Stop me if you think you’ve seen this one before . . . Cinema has an inherent ability to reshape time and, in the hands of a master filmmaker, temporality itself can become a unique means of immersive, brain-rewiring storytelling. Featuring looping timelines, fragmented memories, and alternate “b...

Merry Hitch-mas to all! For five decades, Alfred Hitchcock explored our innermost anxieties, desires, and obsessions in his diabolically constructed thrillers, which redefined the mechanics of screen terror through meticulous editing, voyeuristic camera work, and unforgettable set pieces. From ea...

In the 1990s and early 2000s, pop-culture juggernaut MTV was everywhere—including cinemas, where its logo graced films as hilarious, out-there, and improbable as BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA, THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY, and, yes, JACKASS: THE MOVIE. Practically defining the youth zeitgeist o...

The one and only “Pope of Trash,” John Waters has always pushed the envelope of independent cinema to bizarre, grotesque, and subversive extremes with a sense of humor and panache that makes the outrageous infectious and the blasphemous a blast. Beyond shock and thrills, his deep empathy for his ...

In the early 1930s—when the censorial Hollywood Production Code wasn’t yet enforced and sex, sin, and sleaze were splashed across the screen with abandon—Columbia Pictures was distinguished by the working-class, populist milieu of their productions, which stood in contrast to the polished, escapi...

A sui generis icon of counterculture cinema and style, John Waters upends traditional notions of “good taste” and heteronormative social conventions with a gleefully transgressive mix of camp humor, outrageous provocation, and daring empathy. In this edition of Adventures in Moviegoing, he sits d...

Steeped in Irish history and lore, the films of Dónal Foreman are searching, shape-shifting explorations of place, cultural memory, and national identity. Working across narrative, documentary, and experimental practices, his three features to date—the vivid Dublin-set youth portrait OUT OF HERE,...

Originator of the hugely popular ZATOICHI and LONE WOLF AND CUB franchises, Kenji Misumi was a master of the chanbara (“sword fighting”) genre who brought thrilling stylistic flourishes and unique psychological and emotional depth to his many classic films. Among his finest achievements, the thre...