Justin Chang

In Defense of the Traditional Review Far from being a journalistic relic, as suggested by recent developments at the New York Times, arts criticism is inherently progressive, keeping art honest and pointing toward its future.

Every word of this, from @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

In Defense of the Traditional Review Far from being a journalistic relic, as suggested by recent developments at the New York Times, arts criticism is inherently progressive, keeping art honest and pointing toward its future.

Every word of this, from @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Was very mixed on the third one, but it looks much better now!

“Eddington” Is a Lethally Self-Satisfied COVID Satire In Ari Aster’s dark comedy, Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff of a New Mexico town riven by political clashes and pandemic anxieties.

Masked and QAnonymous: EDDINGTON, reviewed. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

“Cloud” Is a Cautionary Tale of E-Commerce—and the Summer’s Best Action Movie In Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film, a crafty online grifter learns that digital crimes beget analog punishments.

Web of lies: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s terrific CLOUD, reviewed. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Thanks, Greg! Love them both, too.

Thanks so much, Ben!

In Dreams: The Atomic Reveries of The Return In this exclusive essay, Amy Taubin explores the surrealist dreamscapes of The Return’s extraordinary eighth episode, tracing a line from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca to the nuclear reveries of the Amer...

This is a dazzling piece by Amy Taubin on the eighth episode of David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: The Return.” It’s criticism at its absolute finest. @amyornot.bsky.social

mubi.com/en/program-n...

Double, double oil and rubble: here's "Bleak Magic," my essay for the new @criterion.bsky.social release of William Friedkin's magnificent SORCERER. www.criterion.com/current/post...

illegal war started by a man constitutionally ineligible to be president

“Familiar Touch” Is an Exquisitely Fragmentary Portrait of Memory Loss In Sarah Friedland’s début feature, Kathleen Chalfant plays an octogenarian with dementia adapting to the constraints and possibilities of assisted living.

In praise of Kathleen Chalfant, who gives one of the year’s finest performances in FAMILIAR TOUCH, Sarah Friedland’s superb first feature. Opens Friday, June 20, at Film Forum: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

“Materialists” Is a Thoughtful Romantic Drama That Doesn’t Quite Add Up In Celine Song’s follow-up to “Past Lives,” Dakota Johnson plays a New York City matchmaker caught between a designer Mr. Right and an impoverished ex-boyfriend.

Pascal’s triangle: on MATERIALISTS, the latest from Celine Song, in theatres this Friday. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Jafar Panahi’s Cannes Triumph Sends a Warning to Authoritarians Everywhere The Iranian director’s Palme d’Or-winning thriller, “It Was Just an Accident,” set the tone for a festival defined by dramas of political resistance.

I wrote about the stunning career triumph of Jafar Panahi's IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT and other films of political resistance and reckoning at Cannes 2025, with notes on PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK and MY FATHER'S SHADOW. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

The Film Comment Podcast: 2025 #9 Shelter from the storm: critics Justin Chang, Tim Grierson, and Allison Willmore wrap up the 2025 edition with Bi Gan’s Resurrection, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, and more

On my last day in Cannes, I was on the Film Comment podcast (alongside @alisonwillmore.bsky.social, @justincchang.bsky.social and host Devika Girish) to talk about some of the festival's final premieres. (I was pretty rapturous about RESURRECTION and especially THE MASTERMIND.)

Bracing for Astershocks.

This piece will be online-only, but thank you!

All the Films in Competition at Cannes 2025, Ranked from Best to Worst The festival served up its richest edition in years, with multiple standouts among the twenty-two films in contention for the Palme d’Or.

I came, I saw, I concurred with those who felt this was the strongest Cannes in years. Here's my annual competition ranking — a tougher exercise than usual and, as always, a provisional one. Hope to revisit many of these movies in months to come: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

But wrong about Nos. 21, 22, and probably much else! Thank you, my friend.

PANAHI D'OR

Jafar Panahi has won the Golden Lion at Venice (THE CIRCLE), the Golden Bear at Berlin (TAXI), and now the Palme d'Or at Cannes (IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT).

He is the fourth director to win top honors at all three festivals, after Clouzot, Antonioni, and Altman.

“Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning” Goes Hard on Valediction The eighth (and perhaps the last) installment in the epochal Tom Cruise vehicle suffers from self-indulgent gravitas, but the best sequences are a model of action cinema at its purest.

I reviewed THE ETHAN HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

THE HISTORY OF SOUND: Folk-Track Mountain. #Cannes

A New Wave of Cinematic Riches Arrives at Cannes In its first week, the seventy-eighth film festival showcased new movies by Richard Linklater, Spike Lee, Lynne Ramsay, and Mascha Schilinski.

Was going to post this link later, but whatever, I’ll do it now: here’s a first dispatch from #Cannes, with notes on NOUVELLE VAGUE, HIGHEST 2 LOWEST, DIE MY LOVE and SOUND OF FALLING. More to come … www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

SIRÂT: Mad Laxe: Fury Road. #Cannes2025

Cannes Jury President Condemns Killing of Palestinian Journalist At the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony, jury president Juliette Binoche condemned the killing of Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, saying she ‘should have been among us tonight.’

At the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony, jury president Juliette Binoche condemned the killing of Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, saying she ‘should have been among us tonight.’

Voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theater are not permitted.

But ... the theatre is named after Louis Lumière! How can you ban large trains? #Cannes2025

Very happy to be there and thank you for the kind words.

One of the year’s best movies is now in U.S. theatres: Jia Zhangke’s ingeniously retconned archival epic CAUGHT BY THE TIDES, which, for all its career-spanning intricacy, can be enjoyed, and indeed surrendered to, without an advanced degree in Jiametry. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Such wonderful news. Congratulations, Alexandra! Thrilled for you.

CONGRATS!!!! The best news. Thrilled for you.