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Tag: Drama

Grand Hotel (1932)

Drama Rated NR

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,

Pickpocket (1959)

Drama Rated NR

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

Young Adult (2011)

Drama Rated R

Should the fact that Young Adult ends almost exactly where it begins be considered a fault or a form of narrative integrity? Considering the movie seems to think it’s really taken us somewhere – the story is framed as a journey – I’d argue the former. Charlize Theron gives an open-wound performance as Mavis Gary,

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Drama Rated PG-13

"…a post-Katrina fairy tale made from real mud."

Mouchette (1967)

Drama Rated NR

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

Bicycle Thieves, The (1948)

Drama Rated NR

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,

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Drama Rated R

“The use of red is so overdone that you assume the color must be paying for some sort of product placement.

Coriolanus (2011)

Drama Rated R

“And you thought Ralph Fiennes was scary as Voldemort.

Diary of a Country Priest (1951)

Drama Rated NR

“…about the unexpected – and little understood – intermingling of the earthly and the divine.”

A Man Escaped (1956)

Drama Rated NR

The Filmspotting Bresson Marathon continues with this classic, a "work of sublime simplicity.&quot

Recent Reviews

Mother Mary (2026)

Drama Rated R

“A collage of religio-goth gestures…”

The Great Dictator (1940)

Comedy Rated G

“Charlie Chaplin was not messing around.”

Sophie’s Choice (1982)

Drama Rated R

“Streep has what can only be called a commanding fragility.”


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