Brendan Hodges

obviously Varda's always been a brilliant formalist, but she pulls off so many stylistic gambits here –– sudden bursts of close-ups, a montage of bodies as sensuous shapes, all the color dissolves, the camera using a tree to change focus as dancers change their partner mid-frame

finally saw LE BONHEUR and loved it, Varda's rictus portrait of doomed domesticity and solipsistic male violence; it reminded me of PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK in how it corrupts picture-perfect spaces through haunting absences. one of the most upsetting endings I've ever seen

How "The Secret Agent" Shows Us That Memory Is Resistance It’s a time of great mischief, and a man on the run desperately searches for his mother’s birth certificate. That time is 1977 Brazil, and under an alias, he works through endless rows of filing cabin...

I wrote about THE SECRET AGENT for @nextbestpicture.bsky.social, a hauntological thriller that shows how memory itself can be an act of resistance, doubling as a shield against regimes that seek to silence the future of their enemies:

nextbestpicture.com/how-the-secr...

like ordering assassins to hit Armando with a "hole in his mouth", nearly every action in THE SECRET AGENT centers the act of disrupting the collective memory, and thus the future, of those in Brazil, and I wanted to write about it:

nextbestpicture.com/how-the-secr...

How "The Secret Agent" Shows Us That Memory Is Resistance It’s a time of great mischief, and a man on the run desperately searches for his mother’s birth certificate. That time is 1977 Brazil, and under an alias, he works through endless rows of filing cabin...

I wrote about THE SECRET AGENT for @nextbestpicture.bsky.social, a hauntological thriller that shows how memory itself can be an act of resistance, doubling as a shield against regimes that seek to silence the future of their enemies:

nextbestpicture.com/how-the-secr...

I wrote about the dreamy awe of Pandora, Jake and Neytiri's love story that turns into a family crucible, the series' reputation and why it may be wrong, and how Cameron's digicinema style makes Pandora feel real.

Each is covered in its own chapter:

brightwalldarkroom.com/2026/03/02/d...

Avatar: Fire and Ash—Dreamwalking and the Book of Eywa Avatar: Fire and Ash—the end of one trilogy and the potential beginning of another—is the darkest, most complex, and personal of the three.

I wrote 6,000 words on AVATAR for @brightwalldarkroom.com, diving into how James Cameron's stereoscopic dreamland is a conduit for a radical, transportive empathy that harkens back to the origins of cinema itself:

www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2026/03/02/d...

very proud of this piece <3

Avatar: Fire and Ash—Dreamwalking and the Book of Eywa Avatar: Fire and Ash—the end of one trilogy and the potential beginning of another—is the darkest, most complex, and personal of the three.

New on the site!

Our Best of 2025 issue continues, with @brendanhodges.bsky.social on AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH

(🎨 by @mosesleeart.bsky.social)

I said nearly for a reason

seeing some people were let down by how low key this episode was, but those kinds of finales always been GOT’s best, falling action from the earlier climax. having this be a period of mourning and reflection that ends on a note of mischief and possibility was perfect imo

it’s been said GOT was strongest with two people in a room, and Dunk and Egg recaptures that better than anything since. Dunk’s buddies cheering him up, the pathos of a father seeing his failures, Egg’s dark side in conflict with a desire to escape. it’s wonderfully layered stuff

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS was a near perfect season of tv

one thing about THE PITT I’m always impressed by is how effectively they narrow in on entire character dynamics between staff (Robby and Langdon this episode) through one or two perfectly designed pieces of dialogue that crystallize those arcs amidst the chaos of the E.R.

finally caught up with NO OTHER CHOICE and there's nearly nobody better at digital cinema shenanigans than Park Chan-wook

grateful to all at @brightwalldarkroom.com for letting me tackle an unwieldy idea, this time for their best of 2025: on the money, music, capitalist critique, & doubles in SINNERS, and how I'd take this movie's explicit engagement with history over SIRÂT.

www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2026/02/17/m...

that episode of Dunk and Egg captured the dirty chaos of medieval combat better than anything I’ve seen since THE LAST DUEL. it maybe overdid the stylistic tricks a bit but that was as visceral, grueling, clumsy, and haphazardly deadly as it needed to be in the best possible way

Lonely Hearts Club: the Letterboxd crew’s favorite underseen romances • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine For Valentine’s Day, the Letterboxd crew pours our hearts into highlighting 23 underseen romance films that could use a little more tender love and care (in the form of additions to your watchlists).

read the rest of them here, there are some wonderful choices:

letterboxd.com/journal/unde...

for @letterboxd.social's list of underseen romances, I wrote about Lubitsch's TROUBLE IN PARADISE, a flirty caper about lustful thieves:

High praise!

I haven’t! If you want a big admission, I haven’t read a word Martin has written lol

just incredibly smart storytelling to layer the season with bursts of politically motivated action or dialogue, like the crowd storming the tournament or the anti-Targ speech, and have those beats pay off in the most personal terms. these guys know what they're doing

I love how A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS starts out as one kind of show –– a knight tries to join a tournament –– and you think you know what kind of show it is, only to become a more politically complex, grander show before you quite realize it's happening. it's perfect

those two sides, the outpour of nostalgia with that renewed appreciation, is overwhelming. I can barely hear the Shire theme without crying. the more I come to know of film, the more in awe I am these exist. and every time, I feel wiser, much older, and just a little bit healed.

at the same time, my love for the thematic intricacy and emotional depth has only deepened with age: the call of mortality, the impossibility of "return," that hope must be chosen. I could write essays (and likely will) about the madness of Peter Jackson's craftsmanship.

my mom (who passed in 2016) read me THE HOBBIT to prep for the films, they were referenced at school (kids in gym would shout "For Frodo" while kicking the ball), and my friends and I ~ obsessed ~over them. every time I revisit LOTR, all those emotions get swept up together.

I've been doing LORD OF THE RINGS at home and it's surreal to watch what helped create your childhood as an adult and discover they impact you the same if not more; the particular blend of deep nostalgia and refreshed awe is a unique kind of emotional in a way nothing else can be

THE DECADE PROJECT: THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015) w/ Brendan Hodges

The incredible mind of @brendanhodges.bsky.social and I go deep on Tarantino’s mean and violent mirror to the America of the past and the now - THE HATEFUL EIGHT on the 2015 #DecadeProject on @ohmpods.bsky.social

open.spotify.com/episode/4mG9...

I won't relitigate my issues with HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, but it's refreshing to see a show like KNIGHT with a real sense of purpose and narrative clarity. one of the best recent examples that all these expensive shows don't have to out epic each other, they just have to be good!

I've been frustrated how much media overcomplicates itself lately, trying to be meaningful by length or contrived importance. So trust when I say A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS is one of the most enjoyable things I've seen in ages, a show elegant in its simplicity. it's wonderful