Subscribe to Film Comment today . For our latest Film Comment Free Talk, Claire Denis and Robert Pattinson joined FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold to discuss their singular new film High Life, which graces the cover of Film Comment’s March-April issue. In his feature on the film, Nick Pinkerton writes that, “While High Life is the biggest and most expensive movie that Denis has ever made, it gives little indication of its scale having been bartered for at the sacrifice of freedom—or with the st...
Apr 17, 2019•56 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . New Directors/New Films has always been a vital for, well, new directors and new films. Over the course of its nearly 50 years, the festival has introduced audiences to filmmakers like Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Bi Gan, Valerie Massadian, Gabriel Mascaro, RaMell Ross, and Kelly Reichardt. The 2019 edition continued in this tradition, bringing a bracing selection of films, many still without distribution, to screens in New York. This week, we take a closer look ...
Apr 10, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . They say that "democracy dies in darkness," but a handful of new films, including Mike Leigh's Peterloo and Jordan Peele's Us, argue otherwise, providing evidence that the subject is alive and well in darkened theaters across the country. This week, we discuss how these films—along with the work of Agnès Varda, Agnieszka Holland, and Frederick Wiseman—portray democracy on screen. Film Comment Editor in Chief Nicolas Rapold, contributing editor Amy Taubin, and FC...
Apr 03, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . The Rep Report returns with an in-depth conversation about the upcoming Nelly Kaplan retrospective at the Quad Cinema, along with other rep highlights. This week, Film Comment Editor in Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by FC contributing editor Nellie Killian and first-time guest Chris Wells, director of repertory programming at Quad Cinema for a look at an underappreciated filmmaker whose work is primed for reappraisal. The fascinating Nelly Kaplan was something ...
Mar 28, 2019•57 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . High Life, the new movie from Claire Denis, comes to theaters on April 5. With a cast featuring Film Comment cover subject Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, and André Benjamin as members of a group of death-row convicts trapped on an experimental, interstellar journey, High Life tells a story of intimacy, isolation, and taboo. Though it touches on themes of family and group identity that may be familiar to fans of Denis, the film’s setting and nods to science ...
Mar 20, 2019•59 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . For our latest Film Comment talk, Academy Award-winning director László Nemes sat down to discuss his latest film, which opened Film Comment Selects last month. The film, Sunset, tells the story of an orphaned young woman, Irisz, searching for her mysterious brother in the nightmarishly labyrinth of pre-World War I Budapest. Sunset opens in theaters on March 22. Nemes joined Film Comment editor Nicolas Rapold for a conversation following on Saturday, February 9 ...
Mar 14, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . Over the years, the True/False festival (based in the college town of Columbia, Missouri) has grown into one of the most outstanding annual showcases for documentary film. This year, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold returned to moderate “Toasted,” the True/False festival’s very late-night wrap-up event, in front of a lively audience. Rapold was joined by a crew of filmmakers and programmers, including Brett Story, director of The Hottest August; Maíra...
Mar 08, 2019•58 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . This week, the Film Comment Podcast digs into Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will and the ways in which the reputations of the notorious film and its maker have shifted over the years. In a feature article on the legendary Nazi-propaganda project in the latest issue of Film Comment, contributing editor J. Hoberman writes that, “Triumph of the Will is an organic product of cinema history, a synthesis of Metropolis’s monumental mass ornament, Potemkin’s pow, an...
Feb 27, 2019•54 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . On February 13, Film Comment presented a special evening with the Spike Lee, Best Director nominee for BlacKkKlansman. The night included an extended conversation between Lee and Emmy Award–winning writer and television host Lawrence O’Donnell (The West Wing, MSNBC), followed by a screening of BlacKkKlansman, presented by Film Comment. Lee discusses the genesis of BlacKkKlansman, how he chooses collaborators, and what it would mean to him to win an Oscar for the...
Feb 22, 2019•57 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . Love is, of course, in the air, and with most new release schedules in hibernation, February can be a great time for repertory cinema for both lovers and loners. Guests Nellie Killian (FC contributing editor and independent programmer) and Jon Dieringer (founder of Screen Slate) join Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold to run down the best rep screenings on offer around New York City. First up are two series at Anthology Film Archives: the annual “Valent...
