Reviews
Listening Booth
Marlon Williams Finds a Sunnier Mood
On “My Boy,” the New Zealand singer-songwriter experiments with electronic flourishes in search of a lighthearted groove.
The Front Row
“The Cathedral”: A Joltingly Original Drama of a Young Person’s Artistic Coming of Age
Ricky D’Ambrose’s genre-mixing, highly personal new film has ambitions far beyond anything he’s done to date.
The Front Row
“Funny Pages,” Reviewed: The Conventional Rebellion of a Teen-Age Prodigy
The writer-director Owen Kline’s début is a serious comedy about a young comic-book artist’s conflicting quests for freedom and approval.
The Front Row
What to Stream: “Posse,” a Wild Western of High Purpose
The director Mario Van Peebles dramatizes the centrality of Black people as cowboys and townspeople in the history of the American West.
The Front Row
The Cruel and Arrogant Gaze of Nathan Fielder’s “The Rehearsal”
Fielder is obsessed with his subjects’ behavior—and his ability to control it—but shows little interest in their inner lives.
Annals of Gastronomy
“The Bear” Is a Gritty Fairy Tale of Cooking and Grief
In FX’s excellent new series, the chefs at a Chicago hot-beef restaurant struggle to maintain a little pilot light of hope.
The Front Row
“The Last Movie Stars” Is a Festive Canonization of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
Ethan Hawke’s documentary is hagiographic, but it’s also canny, inventive, and revelatory.
The Front Row
“Thor: Love and Thunder,” Reviewed: Marvel as a Faith-Based Organization
Taika Waititi has made a brisk and amiable movie, but he can’t transcend the franchise’s sludgy formulas.
The Front Row
“The Tsugua Diaries,” Reviewed: A Brilliant, Backward-Running Chronicle of COVID Lockdown
In this drama about a film crew at work on a farm in Portugal, it’s hard to tell where the movie ends and life begins.
The Front Row
“Armageddon Time,” Reviewed: A New York Childhood in the Crucible of American History
Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong star in James Gray’s furious new film, an autobiographical drama about white privilege in school and at home.
Culture Desk
“Petite Maman” Is a Minor Miracle
Céline Sciamma’s new film taps into our secret wish to learn what our parents were like when they were young.
The Front Row
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Reviewed: There’s No There There
Despite the presence of Michelle Yeoh, this is a vapor puff of corporatized fantasy.
The Front Row
“Ahed’s Knee,” Reviewed: An Israeli Filmmaker’s Crackup Shatters the Screen
Nadav Lapid’s work of personal political cinema is emotionally intense, intellectually incisive, and physically demanding.
The Front Row
Metaphysical Horror Becomes All Too Real in the Audacious “Master”
Mariama Diallo’s first feature uses horror-genre devices to reveal the ambient racism pervading American life.
The Front Row
The Politics of Beauty in “After Yang”
The characters in Kogonada’s new film live in a soft techno-fascism of petty pleasures and alluring surfaces.
The Front Row
“Cyrano,” Reviewed: A Musical Adaptation Plagued by Niceness
Peter Dinklage, in the title role, tries valiantly to invigorate Joe Wright’s watered-down take on the classic play.
The Front Row
The Supernatural Menace and Splendor of “Strawberry Mansion”
The filmmakers Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney have conjured a wild, lyrical science-fiction world on a small budget.
The Front Row
“The Worst Person in the World” Is a Sham, Except for Its Lead Performance
Joachim Trier’s drama about an intrepid and passionate young woman in Oslo reduces her to a handful of character traits.
The Front Row
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter” Is Sluggish, Spotty, and a Major Achievement
Her adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel, starring Olivia Colman, reflects the conventions of literary cinema while revealing what’s missing from movies at large.
2021 in Review
Restaurants We Loved in 2021
Despite the hardships of last year and the uncertainties of this one, new culinary pleasures were myriad as New York City reopened.