Justin Chang
Stories
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Arts & Life
A young man's homecoming sets off erotic shockwaves in this unsettling French thriller
Misericordia is one of the most surprising films our critic's seen this year. It focuses on a man who returns to his small village for a funeral — only to become enmeshed in countless entanglements.
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Arts & Life
'The Alto Knights' is a mob drama with a double dose of De Niro and ... not much else
Robert De Niro plays rival mob bosses in a new biographical crime drama. But while it's fun to watch De Niro argue with himself, The Alto Knights ultimately feels dubious and derivative.
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Arts & Life
There's a lot to unpack in 'Black Bag' — a witty, sexy spy thriller
Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender play a high-ranking spy couple in Steven Soderbergh's new film. Black Bag offers Bond-style globe-trotting intrigue and marital dramedy.
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Arts & Life
Live, die, repeat: Bong Joon Ho offers a farcical vision of the future in 'Mickey 17'
Robert Pattinson plays a space traveler who's repeatedly killed and resurrected in the name of scientific research in this otherworldly farce. It's Bong's first movie since his Oscar-winning Parasite.
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Arts & Life
This long-buried 1999 film offers a new chance to see James Earl Jones
There are many reasons to seek out Charles Burnett's long-buried 1999 film, but perhaps primary among them: The rare chance to see Lynn Redgrave, Margot Kidder and James Earl Jones share the screen.
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Arts & Life
Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers team up to create 'No Other Land'
This Oscar-nominated documentary, which tells the story of the Israeli military's demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, was created by a team of two Palestinian and two Israeli filmmakers.
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Arts & Life
In this haunted house horror you see what the ghost sees — and it's terrifying
In Steven Soderbergh's supernatural thriller Presence, a family finds they aren't alone in their new house. It's a ghost story told masterfully from the ghost's point of view.
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Arts & Life
Film offers 'Hard Truths' about why some people are happy — and others are miserable
Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives a phenomenal performance as a profoundly unhappy woman. There isn't a lot of plot, but director Mike Leigh builds his stories from the details and detritus of daily life.
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Arts & Life
'Close Your Eyes' is the best film of 2024 — but these 10 others are also contenders
Fresh Air's film critic takes stock of the past 12 months' worth of movies, pairing 10 of his favorites, and picking one that stands alone.
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Arts & Life
'The Brutalist' and 'Nickel Boys' are 2 ambitious and captivating dramas
Nickel Boys is one of the most thrillingly inventive literary adaptations our critic has seen in years, while The Brutalist is a rare American films that feels genuinely worthy of the word "epic."
