The scope managed by The Lives of Others, winner of the 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is especially impressive given that the movie is about a society obsessively focused on the tiniest of details. Set in 1984 East Berlin, Lives takes us into the operations of the state security service, or Stasi, as

You can feel Terrence Malick drifting away in this follow-up to Badlands, his acclaimed debut. Narrative begins to tack a back seat to imagery and specificity is shunned in favor of vagueness. It’s an early sign of a unique sensibility devolving into mannerisms. Despite its amorphousness, Days of Heaven is built upon a simple, elemental

There’s a tiny detail in Moon that nicely captures the unique experience of watching this tricky, twisty movie. The story is set on a lunar space station in which identifying signage appears on walls, equipment and so on. One particular note, stamped at the bottom of a ladder, caught my eye: “Mind step.” It’s a

A bittersweet mix of merriment and melancholia from writer-director Mike Leigh, who seems to suggest that the right balance of those two elements can bring about something resembling contentment. The film centers around Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen), a loving, in-love sixtyish couple whose home is a place of refuge for various

A patient, observant mood piece, Old Joy put director Kelly Reichardt on the map, instantly making her a critical darling. Two longtime friends (Daniel London and Will Oldham) embark on an impromptu camping trip, an experience that only delineates the fault lines that adulthood has opened between them. (London’s Mark is married, employed and expecting