Caroline Tsai

Hold Me Tight is likely a film that rewards viewers with repeat viewings; it’s difficult to evaluate it on the basis of its decision to withhold crucial information until the end. It’s a risky choice, to be sure, and if it pays off, it mostly does so because of the power of its lead performance.

Make no mistake: The Innocents is no young adult novel adaptation, and things get very dark very quickly.

Desplechin and his film seem to have a perverse and single-minded fixation not on “dazzling, interesting” women, but lost, tragic ones—women who can gravitate toward and glom onto Philip (Denis Podalydès), an inexplicably francophone version of the author, who lavishes the attention.

“New Worlds” is an undeniable reminder of live music’s irreplaceable magic—and an entreaty not to forget it.

There’s no doubt that Nitram is a powerful display of filmmaking. But the question remains: Whom is it for?

A master of slow cinema, Weerasethakul takes his time with every shot; long stretches of time pass without any dialogue or movement. In so doing, the film inculcates a kind of hypersensitivity in its viewers, who become suddenly attuned to each flitting blade of grass or buzzing fly that enters the shot—as well as to their own posture and breathing.

Full of fresh faces and unique stories, Paris, 13th District makes a case for genuine connections in a culture bent on transposing them into commodified products.

Marrying the discord of romantic separation and social unrest, The Divide is a tiresome frustration of a film whose advocacy for across-the-aisle bonding rings false and flimsy, even in its most pleasant moments.

A Hero delivers a nuanced examination of justice—and the many shades of injustice that surround it.

A thoughtful if occasionally melodramatic reflection on the nature of grief.