An obvious advantage of a film project structured in the way that the DAU project is is the ability to develop characters both as protagonists and as secondary characters; by showing us certain people through their own eyes and through the eyes of a revolving door of main characters, we get a richer, more complex view of this human matrix. Viewers watching the project in order of release will have seen this iteration of Dau and Nora twice (in Nora…

Among the best debut features of the 2010s, Ham on Rye unites the humanism and attention to detail of Robert Bresson with a uniquely subdued style of direction and aesthetic sensibility that feels to be inspired by some of modern American cinema's more sincere, soul-baring filmmakers (to varying degrees, Linklater, Zemeckis, and Shyamalan). Such is the level of cinematographic and directorial talent on display that should the dialogue have been cut, little would have changed in our understanding of its…

All About Eve has one of the better ensemble casts that I've seen in a film, but Anne Baxter's performance as the title character is truly astounding, with such an inspired blend of sweetness and diabolical bite as to render the apparent insanity of the rest of the characters totally understandable. The film's web of lies and loyalties drives a very interesting intrigue that does well to reflect back on its characters and finds a worthwhile purpose in the drama.…

After having seen only three of his films, I'm starting to think that Guillermo del Toro chooses to work in a "fairy tale" register because it means that he gets to be lazy with characterization and thematic development, chalking it up to the simplicity of the form. There is little other excuse that I can think of for why the villains in his films, perhaps true for The Shape of Water even more than for Pan's Labyrinth, seem to be…

Visually, Birdman is a beautiful film whose appearance as one unbroken take allows us to understand the complexity of life behind the Broadway stage and the fast-paced nature of the world of theatre. It is this world where we find Riggan Thomson, a washed-up actor who is about to star in a stage adaptation of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love that he both wrote and directed but who struggles with his own descent from fame. Despite…