Feb 13, 2019•42 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . The Film Comment Podcast returns with our final episode on the wild, windswept ride that was Sundance 2019. Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold sat down with Film Society of Lincoln Center Deputy Director (and Film Comment Co-publisher) Eugene Hernandez to dissect and analyze their standout films from the festival, with a special focus on documentaries Leaving Neverland and Halston. The two also discuss the evolution of Sundance over the years, from Euge...
Feb 06, 2019•46 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . Maintaining a marathon pace, the Film Comment Podcast returns with more insightful commentary and conversation from the Sundance Film Festival. FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined once again by guests and FC contributors Devika Girish and Eric Hynes (also curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image) for a discussion of some under-the-radar films that might not have received as much attention at the Festival. These gems include the Macedonian docume...
Jan 31, 2019•30 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . The Film Comment Podcast returns with another update from Park City. FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined this time by New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis and FC contributor Amy Taubin for a rundown of standout films from the festival, both fiction and documentary. These include Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir, Nisha Ganatra's Late Night, Rachel Lears's documentary Knock Down the House, Chinonye Chukwu's Clemency, Julius Onah's Luce, Joe Talbot's The Las...
Jan 30, 2019•45 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . The Film Comment Podcast returns with our fourth update from the snow-and-glamour-packed streets of Park City, Utah. For today's episode, FC Editor-in-Chief is joined by guests and FC contributors Devika Girish, Eric Hynes (also curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image), and Ashley Clark (also senior programmer of cinema at BAM). Today's conversation focuses on a range of films, including The Farewell, Luce, Midnight Family, The Last Tree, Clemency, Par...
Jan 29, 2019•38 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . On the third Film Comment Podcast from the Sundance Film Festival, FC Editor in Chief Nicolas Rapold is once again joined by FC contributors Devika Girish and Eric Hynes(also curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image) to chat about a few highly-touted features that left them wanting. These include Joe Talbot's The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Scott Z. Burns' The Report, Jennifer Kent's The Nightingale, and Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala's The Lodge...
Jan 28, 2019•46 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . We're back with our second update from Park City. Today's podcast features Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold in conversation with FC contributors Devika Girish and Eric Hynes (also curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image). The focus today is on a Rashid Johnson's Richard Wright adaptation Native Son, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's documentary American Factory, Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra's The Infiltrators, and Ben Berman's absurdist ...
Jan 26, 2019•37 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . In the first of a series of updates from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold hits the slopes with Eric Hynes, FC contributor and curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. In addition to discussing their dietary regimens (one must maintain strength in the face of this cinematic avalanche), the two trade highlights from their first day in Park City. Rapold and Hynes kick off with a chat about Bart Freundlich's soap...
Jan 25, 2019•39 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . In the calm before the storm, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold sits down with critic and FC contributor Amy Taubin to chat about some of their more eagerly anticipated film from Sundance 2019, opening January 24 and running through February 3. Perhaps appropriately, the conversation begins with films that aren’t actually in competition, but will be showing as part of Slamdance, the Sundance alternative celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. In ad...
Jan 23, 2019•27 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . From Woodstock to Stop Making Sense to Madonna: Truth or Dare, the concert film provides an up-close-and-personal—and otherwise unattainable—perspective on performance and performer. In the new issue of Film Comment, out now, contributor Andrew Chan digs into the long-awaited 1972 Aretha Franklin concert film Amazing Grace, finally released in 2018 after years of legal wrangling and building anticipation. The wait was well worth it, as the Sydney Pollack-directe...
Jan 18, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . New year, new rep report! Our latest edition looks at the annual mainstay of the restoration calendar, To Save and Project at the Museum of Modern Art—featuring everything from Chantal Akerman to Nude on the Moon—as well as a wide-ranging survey of the city symphony film at Anthology Film Archives. And on the new release side of the episode, we play catch-up with the likes of Welcome to Marwen and more. Joining Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold this ti...
