ReelViews for NR movies

The most popular cinematic export from Japan is inarguably the samurai movie. Whole books have been devoted to the genre, and more than one mail-order video business has made a tidy profit shipping samurai tapes and DVDs around the world. The mos...

Shadow of a Doubt is a Hitchcock film that doesn’t necessarily feel like a Hitchcock film. That doesn’t mean it’s not a bona fide classic but many of the tropes that would come to be identified with the Master of Suspense are conspicuously a...

Commandment Five: "Thou shalt not kill." A Short Film About Killing, Krzysztof Kieslowski's powerful examination of the nature of murder, was a stunning success at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, taking home the Jury prize. In the same year, t...

Commandment Six: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." A Short Film About Love, the second of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue episodes to be transformed into a feature film (the other being A Short Film about Killing), takes a unique look at the ...

With something as controversial as Shortbus, you can never get a sense of what you're in for based on word-of-mouth, especially when there's no consensus. Some think it's a masterpiece (or nearly so). Others think it's an abomination. Such a divisi...

Hollywood films about teenage girls invariably focus on two things: boyfriends and popularity. It's not surprising, since those two aspects of high school life comprise a significant portion of the average teenager's existence. With hormones rag...

In subject matter as much as in artwork style, A Silent Voice illustrates the wide gulf that separates Japanese anime from traditional American animation. Not in a million years would Disney approach this material. Animation in the United Stat...

The only reason Soul Kitchen is being marketed as an "art film" in the United States is because it is subtitled. On merit, this is as mainstream as one can imagine - a generic, feel-good plot that's fit for a sit-com. Call it My Big Fat Greek Res...

"People ask if this film is autobiographical, and many of the circumstances in it are but I've pushed them farther than they really went. It's personal, but not completely autobiographical. It was common in my home and my friends' homes to s...

One of the great benefits of a strong worldwide communication web is the ability to explore corners of the cinematic universe previously unavailable. Despite having a recognizable international cast, a well-known director, and a story that wou...