A stirring, expertly judged thriller powered by a pair of blazing performances, Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes) kicks off Cannes’ Critics’ Week sidebar in first-rate form. Revolving around a Syrian exile tracking down his former torturer in France, French director Jonathan Millet’s feature-length fiction debut is a work of visceral intensity …

DAVID ROONEY: We’re nearing the middle of one of the most contentious election years in America’s history, with bitter divisions making a mockery of the increasingly obsolete appellation, “United States.” People are ANXIOUS as they weigh a presidential vote destined to fuel the rage of one side or the other, …

Tense, disturbing, riveting, Alex Garland’s dystopian film Civil War examines an existential threat preying on the American sub-conscious: What would happen if the political and social divisions cleaving the United States ultimately collapse the nation into the abyss? What if the wars of rhetoric, of culture, of values, cause a …

Vera Drew’s debut feature The People’s Joker evades all easy descriptions. It’s a trans coming-of-age film constructed with deep knowledge and affection for DC comics (and their many film adaptations) that also takes aim at the male-dominated comedy community and the mechanisms that determine stardom. Combining comedy, action, drama and …

The biographical documentary is a genre that lends itself to a reliable storytelling formula. First, we look back on the origins of the subject; we are introduced to some of the key figures that helped them along the way; we are shown the beginning of their career all the way …

Self-discovery can be a painful process, ripping apart everything you thought you knew about the world and your place in it. But even more painful and terrifying is the denial of self. Looking in the mirror and turning away from the truth staring right back at you. It’s hard to …

JON FROSCH: As we reconvene for our annual back-and-forth about the year’s greatest film performances, I’m struck by how many of my favorites found actors playing characters who range from downright villainous to — let’s put this mildly — disagreeable. (As Carrie Bradshaw might wonder … Is likability overrated? Or: …

Telluride A lonely gay London writer, orphaned young, revisits his past while starting a new romance with a neighbor in Andrew Haigh’s hauntingly beautiful study of grief, love and family. With a quartet of shattering performances from Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, this is a soul-stirring …

At 24 years-old, Jason Hochberg (Fred Hechinger) is officially too old to be into summer camp. But he passes up a law internship anyway to come to Camp Pineway and be a counselor one last time. Once Jason arrives, he’s not only the oldest counselor there; he’s immediately ostracized for …

In a vague near-future world that resembles our own, London faces a devastating flood. At the same time, a young woman (Jodie Comer) is giving birth to her first child. The birth is intercut with the flood, juxtaposing the miracle of life with the death of an old world. Unable …

The Burial tells the story of funeral home owner and former politician Jerry O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) and his case against the Loewen Group, spearheaded by flashy personal injury lawyer Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx). The film, based on a real case in Hinds County, Mississippi, in 1995, is the …

At some point in our culture, we began to see male comedians as philosophers. Invoking the legacies of George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks, comedy fans have labeled funny men as paternalistic truth tellers that we all must revere. Never mind the fact that these men are no longer …