Film Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/tag/film/ a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:03:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.publicbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-2-300x300.png Film Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/tag/film/ 32 32 Eisenstein’s Unrealized Worlds https://www.publicbooks.org/eisensteins-unrealized-worlds/ Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=64745 Can a film that was never finished reveal the possibility of an alternative social system?

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]]> “Totto-chan,” the Myth of Hans Asperger, and Disability Pride amidst Fascism https://www.publicbooks.org/totto-chan-the-myth-of-hans-asperger-and-disability-pride-amidst-fascism/ Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:00:26 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=61185 In the lead up to World War II, one headmaster educated children with a variety of abilities—and doing all he could to protect his students from Japan’s authoritarian government.

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]]> Unhappy Halloween: “Disturbia” and the Endless Horror of Domestic Violence https://www.publicbooks.org/unhappy-halloween-disturbia-and-the-endless-horror-of-domestic-violence/ Fri, 31 Oct 2025 15:00:31 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=61028 Actor Shia LaBeouf got a real-life ending like that of his film character: Go continue to be a predator.

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]]> The Lost Ending of “Gaslight” That You Didn’t Know You Needed https://www.publicbooks.org/the-lost-ending-of-gaslight-that-you-didnt-know-you-needed/ Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:00:09 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60986 The only way to really understand the term is to sit down and watch the harrowing psychological film from which it got its name.

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]]> “Radical Powers of Metamorphosis”: On Global Black Cinema https://www.publicbooks.org/radical-powers-of-metamorphosis-on-global-black-cinema/ Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:00:14 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60952 As we follow the camera’s quiet, careful study, we observe—as Fred Moten reflects—that the slave ship also contains the means of its own undoing.

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]]> Young Almodóvar Versus Old Almodóvar in the World Series of Love https://www.publicbooks.org/young-almodovar-versus-old-almodovar-in-the-world-series-of-love/ Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:57:31 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60579 “In recent years, Almodóvar’s films have become more serious, moving away from the campy melodrama and drugged gazpacho we knew and loved him for, toward a mature reckoning with the bigger questions of existence.”

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]]> Spectacles of Return: The Silent Labors of “Dahomey” https://www.publicbooks.org/spectacles-of-return-the-silent-labors-of-dahomey/ Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:00:13 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60505 “Dahomey” narrates the Danxomèan treasures’ epic journey home. And yet, the film remains haunted by the visible and invisible human labor that made this homecoming—and its cinematic telling—possible.

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]]> “No Future” Lexicon: The Post-Post-Apocalyptic https://www.publicbooks.org/no-future-lexicon-the-post-post-apocalyptic/ Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:01:04 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60165 But what lies beyond the end of the world? Casting off the trappings accreted by the post-apocalyptic genre emerge stories of the post-post-apocalyptic.

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]]> 2 Angry Men: On Eastwood, Trump, and the Law https://www.publicbooks.org/2-angry-men-on-eastwood-trump-and-the-law/ Tue, 24 Jun 2025 15:00:06 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60020 In attacking law without attacking the real abuses of the criminal justice system, Juror #2 is a groundless assault on the only institution that can save us from all-out authoritarian rule.

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]]> “The Brutalist”: Rebuilding, Repatriation, and the False Antidote of Aliyah https://www.publicbooks.org/the-brutalist-rebuilding-repatriation-and-the-false-antidote-of-aliyah/ Thu, 15 May 2025 15:00:18 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=59690 “The Brutalist” takes a stand for human rights and against the institutions that facilitate—or even rely on—the dehumanization of everyday people.

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