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Years Before The Rise of Fake News, Shattered Glass Threw The Spotlight On A Serial Fabulist
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The Downtime Guide to: Flipping Cards
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JamFam Q&A: Jordan Coley
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Big Love for Tiny Horse
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Letters of Rec
Toronto International Film Festival 2023: Anatomy of a Fall, His Three Daughters
Vikram Murthi
Sep 14, 2023
Letters of Rec
Toronto International Film Festival 2023: The Holdovers, Hit Man
Vikram Murthi
Sep 13, 2023
Toronto International Film Festival 2023: Dumb Money, Pigeon Tunnel
In Downtime's final TIFF dispatch, our humble correspondent reviews films about the GameStop short squeeze and John le Carré.
Vikram Murthi
Sep 18, 2023
Letters of Rec
With Sorcerer, the late William Friedkin took New Hollywood on one last bumpy, terrifying ride
A.A. Dowd
Sep 7, 2023
Letters of Rec
Joanna Hogg's First Film Follows an Isolated Woman Caught Between Generations
Elissa Suh
Aug 29, 2023
Letters of Rec
Toronto International Film Festival 2023: Dumb Money, Pigeon Tunnel
Letters of Rec
Toronto International Film Festival 2023: Anatomy of a Fall, His Three Daughters
Letters of Rec
Toronto International Film Festival 2023: The Holdovers, Hit Man
Letters of Rec
With Sorcerer, the late William Friedkin took New Hollywood on one last bumpy, terrifying ride
Upgrade Your Downtime
Letters of Rec
A Woman Is In Trouble In Max OphĂĽls' Modest Noir Masterpiece
The Reckless Moment stars Joan Bennett as a lonely heroine whose suburban American dream curdles into a nightmare.
Gabrielle Marceau
Aug 1, 2023
Letters of Rec
Midnight Run: Looking Back At Remember The Titans
Remember the Titans succeeds partially because it frames sports and entertainment as cultural battlegrounds for larger political forces.
Brendan Boyle
Jul 18, 2023
Letters of Rec
The Essential Movie About 21st Century Rage Is An Ambiguous South Korean Thriller
Lee Chang-dong's Burning captures the conspiracy-laden paranoia and free-floating resentments that defined the last decade.
A.A. Dowd
Jun 30, 2023
Letters of Rec
Learn About Yourself By Watching Reality TV With A Therapist
With his YouTube channel, Dr. Kirk Honda provides psychological commentary on Love Is Blind participants that emphasizes self-reflection.
Manuela Lazić
Jun 14, 2023
Letters of Rec
Eros in Retrograde: 20 Years Later, In the Cut Still Has It
The cult erotic thriller not only provokes and unsettles, but also follows a genre truism: everyone is horny and no one can be trusted.
Veronica Fitzpatrick
May 24, 2023
Letters of Rec
All Grown Up: The Arrested Development of Drop Dead Fred
The 1989 cult favorite works as a shorter, and possibly stranger, alternative to A24's splashy "Beau Is Afraid"
Caroline Golum
May 12, 2023
Letters of Rec
You Don't Have To Win: Robert Aldrich and ...All The Marbles
The great midcentury director's final film follows a female wrestling duo trying to eke out a victory on the road.
Patrick Preziosi
May 4, 2023
Letters of Rec
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle Is the Best (If Not the Only) Stoner Movie About Asian America Ever Made
In an age obsessed with representation, this unassuming mid-aughts comedy dared to portray Asian Americans as "people who exist."
Jeremy Gordon
Apr 14, 2023
Letters of Rec
Home Movie: 35 Shots of Rum Remains One of Claire Denis’ Most Personal Works
The story of a codependent father-and-daughter relationship pays tribute to the work of Yasujirō Ozu’ and Denis' own mother.
Matthew Eng
Mar 10, 2023
Letters of Rec
The Brother From Another Planet Reimagined What It Meant To Be Lost In America
In a decade defined by social and political alienation, John Sayles' lo-fi sci-fi adventure embraced spontaneous spiritual connections.
Adam Nayman
Feb 24, 2023
Letters of Rec
To Be Known: Revisiting the Quiet Romance of The Bridges of Madison County
Clint Eastwood's 1995 romantic drama energizes the domestic space with the liberating possibility of life's freedoms.
Caitlin Quinlan
Feb 22, 2023
Letters of Rec
Seconds Is One Of The Darkest, Most Prescient Movies Of The '60s
John Frankenheimer's head-trip points to a future filled with grifters falsely promising a better life.
Dan Schindel
Feb 17, 2023
Letters of Rec
Strange Days Warned That The End Is Near
Kathryn Bigelow's 1995 cyberpunk thriller perfectly captures its moment while looking towards a more fraught future.
Charles Bramesco
Feb 15, 2023
Letters of Rec
Luz Takes Possession To A Whole Other Level
This German supernatural horror film employs an outré sound design to convey the experience of hypnosis.
Madeleine Wall
Jan 20, 2023
Letters of Rec
When 3 Become 1: Shapeshifting in Robert Altman's Low-Desert Dreamscape 3 Women
Altman's classic '70s psychological drama tackles gender as a Gothic team sport.
Sofia Majstorovic
Jan 16, 2023
Letters of Rec
The Savages Admirably Avoids Clichés Around Death And Dying
At first glance, Tamara Jenkins' sophomore feature resembles a typical "Sundance film," but it's much thornier than typical indie fare.
Vikram Murthi
Dec 30, 2022
Letters of Rec
The Future Is Now: On The Hudsucker Proxy
The Coen Brothers' 1994 screwball comedy uses its heightened reality to tackle corporate greed and consumerist folly.
Kent M. Wilhelm
Dec 16, 2022
Letters of Rec
Ragged Generosity: Exploring The Films of Boris Barnet
The work of an unsung, but essential Soviet director is ripe for discovery via a YouTube channel.
Patrick Preziosi
Dec 9, 2022
Letters of Rec
The Kingdom: Exodus is Twin Peaks: The Return with seasonal affective disorder
After a 25-year-long hiatus, Lars von Trier returns to the haunted hospital of his landmark supernatural miniseries.
Katie Rife
Nov 25, 2022
Letters of Rec
Elaine May's Lacerating Class Comedy A New Leaf Has Barely Aged A Bit
May's sharp satire of the wealthy refuses to pull any punches while also chronicling a sincere personal transformation.
Sophie Monks Kaufman
Nov 9, 2022
Letters of Rec
The Classic Ramen Western Tampopo Will Make You Rethink How You Eat
Juzo Itami's freewheeling, genre-bending comedy turns cuisine into a meditation on craft and culture.
Dan Schindel
Oct 31, 2022
Letters of Rec
The Kids Are Alright: 40 Years Of Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Amy Heckerling's indelible debut feature captures early-80s adolescence in all of its complex glory, minus the judgement or sanctimony.
Elizabeth Nelson
Oct 10, 2022
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