Why is my first instinct to defend Forrest Gump rather than sing its deserved praise? Released in the year of Pulp Fiction and in the midst of the American culture wars, the movie became a symbol for folks on all sides. What it became less of, with each successive argument, was a movie. That’s too

How thoroughly does Joan Crawford own Grand Hotel? She makes Greta Garbo superfluous. A star parade (and Best Picture winner), Grand Hotel unfairly encourages such comparisons. Crawford and Garbo are joined by the likes of John Barrymore, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore as various residents of a luxury hotel in Berlin. As a diva ballerina,

Robert Bresson once again uses the intensely physical to explore the deeply philosophical. In the case of Pickpocket, the act of lifting a wallet from a man’s jacket is a means to consider what the act of thievery swipes from the thief’s soul. Why do we steal? Is theft always wrong? Can those who break

Robert Bresson goes for the jugular here, even more so than in Au Hasard Balthazar. Mouchette is the sad – no, make that soul-sapping – story of a young teen (Nadine Nortier) whose life of poverty and misfortune devolves into horrific tragedy over the course of a few days. Balthazar the donkey had it good

How many masterpieces are this pure? The Bicycle Thieves is a landmark of Italian postwar neorealism, yet that reputation would suggest a more academic and obtuse experience than this lovely little film. A jobless husband and father (unprofessional actor Lamberto Maggiorani) desperately needs work. There is a job opening to put up posters around Rome,