Essays
In-depth, thoughtful exploration of films both old and new
African Film Fest 2024: Omen / Banel & Adama | Mar 20, 2024
“If you don’t make any assumptions, then you won’t ever be discouraged. It sounds nice. (Not to mention safe.) Too bad it’s just not realistic. Truth be told, there’s no fending off the expectations of others. Consequently, there’s no avoiding the tormentous sensation of being let down. Two new African debut features, Omen and Banel et Adama, explore this inevitability with an effective magical-realist slant.”
“Blue Moon” and the Heartbreak of Fame | Jun 13, 2023
“‘Blue Moon’ sounds like heartbreak — a skipped heartbeat, a regretful pang, a drop of the stomach — making it the ideal score for any film pertaining to hopes and dreams and the inevitable disappointment that follows them.”
The Woman in Front of Your Face: Conversations Between Friends in Two of Hong Sang-soo’s Latest | Mar 9, 2023
“Longtime fans of Hong [Sang-soo] know how fond he is of languid, unhurried dialogue, but something feels different here as his oeuvre enters its mid-to-late 20s: there are resemblances to his previous works, without question, but there are notable departures, as well.”
Mr. Joanne Woodward: Paul Newman Directs His Wife | Apr 12, 2022
“In truth, Newman’s frequent casting of his wife is not some vain public display of affection, but an act of love done in service of something even grander: the facilitation of three profoundly rich, incredibly raw character studies that let Woodward dazzle in ways only Newman seemed to have known how to evoke.”
After Yang and Grieving in the Digital Age | Mar 4, 2022
“Only Kogonada, whose gentle, distinctive modernist voice feels like a warm blast of clean air during such an intolerably hazy and nostalgic time for American filmmaking, could have been capable of updating the grief cycle for the modern day and beyond.”
More essays from Kayla McCulloch:
Dispatches from the 2022 New York Film Festival: Institutional Interrogations | Oct 12, 2022
Dispatches from the 2022 New York Film Festival: Faces, Places | Oct 6, 2022
Dispatch from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival | Jan 28, 2022
La Piscine: Trouble in Paradise | Aug 27, 2021
A New Leaf: If You Can't Be Immortal, Why Bother? | Jun 15, 2021
A Shock to the System: The Traveling Executioner | Oct 22, 2020