a diamond district dealer seeking the ultimate score

Portrait of a Lady on Fire
By Lauren Kaminsky
Céline Sciamma imbues a beguiling tale of an artist and her muse with the gravity of a Greek myth and the heart-stopping sensuality of a classic romance. Plus: Amy Taubin interviews Sciamma

Vetri Maaran
By R. Emmet Sweeney
The Tamil filmmaker has been refining and redefining the geographical and genre parameters of contemporary Indian cinema with his bold and bloody knockout actioners

Rape Culture on Screen
By Soraya Nadia McDonald
Almost 30 years ago, Thelma and Louise showed they weren’t going to take it anymore; now Shatara Michelle Ford’s Test Pattern reflects how depictions of sexual assault and its aftermath have changed

Rossellini’s History Films
by Nick Pinkerton
Decades after reinventing Italian cinema with his neo-realist masterpieces, Roberto Rossellini embarked on a brilliantly foolhardy project to depict human history in all its oddball, philosophical complexity

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS

THE PRE-SHOW | News, views, conversations, and other things to get worked up about
News, Inspired: Todd Haynes on Dark Waters, Release Me: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth by Nicolas Rapold, Directions: Tracy Letts by Steven Mears, Restoration Row: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s A Cuban Fight Against Demons by Max Nelson

CRITICS’ CHOICE
Critics rate and comment on new releases

MAKE IT REAL | The wide, wide world of cinematic nonfiction
Eric Hynes on sonic enhancements in three new documentaries

ART AND CRAFT | Filmmaking according to the makers
Composer Fatima Al Qadiri on Mati Diop’s Atlantics by Sierra Pettengill

OFF THE PAGE | The art of getting from book to screen
Toni Morrison and Beloved (1998) by Andrew Chan

INSIDE STORIES | Redefining the boundaries of the new-media age
Sam Barlow’s full-motion video game Telling Lies by Jeff Reichert

CURRENTS | New and important work plucked from festivals and elsewhere
Eloy Enciso’s Endless Night and Velentyn Vasyanovych’s Atlantis by Jordan Cronk, Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13,000 Ft. by Madeline Whittle, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu by José Teodoro, Tamar Shavgulidze’s Comets by Devika Girish, and Alexander Nanau’s Collective by Nicolas Rapold

THE BIG SCREEN | Reviews of notable new films opening in theaters (hopefully near you)
A Hidden Life by Sheila O’Malley, The Report by Sukhdev Sandhu, Queen & Slim by Candice Frederick, Motherless Brooklyn by Mark Asch, Little Joe by Yonca Talu

Short Takes: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by Clinton Krute, Varda by Agnès by Sierra Pettengill, Knives Out by Christina Newland, Redoubt by Tyler Wilson, Waves by Nicolas Rapold, and Clemency by Kelli Weston

HOME MOVIES | Cinema spun, streamed, and beamed
Adam Sandler on Netflix by Nellie Killian, Folkstreams by Clinton Krute, Bless Their Little Hearts by Ina Diane Archer, La Marseillaise by Robert Joseph Schneider, Tunes of Glory by Steven Mears, Ida Lupino: Filmmaker Collection by Phoebe Chen, Buffet froid by Nicolas Rapold, Emanuelle in America by Maitland McDonald, Wish List: Babylon—Sleeping With the Devil by C. Mason Wells

READINGS | Books about all aspects of filmmaking and film culture
She Said by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey, reviewed by Amy Taubin; The Art of Film Projection: A Beginner’s Guide edited by Paolo Cherchi Usai, Spencer Christiano, Catherine A. Surowiec, and Timothy J. Wagner, reviewed by Bruce Bennett; Get Out: The Complete Annotated Screenplay by Jordan Peele, reviewed by Ina Diane Archer

GRAPHIC DETAIL | The art of the movie poster
The poster art of Steven Chorney by Adrian Curry