Québécois cinema (and director Philippe Lesage) for the win once again!

Much like I did after discovering Lesage's most recent film Who by Fire at last year's New York Film Festival, I came away from this two-hour film feeling like I'd just spent WEEKS engrossed in a really great novel. Not in of plot density or epic action, which are actually pretty spare here, but more the overall richness of FEELING, the way its unique combination of images and…

CRITERION CHALLENGE 2025: Watch a film that would be your first choice in the Criterion Closet

"I haven't done anything to be proud of. I've just muddled through."

Most gay-themed films I watch these days tend to be "coming of age" stories that connect with my own childhood memories and "coming out" experiences as an older gay teen. It's rare to find a film that speaks this directly and maturely to my life RIGHT NOW as a gay man fast…

CRITERION CHALLENGE 2025: Celine Song's Top 10

As a suspenseful "what would we do in that character's shoes?" morality play, psychological thriller, and unsettling social commentary all rolled into one, this had me riveted to the edge of my seat.

But Kurosawa cranks the tension up to such intense and almost unbearable levels that everything after that heart-pounding train sequence feels like a bit of a let-down, once the film more or less abandons Toshiro Mifune's Gondo and his fascinating…

CRITERION CHALLENGE 2025: Watch a film from the Criterion Channel's All-Time Favorites List

Strikes me as the kind of film for which one's appreciation grows with each subsequent viewing, and I'm pretty sure I'll rate this even higher after seeing it again at some point.

But for the first hour, I have to confess that I was bored out of my mind in a way a film hasn't bored me in a VERY long time, squirming restlessly in my seat…

I think this might be the first film from Luca Guadagnino that left me feeling absolutely nothing at all.

"Hot on the outside, cold on the inside," the lead character says at one point. He's describing Baked Alaska, but could just as easily be talking about this film. Only one brief scene early-on brought the kind of intense, electric eroticism that I had expected from the rest of the film. Everything else was just so mind-numbingly boring and a real…

We've all had that one exaggeratedly eccentric friend who always shows up to every social gathering ready to play their role to perfection, but occasionally goes overboard out of a kind of self-conscious desperation to live up to the outrageous reputation that precedes them. Maybe you've even been that friend yourself?

This movie is THAT friend. And after a certain point I was just like okay, Yorgos, chill. We all know you like to be weird and provocative, but maybe…