Jan 11, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . All too often, the ritual of ranking films at the end of the year leaves a lot of worthy movies on the cutting floor. Some don’t receive enough votes to make our Best of 2018 list; others maybe don’t leap to mind when weighing the artistic strengths and weaknesses of movies. So now that you’ve read about the best of 2018, we present the rest of 2018—a few films that we enjoyed but that, for one reason or another, didn’t crack the hallowed top 20. Editor-in-chief...
Jan 02, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . For the final Film Comment Talk of the year, Matt Dillon came to the Film Society of Lincoln Center to talk about his new film, The House That Jack Built, directed by Lars von Trier. The film stars Dillon as a serial killer who recounts a series of his murders over several years. Dillon talked about playing a depraved character and working with von Trier. Maddie Whittle of the Film Society of Lincoln Center moderated the dialogue....
Dec 22, 2018•28 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . The Rep Report continues with another joyous discussion of the latest in repertory and new release. This time we venture into the shadows of the Jacques Tourneur retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, along with some choice selections from New York’s wealth of offerings. Then it’s time for a holiday surprise—at least, that’s how the movie has affected our critics, who saw it only after deadlines for the best-of-the-year polls had passed: The Mule, ...
Dec 19, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . Every year we send out a poll to our critics and staff and put together a list of the best movies of the year. For 2018, we did something a little different and fun: we counted down the best movies of the year at a live Film Comment Talk at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Along the way, Film Comment editor-in-chief Nicolas Rapold discussed the results with a group of all-star critics: Molly Haskell, critic and author; Michael Koresky, director of editorial a...
Dec 12, 2018•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . At the New York Film Festival, Film Comment presents a series of talks that includes our reliably energizing and insightful conversation with a group of directors. Our 2018 Filmmakers Chat—posted for the first time now—featured a unique and invigorating mix of talents in a discussion about the art and craft (and anxieties and rewards) of making movies. I was honored and delighted to be joined at the Film Society of Lincoln Center by Louis Garrel, director of A F...
Dec 07, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . The Rep Report, our new Film Comment podcast series devoted to repertory programs and new releases, continues this week with its latest installment. Once again we talked about the latest movies (new and old) that we’ve seen, desperately want to see, or have wept bitter tears over missing, with special emphasis on the rich offerings of repertory / art-house cinemas. For the first half, I was delighted to join FC contributing editor (and Screen Slate board member)...
Nov 30, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . In marketing parlance, a “family film” has tended to mean an anodyne product, something that all could enjoy and that couldn't possibly offend anyone. For our latest Film Comment Podcast, we’re taking our cue instead from movies actually about families, with all of the love, mundanity, and cringing horror left intact. That includes not only Shoplifters—a new release from that auteur of the comforts and complications of home, Hirokazu Kore-eda—but also the likes ...
Nov 21, 2018•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . Ida Lupino was an original. A Warner Brothers star who went on to become an independent director, writer, and producer, Lupino holds a singular place in American film history, and she is currently the subject of an ongoing retrospective at New York’s Film Forum. On the latest Film Comment Podcast, I was joined by Farran Smith Nehme, critic and author of Missing Reels; and Sheila O’Malley, frequent FC contributor and critic at Rogerebert.com, to discuss the work ...
Nov 14, 2018•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . There’s an abundance of riches in movie houses across our fair city of New York—and, of course, beyond. We’ve long wanted to feature discussions among our contributors about the many options out there, and we‘re pleased to dive right in with the first of a new strand in the Film Comment Podcast family. In the first half, we go deep into the repertory side with Screen Slate’s John Dieringer and FC Contributing Editor (and Screen Slate board member) Nellie Killian...
Nov 09, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 1
Subscribe to Film Comment today . “With Shirkers, Sandi Tan . . . revisits the long-lost footage from her unfinished narrative feature shot in Tan’s native Singapore in 1992, also called Shirkers, and in the process reckons with both why the film was never finished and how several relationships were forever changed in its wake,” Eric Hynes wrote in our March/April 2018 issue, about Sandi Tan’s Sundance prize-winning film. For our latest Film Comment Talk at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Ta...
Nov 07, 2018•32 min•Ep. 1
