Dry Leaf, Rose of Nevada, and Levers present us with surfaces so textured and tactile that they have the physicality of a ...

“I don’t know if you’re a detective or a pervert,” remarks Sandy (Laura Derm) to Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) at a crucial juncture in the harrowing new David Lynch picture, Blue Velvet. We never are ...

There’s something strangely sedating about being at the Venice Film Festival. The annual Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica takes place not in Venice proper, but on a tiny island called Lido ...

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A lot happens in Hong Sangsoo’s latest, By the Stream. After a few features in which his plots seem to have been reduced to the barest minimum—like the beautiful sister-films In Water (2023) and In ...

Roman Polanski’s life experience is predicated upon violence and absurdity. As an accused and convicted sex offender on the lam for nearly half a century, Polanski is toxic, although it has taken a ...

Oliver Laxe’s fourth feature, Sirât, is the French-born Galician director’s first film to premiere in Competition at Cannes, where it’s been a highlight of the 2025 festival’s first week. A singular ...

The results are in for our 2024 poll of Film Comment's contributors and colleagues! On this page you’ll find a selection of the individual ballots submitted by our voters for the Best Films of 2024 ...

Nitrate film stopped being used in the early 1950s. What had once been the industry standard was replaced by a variety of “safety” film stocks, so named because they, unlike their predecessor, were ...

This article appeared in the April 19, 2024 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Sign up for the Letter here. Phillip Vance ...

This article is part of Film Comment’s Best of 2023 coverage. Read all the lists here. Below are 10 film restorations, preservations, reprints, and remasters that I was able to see in 2023. These ...

Land of the Pharaohs (1955, Howard Hawks). When I first saw it, as a kid, Land of the Pharaohs became my favorite film. I’d always been addicted to historical epics, but this one was different: it ...