Stuart Klawans

Film Critic

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

The Presence and Absence of Basquiat

The Presence and Absence of Basquiat The Presence and Absence of Basquiat

You’d have to go back to Bloomsbury to find another set as insular, self-promoting, self-destructive, imitated, parodied, publicized, and at last mythologized as the crowd that hun…

May 25, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

All About Pace

All About Pace All About Pace

For all its commercial mass, Avengers: Infinity War floats along as if it were any other item on a day’s menu of diversions.

May 4, 2018 / Stuart Klawans

Drifting With the Current

Drifting With the Current Drifting With the Current

In the Last Days of the City is a richly sensuous film that strives to accommodate the thick, shifting layers of sight and sound that overwhelm verbal descriptions of Cairo.

Apr 23, 2018 / Stuart Klawans

Flirtations With Anarchy

Flirtations With Anarchy Flirtations With Anarchy

Two new films take different approaches to Joseph Stalin and Karl Marx, two major figures of modern political history.

Mar 30, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

‘Black Panther,’ Beyond Expectations

‘Black Panther,’ Beyond Expectations ‘Black Panther,’ Beyond Expectations

The big-budget pop movie surprises with themes and emotions that might escape the attention of action fans but are present all the same.

Feb 22, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Abbas Kiarostami’s Posthumous Poem

Abbas Kiarostami’s Posthumous Poem Abbas Kiarostami’s Posthumous Poem

In the Iranian filmmaker's last film, he has figured out a new way to stretch time.

Feb 6, 2018 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

What Films to See Over the Holidays

What Films to See Over the Holidays What Films to See Over the Holidays

The spectacle of Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, the anti-Trump propaganda of Steven Spielberg’s The Post, an inexplicable period melodrama by Paul Thomas Anderson, and more.

Dec 21, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Sally Hawkins’s Voiceless Desire

Sally Hawkins’s Voiceless Desire Sally Hawkins’s Voiceless Desire

Of all the big year-end films, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water is the most deeply moving.

Dec 1, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Documentaries, Satires, and Epics: The New York Film Festival

Documentaries, Satires, and Epics: The New York Film Festival Documentaries, Satires, and Epics: The New York Film Festival

What makes a film festival count for more than a tally of masterpieces?

Oct 27, 2017 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Last Flag Flying

Two Wars, Two Generations Two Wars, Two Generations

Set against the backdrop of the Iraq War, Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying is a road movie that chugs fitfully through military towns, from Norfolk to Portsmouth.

Oct 12, 2017 / Stuart Klawans

x