Justin Chang

Many thanks, David.🙏

Richard Linklater’s Uncompromising Artists In two new historical films, “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague,” the director explores the challenges of staying true to a creative vision.

I profiled Richard Linklater on the occasion of his remarkable 2025 double bill, BLUE MOON and NOUVELLE VAGUE. We talked Austin, Cannes, Paris, OKLAHOMA!, beginnings (and ends) of beautiful friendships, and how to pursue a singular vision in a collaborative medium. www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...

“One Battle After Another” Is a Powerhouse of Tenderness and Fury In Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” the fight against American fascism is a family affair.

There Willa be blood: Paul Thomas Anderson’s exhilarating ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, reviewed. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

FILM CRITICS’ GROUPS DENOUNCE NEXSTAR AND DISNEY-ABC DECISIONS TO SUSPEND “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” We, the members of the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics, strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. For decades, our organizations have represented a profession that is enabled by the First Amendment. Kimmel’s long-running talk show promotes free speech, including when it gives film artists the chance to discuss their work. There is only one word to describe the decision by powerful media corporations to silence an individual’s perspective due to fear of repercussions by the government: censorship. This is the antithesis of the values embodied by our work. We demand a reversal of this decision and encourage our colleagues across the industry to do the same.

We strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! off the air.

FILM CRITICS’ GROUPS DENOUNCE NEXSTAR AND DISNEY-ABC DECISIONS TO SUSPEND “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” We, the members of the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics, strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. For decades, our organizations have represented a profession that is enabled by the First Amendment. Kimmel’s long-running talk show promotes free speech, including when it gives film artists the chance to discuss their work. There is only one word to describe the decision by powerful media corporations to silence an individual’s perspective due to fear of repercussions by the government: censorship. This is the antithesis of the values embodied by our work. We demand a reversal of this decision and encourage our colleagues across the industry to do the same.

We strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! off the air.

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced. I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.

Firing a Black woman for quoting Kirk’s horrific statements about Black women is insane. It seems the Washington Post would rather perform politeness (and demand that the people Kirk harmed do it too) that tell the truth: karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-washin...

Warmest of welcomes to Lovia Gyarkye, the newest member of the National Society of Film Critics. Congratulations, Lovia!

Casual Viewing | Will Tavlin A decade before Airbnb persuaded homeowners to transform their homes into hotels, Netflix convinced its users to turn theirs into mini Netflix warehouses. Customers who held onto their DVDs for longer...

As long as we’re on the subject of Netflix and movies (however reluctantly!) I recommend this piece by @tavlin.bsku.social about why so many Netflix movies suck: www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/ess...

In light of Vanity Fair's recent idiotic decision, WaPo's offering its veteran critic a buyout, the NYT's "reassigning" three arts writers critics, etc., a lot of us are talking about the public's (and thus publications') lack of interest in criticism. It's part of a larger pattern of a war...

“My Undesirable Friends: Part I” Is a Staggering Portrait of Russian Journalists in Dissent In Julia Loktev’s epic documentary, filmed before, during, and after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, several courageous Moscow reporters see their worst fears realized.

"Evil is not eternal, and truth will surely win." On dissidence, despair, and defiant hope in Julia Loktev's extraordinary five-part documentary, MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

To hell with this. Richard is one of our finest critics, and Vanity Fair and its readers are so much poorer for this incredibly stupid decision.

63rd New York Film Festival Spotlight Selections Announced This year's Spotlight section showcases a selection of 12 significant and anticipated features, including three world premieres, two U.S. premieres, and six New York premieres, as well as nine short f...

Two Linklaters, two Day-Lewises, and about a PILLION other reasons to be excited for the 63rd New York Film Festival's Spotlight lineup: www.filmlinc.org/nyff/daily/6...

Dreckier Friday

'Freakier Friday' Is Humiliating to Everyone Involved And it's just the latest in a heap of summer sequels and remakes that seem to exist to turn audiences into nostalgia zombies.

Only a great critic can go into a movie as drecky as FREAKIER FRIDAY and emerge with a review as expansive, considered, and thoughtful — not just about the movie, but about the industry that produced it — as the incomparable @szacharek.bsky.social does here: time.com/7308212/frea...

The Piercing Immigrant Drama of “Souleymane’s Story” In Boris Lojkine’s sharply observed Paris-set drama, a Guinean refugee struggles to survive—and to cling to the truth of who he is.

The considerable power of Boris Lojkine’s new film “Souleymane’s Story” depends entirely on its moment-to-moment persuasiveness, on a set of narrative and aesthetic choices that, as presented, seldom feel like choices at all, @justincchang.bsky.social writes.

63rd New York Film Festival Main Slate Announced This year’s Main Slate showcases films from 26 countries, among them two world, eight North American, and 13 U.S. premieres.

Sound of fall-ing: Behold, the glorious Main Slate of the 63rd New York Film Festival! Programming this with Dennis Lim, Florence Almozini, Rachel Rosen and K. Austin Collins was, as ever, a joy. www.filmlinc.org/nyff/daily/6...

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.)