Real Life: A Young, Honest Guy Like Himself
A brilliant satire, inspired by a 1973 PBS documentary series that gave rise to the reality-television genre, Albert Brooks’s first feature film examines the ethical dilemmas of combining cheap entertainment and sociological experiment.
Triangle of Sadness: The Captain’s Dinner Is Coming Up
In his second Palme d’Or–winning film, Ruben Östlund uses familiar reality-television tropes to stage a deeply unnerving spectacle of obscene wealth and class outrage.
Taste of Cherry: Stay Near the Tree
The first Iranian film to win the Palme d’Or, Abbas Kiarostami’s tale of one man’s despair leaves the question of whether life is worth living unanswered.
Matewan: All We Got in Common
In one of his most resonant works of political filmmaking, John Sayles painstakingly brings to life an important and volatile chapter in American labor history.
Alfred Hayes, Screenwriter
The author sheds some light on the fascinating life of the American scriptwriter behind Roberto Rossellini’s Paisan.