Have you ever seen The Book of Kells? I mean, really seen it with your own eyes? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more breathtaking work of art. Photographs can’t capture the way light plays across the vibrant, reflective ink. Nineteen years ago I stood in Dublin’s Trinity College and leaned over a glass…

One of the things I like about jazz, kid, is I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Do you?                                 —Bix Beiderbecke The name Jim Jarmusch was all I needed to see. My browse through Blockbuster Video ended there, and I carried a DVD of The Limits of Control home. I wasn’t disappointed. Jarmusch…

The French filmmaker Claude Berri made some remarkable films during his long career. He directed two of my favorites—Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, which starred the young Emmanuelle Béart, Daniel Auteuil, and Gerard Depardieu. But he was more than just a director. He was an actor, and he served as producer on…

Do you hear that buzzing sound? That’s the chatter that serves as prologue to the Academy Awards. With the 2010 ceremonies just a few days away, people are tossing around the usual questions: which film will win Best Picture? Will Hollywood veterans take the acting awards, or did newcomers charm the Academy? Then there are…

[Caution: This article on The Wolfman contains significant plot spoilers.] I’ve just seen The Wolfman, Hollywood’s 2010 treatment of the classic nineteenth-century horror story. If I recommend it, those who believe that all God-fearing people should steer clear of horror movies will come after me with torches. They’ll be joined by my film-reviewing colleagues, who…

[Caution: This article on The Wolfman contains significant plot spoilers.] I’ve just seen The Wolfman, Hollywood’s 2010 treatment of the classic nineteenth-century horror story. If I recommend it, those who believe that all God-fearing people should steer clear of horror movies will come after me with torches. They’ll be joined by my film-reviewing colleagues, who…

I’ve just seen a hell of a film. Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective—hailed as the latest masterpiece of the Romanian New Wave—is likely to convince American moviegoers that they should avoid the Romanian New Wave. The movie moves at a snail’s pace. (The most energetic scene in the film is a ponderous conversation in an office.)…

There’s an envelope full of cash on Larry Gopnik’s desk. He didn’t put it there. But he can guess who did. A student in Larry’s physics class has been begging him for a good grade. This money looks like a bribe. Nevertheless, when Larry goes seeking a confession, he’s given a confounding answer…. “Accept the…

As I write this, my father is busy with lumber, saws, and measuring tape. He’s making alterations to three dusty panels out of a backyard storage shed—pieces my grandfather once cut, painted, and linked together with hinges and pins. Dad’s doing this because I recently watched director Katsuhito Ishii’s 2004 film The Taste of Tea.…

Sharing cigarettes, two boys recline on a sun-baked rock high above their village. Here, close to heaven, they’re able to forget their troubles and enjoy the view. A gunshot jolts them from their reverie. Down among the technicolor trees, a hunter blasts at a bird with his rifle. He hits his mark, but then wanders…