Film

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

Bewitched Bewitched

Summer Celluloid Meltdown

Aug 19, 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

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