A Michael Mann-ish heist thriller that is also the somewhat literal story of a woman burying her grief after the death of her husband that is also a sharp look at politics, capitalism, crime, and racism in an American city.

Basically, Thief + Season 3 of The Wire + all the Chicago scenery from The Fugitive with a sprinkle of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. 

As I think about it, the comparison to The Fugitive is apt. Steve McQueen and co-writer…

What is Fritz Lang's Berlin?

It's a sparse and barren place, cloaked in shadows, its inhabitants twisted in body and soul, either physically grotesque or enthralled to their basest, ugliest emotions. Police and criminals are indistinguishable, both decayed and decadent, venal and violent. And while the people of the city are justly fearful of the killer who lives amongst them—who preys on their children out of some horrific compulsion—that terror is no excuse for how they've given themselves over to…

The fact that it’s taken me almost two weeks to write a review for this movie should be evidence enough of how much it’s weighed on my mind.

I almost don’t know what to say. Words that come to mind when thinking about this movie are: stark, austere, claustrophobic, uncompromising, compassionate, angry, beautiful, bleak, righteous.

This is a film about a man in profound spiritual crisis, whose inner deterioration is reflected in the literal deterioration of the environment around him.…