Stuart Klawans

Film Critic

Stuart Klawans was the film critic for The Nation from 1988 through 2020

French Connections French Connections

The setting is a one-room schoolhouse, which is momentarily unoccupied except for a pair of turtles.

Sep 25, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Tokyo Story Tokyo Story

A Love Affair for the postcollege, flirting-with-Buddhism set, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation is a travelogue of the emotions, concerned with the deepening relationship be...

Sep 11, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Bull’s Eye Bull’s Eye

This was the summer when the movies were so bad, people were reduced to complaining about a Mel Gibson film they hadn't seen.

Aug 28, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Urban Legend Urban Legend

Here's our man, starring in a movie about himself.

Aug 14, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

The Age of Innocence The Age of Innocence

If you've seen Pleasantville--the story of teenagers who are magically transported from 1990s reality into 1950s television--you know that its writer-director, Gary Ross, has a...

Jul 31, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Badlands Badlands

It's always good fun to see a boy wax romantic over the first girl to give him a handjob--and if the boy should be a black-hatted Jew, the fun is only improved.

Jul 17, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

The Girls of Summer The Girls of Summer

This Independence Day, the symbolic struggle being waged on thousands of screens across the Empire pits Reese Witherspoon against Arnold Schwarzenegger, gooey-sweet girl agains...

Jul 2, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Candid Camera Candid Camera

I have often been asked the difference between movie reviews and film criticism; and after much thought, I've decided the answer is about one week.

Jun 19, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Hell’s Angel Hell’s Angel

Romeo Dallaire has the name of a silent-movie star and a face to match: clear eyes, ample mustache, chin of cleft granite.

Jun 5, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Medium Cool Medium Cool

In the film from which there is no escape and no going back, The Matrix, the writer-director team of Andy and Larry Wachowski presented a grim choice between truth and illusion...

May 22, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

x