Letterboxd — Your life in film

Critic Joshua Ray is covering the 2021 Nashville Film Festival for CSL. Today he spotlights three international narrative features: Window Boy Would Also Like a Submarine, The Tale of King Crab, and Green Sea:

Critic Joshua Ray is covering the 2021 Nashville Film Festival for CSL. Today he spotlights three indie narrative features: Porcupine, Queen of Glory, and Old Henry.

Critic Joshua Ray is covering the 2021 Nashville Film Festival for CSL. Today he spotlights three LGBTQ+ features: the documentaries Trans in Trumpland and Socks on Fire; and the narrative drama See You Then.

Critic Joshua Ray caught Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy at the New York Film Festival recently. At the Lens, he has a review of this latest feature from a filmmaker who is fast emerging as one of the greats of the 21st century:

Critic Joshua Ray is covering the 2021 Nashville Film Festival for CSL, and he has the first of several dispatches highlighting the films he's been screening. Today he looks at three features about music: the documentaries Fanny: The Right to Rock and I'm Wanita and the narrative drama Poser:

Director Maria Schrader's sci-fi fable I'm Your Man opens locally this Friday, and will be available on VOD on Oct. 12. Critic Andrew Wyatt has a review:

The 13th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. Prior to the August 29 festival screening of François Truffaut's Two English Girls (1971), critic Robert Garrick provided an introduction to the film. A written version of this introduction can be found at CSL's The Lens:

Director Matías Piñeiro'a Isabella opened in select cities earlier this month, and will screen nightly this Fri - Sun at the Webster University Film Series. Critic Kayla McCulloch has a review:

Critic Andrew Wyatt takes a break from film to look at the indie "tactical storytelling" game Wildermyth, examining how this whimsical, genre-bending RPG teaches players to embrace narrative messiness:

The Nowhere Inn, director Bill Benz's metafictional feature about the musician St. Vincent, opens today in theaters and is also available to rent from major online platforms. Critic Joshua Ray has a review:

Blue Bayou, the new drama from writer, director, and star Justin Chon, opens today in select theaters. At the Lens, critic Kayla McCulloch has a review:

Tsai Ming-liang's Days opened in select U.S. cities last month, and will be screening nightly this Fri-Sun at the Webster Univeristy Film Series. Critic Andrew Wyatt has a review of the Taiwanese filmmaker's new drama, his first in eight years:

Director Jia Zhangke's new documentary, Swimming Out Til the Sea Turns Blue, screens this weekend at the Webster University Film Series. At The Lens, critic Andrew Wyatt has a review:

In a new essay, critic Joshua Ray looks at three recent films -- Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, Sundance darling CODA, and 1990s UK period drama Beats -- and how they express the agony and ecstasy of music:

Director Sean Penn's Flag Day is now playing in theaters. Critic Kayla McCulloch has a review of the film, which is based on a true story and stars Penn's daughter, Dylan Penn:

The new animated feature The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf premiered on Netflix last week, where it serves as a prequel to the streaming giant's live action series The Witcher and as standalone dark action-fantasy story. Critic Andrew Wyatt reviews this latest anime-style production from South Korea's Studio Mir (The Legend of Korra, Voltron: Legendary Defender):

The ongoing 13th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. As a preface to this Saturday's festival screening of Jacques Deray's La Piscine (1969), critic Kayla McCulloch provides an appreciation of the film:

Writer-director Nia DaCosta's Candyman – a 29-years-later sequel / re-imagining of the 1992 original – opens tomorrow in select theaters. Critic Andrew Wyatt has a review:

The ongoing 13th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. Prior to the August 22 festival screening of Jean-Jacque Beineix’s Betty Blue (1986), critic Andrew Wyatt provided an introduction to the film. A written version of this introduction can be found at CSL's The Lens:

With the arrival of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad in theaters and on HBO Max last weekend, critic Andrew Wyatt recommends WB Animation's ongoing series, Harley Quinn. He says that the R-rated animated show -- two seasons of which are now available to stream on HBO Max -- works as a witty buddy sitcom, as a slow-burn romance, and as a caustic satire of the superhero genre:

Director Tom McCarthy's Stillwater is now playing in theaters. At the Lens, critic Kayla McCulloch has a review of the latest film from the Oscar-winning director Spotlight:

Director Leigh Janiak's Fear Street trilogy is now available to stream from Netflix. At the Lens, critic Andrew Wyatt looks at all three features -- Part One - 1994, Part Two - 1978, and Part Three - 1666 -- and unpacks the series' highs and lows:

Playing with Sharks, director Sally Aitken's new biodoc of spearfisher, photographer, and conservationist Valerie Taylor, is now available to stream from Disney+. At The Lens, critic Kayla McCulloch has a review:

Writer-director David Lowery's The Green Knight opens in select theaters on Friday. At the Lens, critic Andrew Wyatt enthuses over the film's "marvelously weird" vision of a hero's journey:

The final episode of the Stephen King mini-series Lisey's Story premiered on AppleTV+ last week. At the Lens, critic Andrew Wyatt digs into this unusual collaboration between the pop-horror master and acclaimed Chilean director Pablo Larraín:

Director Augustine Frizzell's The Last Letter from Your Lover is available to stream from Netflix today. At the Lens, critic Kayla McCulloch has a review of the film, which is an adaptation of Jojo Moyes' bestselling novel:

The Witches of the Orient, director Julien Faraut's documentary on the Japan women's national volley ball team of the 1960s, is now playing in select theaters and virtual cinemas. Critic Joshua Ray has a review:

Writer-director Michael Sarnoski's feature debut Pig opens select theaters tomorrow. Critic Andrew Wyatt has a review of the film, which he says is one of the year's best:

Film studies professor and writer Frank P. Tomasulo, Ph.D., turns his skeptical eye on Rocky (1976) for "Culturally Significant", a new occasional series at The Lens that re-examines the works of the American cinematic canon.

On the occasion of a new Blu-ray release of the film, critic Kayla McCulloch sings the praises of Howard Hawks' 1938 classic Bringing Up Baby, explaining why it still stands up as one of the greatest screwball comedies of all time:

The Tunisian horror film Dachra opens in virtual cinemas tomorrow. Critic Andrew Wyatt has a review of writer-director Abdelhamid Bouchnak's North African spin on the "cannibal hillbilly horror" subgenre:

Director Janicza Bravo's new feature Zola -- allegedly the first film inspired by a Twitter thread -- is now playing in select theaters. Lens critic Joshua Ray has a review:

Lens critic Andrew Wyatt looks at the past month's new streaming and VOD horror features, including Caveat, Censor, An Unquiet Grave, False Positive, and Werewolves Within.

Director Jaco Bouwer's eco-horror feature Gaia is now playing in theaters, and will be available to rent on VOD platforms this Friday. Lens critic Andrew Wyatt has a review of the film:

Director Mariem Pérez Riera's new biodoc, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, is now playing in theaters. Lens critic Kayla McCulloch has a review of the film:

Canadian writer-director Jeanne Leblanc's new French-language drama, Les Nôtres, opens in select cities today, concurrently with its VOD premiere. Lens critic Andrew Wyatt has a review of the film: