My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (2009) A Film by Werner Herzog

Of the two loosely connected films that comprise an unintentional diptych of the American law system, Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, Wh...

The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) A Film by Michael Haneke (2009)

Dualities abound in Michael Haneke's latest film, The White Ribbon . The title refers to the white cloths that a Pastor (Burghart Klaußn...

A Bucket of Blood (1959) A Film by Roger Corman

Having directed over 50 features and acting as producer on more than 300, Roger Corman established himself as a skillful craftsman with an u...

The Intruder (L'Intrus) A Film by Claire Denis (2004)

Claire Denis' The Intruder is loaded with Marxist Dialectics, the kind of suggestive cutting collisions that were pioneered by Sergei E...

Satantango: Take 2

Bela Tarr puts me into a trance. If you haven't been able to infer from my numerous appreciations of his films in the past, I can'...

Europa (Zentropa) A Film by Lars Von Trier (1991)

How does a filmmaker induce a state of hypnosis in his audience, partial or otherwise? Ask Lars Von Trier, master of subtlety, and he'll...

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) A Film by Chantal Akerman

First client, dinner, lessons, leisure, bedtime, morning, breakfast, cleanup, errands, dinner prep, lunch, coffee break, second client, pota...

Empire of Passion (Ai no borei) A Film by Nagisa Oshima (1978)

Nagisa Oshima's Empire of Passion involves a plot that could work its way into any average mystery, thriller, or melodrama (and indeed ...

Synecdoche, New York (2008) A Film by Charlie Kaufman

The decade's most revealing, complicated, and self-lacerating filmmaker surrogate is Caden Cotard (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), standing in...