Justin Chang
Stories
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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."
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Arts & Life
Shot in secret, 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' calls out Iran's authoritarian regime
Earlier this year, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fled his country to escape an eight-year prison sentence. His new film centers on a middle class family grappling with Iran's social unrest.
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Arts & Life
In 'Queer,' Daniel Craig is outstanding as a fictionalized William S. Burroughs
In this adaptation of Burroughs' autobiographical novel, Craig plays an American who falls hard for a younger man in 1950s Mexico City. It's a singular performance, but also a deeply human one.
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Arts & Life
'Gladiator II' and 'Wicked' are lavish spectacles — but are they another Barbenheimer?
Two big-budget films are set to battle at the box office: Wicked offers a gravity-defying origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West, while Gladiator II revisits the violence of ancient Rome.
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Arts & Life
Friendship becomes a powerful act of resistance in 'All We Can Imagine as Light'
This enveloping drama, which centers two women in Mumbai, is about solidarity between women, about making ends meeting, and about how a populous city can feel like the loneliest place in the world.
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Arts & Life
'Juror #2' is a thorny legal thriller — and possibly Clint Eastwood's last film
Eastwood takes measured aim at the American justice system in a film that centers on a murder trial — and a juror who realizes he may be implicated in the crime.
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Arts & Life
A mother and son are separated by the London 'Blitz' in this quietly radical film
In a film that has powerful moments of wonderment, humor and joy, Saoirse Ronan plays a London factory worker trying to protect her young son as German bombs fall across the city.
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Arts & Life
Papal politics take an unholy turn in the clever thriller 'Conclave'
When the pope dies, backbiting, infighting and ruthless smear campaigning taint the effort to find his successor. Ralph Fiennes stars in a film perfectly timed for this nail-biting election season.
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Arts & Life
A sex worker marries the son of a Russian oligarch in the comically chaotic 'Anora'
Anora is easily one of Sean Baker’s funniest works — and also one of the saddest. The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and the director says it's dedicated to sex workers "past, present and future."
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Arts & Life
Whatever you’ve heard about 'Megalopolis,' see this gutsy Coppola film for yourself
Francis Ford Coppola's epic draws parallels between the U.S. and ancient Rome. Forty-some years in the making, it's got wild sex, startling violence, horse-drawn chariots and even nightclub unicorns.
