'Lonesome' (1928), 'Violent Summer' (1959), and 'A Speck in the Water' (1976)

'Early Shift at the Diaconia' and 'Wild Horses'

On Kiyoshi Kurosawa, history, ghosts, and capital

On Curry Barker's 'Obsession' (2025), Kane Parson's 'Backrooms' (2026), YouTube cinema, and the competence epidemic

'Night at the Crossroads' (1932), '13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats' (1975), and 'Tears of the Black Tiger' (2000)

On David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks: The Return' (2017), writing, depression, and being alive in 2026

'What Have They Done to Your Daughters?' (1974), 'Door' (1988), and 'In the Dark' (2000)

On Tobe Hooper's 'Spontaneous Combustion' (1989), the nuclear family, and modernity's terrible hidden structures

A new Kicking the Canon essay on Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, directed by Paul Schrader, for film review site In Review Online.

A young woman meets an animal killer

'The Cigarette' (1919), 'Red Line 7000' (1965), and 'Scan Doll' (1996)

A new Kicking the Canon essay on The Return of the Living Dead, directed by Dan O'Bannon, for film review site In Review Online.

'One Way or Another' (1975), 'Love in the Internet Generation' (1998), and 'The Wolf Knife' (2010)

Hamburg II

On David Cronenberg's 'The Shrouds' (2024), wanting to be a corpse, listening to Prefab Sprout, and the beauty of ruining your life

As Robert Aldrich's 1955 noir turns 75, the film lives on in the work of Cronenberg, Lynch and many more.

As Robert Aldrich's 1955 noir turns 75, the film lives on in the work of Cronenberg, Lynch and many more.

'Too Late for Tears' (1949), 'Hong Kong, Hong Kong' (1983), and 'Jessica Forever' (2018)

An injury at a hockey game

An injury at a hockey game

Looking for new ways forward

'The Wedding March' (1928), 'The Possessed' (1965), and 'Motorway' (2012)

A Year In Review

All the films featured in my newsletter's Electric Trio column, where I look at some of cinema history's underseen, underappreciated, and forgotten works. Links to the capsule reviews are in the notes...

On Luchino Visconti's 'Sandra' (1965)

A conversation about Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' (2024), rewriting the canon, auteurism, and the future of cinema

A conversation about Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' (2024), rewriting the canon, auteurism, and the future of cinema

'Satan's Rhapsody' (1917), 'The White Reindeer' (1952), 'Through the Looking Glass' (1976), 'Ogroff' (1983), and 'Loft' (2005)

A new film essay on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper, for film review site In Review Online.

The author of 'Incurable Graphomania' on autofiction, parapolitics, Frank Ocean, and drawing inspiration from Russian horror movies as well as Russian cartoon characters

Streaming, Sexism, and Civil War

A make-or-break show

Body Farm & Dry Socket, Boldy James & Conductor Williams, JIALING, Mei Semones, Trophy Wife, Zelienople

Hamburg I

On Hüsker Dü's 1984 landmark LP 'Zen Arcade'

'The Great Consoler' (1933), 'The Fastest Gun Alive' (1956), and 'Thick Skinned' (1989)

On Shinji Sōmai's 'Luminous Woman' (1987), Keiji Muto, masculinity in contention with modernity, and the role of the wrestler as his own narrator

A new film review of Chime, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa & released by Roadstead, for film review site In Review Online.

An actor returns to the red carpet

On the Farrelly brothers' 'Shallow Hal' (2001), Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai's 'Love on a Diet' (2001), and the death of the fatsuit comedy

A new film review of New Life, directed by John Rosman & released by Brainstorm Media, for film review site In Review Online.

'From Morn to Midnight' (1920), 'The Demon' (1963), and 'Women of the Night' (2001)

On Jia Zhangke's 'Ash Is Purest White' (2018) and the Modern Jiānghú