Stuart Klawans

Film Critic

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

Imitations of Life

Imitations of Life Imitations of Life

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing as a creature of secrets in The Imitation Game.

Nov 25, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

No Fate but Entropy

No Fate but Entropy No Fate but Entropy

Swagger and survival in Foxcatcher and Red Army

Nov 11, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

What Are Movies Good For?

What Are Movies Good For? What Are Movies Good For?

Awakening a sense of wonder and flooding a cinema with crucial realities.

Oct 21, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

American Minotaur

American Minotaur American Minotaur

The flesh-eating creature of Gone Girl is a rampaging composite of dollar signs.

Oct 7, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Prominent Vacuums

Prominent Vacuums Prominent Vacuums

Nadav Schirman’s The Green Prince is a fact-free documentary about collaboration.

Sep 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Violent Femme

Violent Femme Violent Femme

How Scarlett Johansson learned to become aloof from her own seductiveness.

Aug 12, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Boys, Men, Dogs, Eels

Boys, Men, Dogs, Eels Boys, Men, Dogs, Eels

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is as modest and patient an act of daredevilry as has ever been achieved on film.

Jul 15, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

No Escape

No Escape No Escape

A new batch of teen films deliver their blows and soften them in a single gesture.

Jun 18, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

They Have No Graves

They Have No Graves They Have No Graves

Catholic Innocence meets Jewish Experience after the Holocaust in Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida.

May 6, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Worn Muses

Worn Muses Worn Muses

Nymphomaniac is Lars von Trier’s latest ode to titillation and traps.

Apr 8, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

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