Contemporary Costume Watch: "Pain Hustlers"

by Cláudio Alves

Where does one draw the line between period and contemporary costume design? It's hard to tell, and sometimes, it depends on the intentionality behind a given sartorial choice. Some filmmakers aim to capture the specificity of time and place, even when chronological proximity would excuse some adaptations to current sensibilities. Others forego that exactitude altogether. And then there's the way even the Costume Design Guild muddies the waters. How is the early 90s style of Rent considered period in 2005, but Precious' 1987-set narrative is still contemporary in 2009? All this to say that, for this article's purpose, let's interpret Pain Hustlers' wardrobe as a work of contemporary costume design. An outstanding one at that…

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Paul Mescal is the Melancholic Heartthrob of Our Dreams...

by Cláudio Alves

...but not even he could make Foe worth watching.

Since Normal People hit the small screen in 2020, the Irish actor has enjoyed a rise to fame like few before. Still, his breakthrough performance as Connell Waldron could have been a one-hit wonder with its staggering vulnerability never to be repeated. Thankfully, that wasn't to be. Though his big-screen debut, The Lost Daughter, didn't ask much from the Maynooth-born hunk with perpetually sad eyes, the 2022 double feature of Aftersun and God's Creatures revealed surprising range. So much so that he secured his first Oscar nomination for the Charlotte Wells stunner, a rare honor for its kind of understated work.

Garth Davis' Foe is the first significant stumble in a mostly impeccable resume. Still, that need not be the end-all-be-all of Mescal's 2023…

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Review: "Orlando, My Political Biography"

by Cláudio Alves

The future of cinema is in non-fiction. Though conventional narrative cinema still dominates the mainstream, it's within the documentary realm that the medium's most radical innovations tend to manifest, paving a path to the seventh art's tomorrow. That said, to consider cinema in binaries may be holding on to an outdated model. The way forward could entangle the cinema, as Iranian and Portuguese filmmakers have done for decades. In that regard, Orlando, My Political Biography is the future of cinema dressed in ruffs, non-binary, and transgressing past neat categorization.

Philosopher turned director Paul B. Preciado rejects structural dualities in search of something somewhere between academism and anarchic theater, a reflection of his and his subjects' essential queerness…

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Luca Guadagnino has dropped another project

by Cláudio Alves

Back when Luca Guadagnino first announced his plans to remake Suspiria, many were skeptical – me included. Why would we need a new take on the material when Argento's 1977 classic is such a candy-colored masterpiece? It turns out that Guadagnino was idiosyncratic enough to get away with it, proposing such a distinct vision that comparing it to the other movie feels beside the point. Hence, when the director told the world he'd helm a Scarface remake from a Coen Bros. script, the consensus was more hopeful than before. Well, that picture is officially off of Guadagnino's schedule, joining the ranks of many a dropped project…

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Grammy Nominations: Taylor, SZA, Meryl Streep (!), and "Barbie"

by Nathaniel R

The Grammys are not a focus here at TFE (pick your lane!) but we do like to sound off at least a bit when the nominations are announced. Our primary excuse is that there are some categories that overlap with the acting arts (film, tv, stage). But before we get to those a quick look at the big four categories. The nominees for the top prizes at the 66th Grammys are...

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