The genius of Citizen Kane, is that while clearly about William Randolph Hearst in its particulars, in spirit, it could have just as easily been about Orson Welles. It is, at its core, a profile on narcissism. One that can be adjusted to fit all sizes, including that of its author, Herman Mankiewicz.
Fincher uses the very mechanism of Citizen Kane (opting for the black and white aesthetic, audio tricks, and fake news reels) to showcase connected episodes in Mank's…
Ron Howard’s movie largely scrubbed this of any overt politics save a few half-hearted gestures towards boot-strap ideology. The pace is clunky, the hillbilly aesthetic hamfisted, and the central tension (a pending interview with a prestigious law firm) lacking.
To the extent anything in the film does work it is in Vance’s relationship to his mother. Amy Adams’ performance successfully captures the subtleties of a parent with addiction; as the child, it is a layered trauma filled with pain, self-doubt,…
Filmed in 1993, Falling Down is a lodestar for modern times. In it, Michael Douglas plays a downsized defense worker. His name is Bill, but he is known to us by his personalized license plate: D-FENS. He is a white male alienated by capitalism, racial diversity, and gender equality. A deep inner rage boils just beneath the surface, a rage readily identifiable to anyone who knows a white man over 40. And that is what D-FENS is, the white everyman’s…
In Roma, director Alfonso Cuaròn has created a visually detailed snapshot of those typically unseen. The main character, Cleo (played by Yaritza Aparicio), is an indigenous domestic servant living with a professional middle-class family in an upscale neighborhood of Mexico City (from which the film draws its name, Roma). On the surface, the movie covers Cleo’s day-to-day existence: cleaning up after, caring for, and comforting a rambunctious family of six. And yet, the movie is so much more, packing in…
