Woman Off the Verge Woman Off the Verge
To die for art: No one takes the idea seriously anymore, and yet people do it every day.
Sep 30, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Boys of Summer The Boys of Summer
To the list of movie characters who look back on their lives from the Beyond, add Lester Burnham, the 42-year-old, dead narrator of American Beauty. He is a murder victim--so it ...
Sep 23, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Adults Only Adults Only
Conventional wisdom has it that Americans stopped attending foreign films as soon as the domestic ones started featuring bare breasts. Convention, as usual, is too simple.
Sep 16, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
War of the Worlds War of the Worlds
When a boy comes of age in a movie made by Francophones, he's generally obliged to visit a brothel.
Sep 9, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Humiliation With a Smile Humiliation With a Smile
To suffer humiliation can be tragic. To bear humiliation for much longer than necessary, yet with loud impatience, is the comic gift of Albert Brooks.
Sep 2, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Old Masters Old Masters
For contemporary reactions from Nation critics to the films of Stanley Kubrick, follow these links: Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Shining...
Jul 22, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Spike’s Season Spike’s Season
In Summer of Sam, Spike Lee has made a small, shapely drama about two young Italian-American couples in the Bronx.
Jul 8, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Bridge Over Troubled Water Bridge Over Troubled Water
Legend has it that Potemkin, burdened by duties and melancholy, once neglected to order the packing up of one of his stage-set villages.
Jul 1, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Born Cool Born Cool
The title character in Run Lola Run lives underneath a fibrous growth that in shape resembles a neglected patch of lawn and in color brings to mind a fire engine--or maybe a fire...
Jun 24, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans