LightNews LightNews
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
@tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
3.9K followers 460 following 1K posts
Posts Replies Media Videos
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Word for the night shift: The President's Cake is not to be missed—one of the few films to reclaim the inner essence of Italian Neorealism—but, caveat spectator, its second week will have fewer daily showtimes.
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social tnyfrontrow.bsky.social @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social · 19h
In his first feature, The President's Cake, set in Iraq in 1990, Hasan Hadi brings new style and new substance to a classic story of children fending for themselves amid social turmoil; now playing, highly recommended:
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“The President’s Cake” Is a Neorealist Treasure from Iraq
The first feature by Hasan Hadi, set in 1990, depicts the agonies of war and dictatorship as experienced by a schoolgirl in the course of a high-stakes day.
www.newyorker.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:55 AM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Greatly enjoyed @justincchang.bsky.social's review of "'Wuthering Heights.'" I found the film facile and laughable but I'm sympathetic to excuses made for it, because very few romantic melodramas are being made—and even fewer by directors with a personal touch (for better or worse)...
February 10, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Reposted
midcenturycinema.bsky.social
2/10/65: Agnes Varda's Le Bonheur
Our Varda appreciation: midcenturycinema.org/wp-content/u...
More:
@tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
Amy Taubin: www.criterion.com/current/post...
@jslaterwilliams.bsky.social: www.vaguevisages.com/2016/05/31/v...
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘Le Bonheur’
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘Le Bonheur’ | Vague Visages (Vawg-Vee-Sawj)
vaguevisages.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:12 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
In his first feature, The President's Cake, set in Iraq in 1990, Hasan Hadi brings new style and new substance to a classic story of children fending for themselves amid social turmoil; now playing, highly recommended:
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“The President’s Cake” Is a Neorealist Treasure from Iraq
The first feature by Hasan Hadi, set in 1990, depicts the agonies of war and dictatorship as experienced by a schoolgirl in the course of a high-stakes day.
www.newyorker.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Reposted
midcenturycinema.bsky.social
2/8/89: Jacques Rivette's Gang of Four, w/Bulle Ogier
Very on brand
More:
@tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/goings-on-ab...
@carynjames.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/1989/12/22/m...
Mackenzie Lukenbill/ @screenslate.bsky.social: www.screenslate.com/articles/gan...
The Gang of Four
By pure coincidence, Film Society of Lincoln Center's screening of Jacques Rivette's The Gang of Four (1989) as part of their showcase of women cinematographers (it was shot by Caroline Champetier, wh...
www.screenslate.com
February 9, 2026 at 1:18 AM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's theatre-centric All About Eve is one of the great movies about the cinema as such and about Hollywood as misunderstood by those who look down at it (details in video): tonight at 7 at @paristheaternyc.bsky.social introduced by Odie Henderson:
www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
Movie of the Week: “All About Eve”
“All About Eve” is one of the greatest movies about theatre—an idea that, in itself, opens an ironic abyss ripe for exploration.
www.newyorker.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:48 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Plus ça change à Cannes, from 1978: producer Harry Salzman said, "there was a lot of unhappiness last year because the prize was awarded to ‘Padre Padrone,’ which was a movie made for television by R.I.A., [sic], the Italian state network, rather than for theatrical exhibition.":
At the Movies (Published 1978)
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:32 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
In 1929, Rouben Mamoulian, man of the theatre, made the great theatre-centric Applause, with an effort at a distinctively cinematic aesthetic—and was recognized for it in @newyorker.com at the time; at 1pm at Film Forum in 35mm.:
www.newyorker.com/goings-on-ab...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/192...
Applause
www.newyorker.com
February 8, 2026 at 5:04 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Send Help is a setup for shocks and twists; a little fun but mostly flashy, empty and, above all, incurious, including about the absolute basics: a better title would be No Shit, because they don't (capsule review from next week's Goings On, scroll down: link.newyorker.com/view/5bea068...
Goings On Newsletter
link.newyorker.com
February 7, 2026 at 7:36 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Kelly Reichardt: "The landscape, the lighting, or the music shouldn't dictate your emotion. I don't want to film a sunset. My mother always asked me, 'Are you happy?' And I answered that I don't know what she's talking about. I suppose that I have a fear of sentimentality."...
February 7, 2026 at 4:48 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
1. 400 Blows
2. Mississippi Mermaid
3. A Gorgeous Girl Like Me
4. Fahrenheit 451
5. The Man Who Loved Women
February 6, 2026 at 8:11 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
The realism of Akinola Davies, Jr.'s first feature, My Father's Shadow (opening next Friday) is something else, more like mytho-realism, because its first-person story goes past personal memory into family, community, and history; highly recommended: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“My Father’s Shadow” Is Intensely—Yet Obliquely—Autobiographical
Akinola Davies, Jr.,’s début feature, scripted by his older brother, Wale, follows two brothers and their father during Nigeria’s historic 1993 election.
www.newyorker.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Reposted
midcenturycinema.bsky.social
2/5/74: Very #70s: Patty Hearst Kidnapped
Note the fine Paul Schrader film, w/Natasha Richardson, Ving Rhames
-Kael: "a lean, impressive piece of work"
More:
@redroomrantings.bsky.social: vaguevisages.com/2016/09/22/o...
@tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
February 6, 2026 at 12:59 AM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
The friendship of Timothée Chalamet and Anamaria Vartolomei gives hope that he'll join her in a film by Bruno Dumont (The Second Empire?). His manner, like Fabrice Luchini's, is made for Dumont—an unavoidably flippancy.
February 6, 2026 at 2:07 AM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
I knew from the start that there's something wrong with the way that extras are deployed in Schindler's List (one of the many things wrong with the film), wrote about it a while ago, and found further confirmation in the new interview with Elina Löwensohn by @jhoffman.bsky.social
February 5, 2026 at 7:51 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
The only problem with movies as good as Filipiñana and zi is that, with their comprehensive artistry, they make most other films a letdown. Can't live only on the peaks, more modest virtues should also be discussed and celebrated, but it's important to acknowledge the difference.
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social tnyfrontrow.bsky.social @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social · 6d
Much fun "at" Sundance (at home, online) thanks to two great films that premièred there, Rafael Manuel's Filipiñana and Kogonada's zi; delighted to have seen them, even more so to keep them in mind afterward:
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Sundance Is a Feast of World Cinema
This year’s edition of the prime showcase for American independent filmmaking offered two instant classics, “Filipiñana” and “zi,” made in Asia.
www.newyorker.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Reposted
midcenturycinema.bsky.social
2/2/70: Frederick Wiseman's Hospital
(Great double feature: open w/Kieslowski's short doc Hospital/Szpital - @filmotomy.bsky.social: filmotomy.com/krzysztof-ki...
More:
@nicolasrapold.bsky.social: www.ft.com/content/e0d9...
@tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
The Front Row: “Hospital”
Frederick Wiseman’s 1970 documentary reveals how medical professionals work the New York health-care system for their patients’ well-being.
www.newyorker.com
February 2, 2026 at 6:36 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Much fun "at" Sundance (at home, online) thanks to two great films that premièred there, Rafael Manuel's Filipiñana and Kogonada's zi; delighted to have seen them, even more so to keep them in mind afterward:
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Sundance Is a Feast of World Cinema
This year’s edition of the prime showcase for American independent filmmaking offered two instant classics, “Filipiñana” and “zi,” made in Asia.
www.newyorker.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:31 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
A couple of terrific interviews in February @cahiersducinema.bsky.social —with Ronald Bronstein, by Charlotte Garson ("I'm convinced that, when you zoom in enough on a single person, you break through the ceiling of specificity and emerge on the ground of universality") and Kelly Reichardt,...
February 3, 2026 at 6:46 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Speaking of Joan Crawford, Autumn Leaves is playing at 4 at @moma.bsky.social To Save and Project; a great melodrama with Robert Aldrich's bitter film-noir pessimism, here aimed at hearts-and-flowers romance and the stigmatizing of mental illness—plus the family life that's often at its root:
The Front Row: “Autumn Leaves”
Robert Aldrich's 1956 film with Joan Crawford provides crucial backstory to “Feud,” Ryan Murphy’s miniseries about the frenemosity between Crawford and Bette Davis.
www.newyorker.com
February 2, 2026 at 8:02 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Extraordinary interview with Kleber Mendonça Filho, by my colleague Stephania Taladrid, that goes far into the sources, ideas, and methods of The Secret Agent; his approach to the archival is a fundamental and far-reaching ethic of cinema:
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Brazilian Director Who’s Up for Multiple Oscars
Kleber Mendonça Filho wants his films to reclaim lost history.
www.newyorker.com
February 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
The lovely Sundance elegy by @justincchang.bsky.social unfortunately reminded me of Sundance history: ignoring (much of) the future as it was happening: no Frownland, Yeast, Josephine Decker's first films, the Safdies, Tiny Furniture, early Bujalski and Swanberg, Sun Don't Shine, Hamilton...
January 31, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Reposted
justincchang.bsky.social
On the end of Sundance as we know it. (Yes, I wrote about Grub Steak.) www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
One Last Sundance in Park City
The most important film festival in America bade farewell to its Utah roots.
www.newyorker.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:07 PM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Max Ophuls's first absolute masterwork, La Tendre Ennemie (The Tender Enemy), from 1936—with form and invention as advanced as its bittersweet comedy is refined—is playing at @metrographnyc.bsky.social at noon, in 35mm.; word about it, and about Ophuls-ism overall: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
Max Ophüls’s Unheralded Masterwork “The Tender Enemy”
The film shows the power of simple tricks to realize a fantastic, supernatural, yet sharply logical and piercingly dramatic story.
www.newyorker.com
January 31, 2026 at 8:27 AM
tnyfrontrow.bsky.social
Delighted to be introducing a longtime favorite of the nerve-jangled sixties, Pretty Poison, at the @paristheaternyc.bsky.social tomorrow at 4, as part of the @nyfcc.bsky.social series, regardless of the big chill.
January 31, 2026 at 1:55 AM