Category Confusion: LEAD or SUPPORTING?

by Cláudio Alves

The Gotham nominations caused quite a stir among the Film Experience readership. Going through the comments section, the matter at hand is category fraud: who is and isn't guilty of perpetrating it going into the awards season? For instance, I would have categorized Ryan Gosling as a secondary lead in Barbie, but I've been convinced by the comments that he fits better in supporting. Other cases discussed included Binoche's Gotham-nominated work in Taste of Things, Whishaw in Passages, Hüller in Zone of Interest, and beyond. 

So, why not relocate that discussion here while having fun with polls? You get to vote, deciding on each performer's rightful placement…

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Horror Costuming: The Bride of Frankenstein

by Cláudio Alves

As promised, the Horror Costuming series is back for a new spooky season, going further into the past than ever before. So much so that one delves into what now seems cliché, lest we forget that what is commonplace today was once new. There's no better example of this than the Universal Horror monsters of Hollywood's Golden Age, when studio head designer Vera West helped crystalize looks that would become classics. Think of Dracula's tuxedoed elegance with a red-lined opera cape, the Invisible Man's bandage and sunglasses combo, and, of course, the lumbering threat of Frankenstein's Monster.

Speaking of that 1931 James Whale-directed horror classic, today's topic of choice shall be its sequel. After the first movie's massive success, Universal begged the director for a follow-up, giving him unprecedented creative control. From there, we got the Genesis of the horror (tragi)comedy, a camp extravaganza like none other – 1935's The Bride of Frankenstein…

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Doc Corner: Raoul Peck's 'Silver Dollar Road'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

Raoul Peck has proven himself several times over to be one of the great workers of non-fiction today. Whether its biography or history lesson, he applies a deeply clinical look at his chosen subjects without the tar of stale formula or compromised intent. In the Haiti-born filmmakers latest work, he has taken a ProPublica article by Lizzie Presser, “Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It”—a title too long for a film, but which tells you exactly what is at the heart of its story.

For Peck, Silver Dollar Road is actually part biography and part history lesson, taking in a large family tree and the forces that came together to break their connection to the place they’ve known as home since emancipation.

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Middleburg 2023: Cannes holdovers and Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla"

by Lynn Lee

Hello TFE readers!  I’m back after some time away, having completed an intense one-year work assignment that left me barely enough time to keep up with the movies, let alone write about them.  To celebrate my return to normalcy, my husband and I spent a long weekend in Middleburg, VA, partly for relaxation (Middleburg’s a pretty little town in horse and wine country, ideal for a fall getaway) but mostly so I could get my fill of movies at the annual Middleburg Film Festival.  As Nathaniel’s reported in the past, for a relatively young, non-centrally located festival, Middleburg punches far above its weight.  It regularly manages to land many of the hot tickets out of Toronto, Telluride, Venice, and Cannes and has been a fairly reliable harbinger of what the Academy will like.  Like the other festivals, it was a bit less star-studded than usual this year due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, yet still generated plenty of excitement due to the sheer quality of the films.

Day One
The festival opened on a high note with this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall... 

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My Mom's Favorite Actress

by Cláudio Alves

If you've read my NYAD review from TIFF, you'll know that Jodie Foster gets my MVP honors despite the movie's construction as Annette Bening's latest Best Actress bid. Unencumbered by mannerisms or affectation, she's a relaxed presence that must bear the weight of the drama on her back once the titular character is made silent inscrutable by her swimming effort. That said, I should probably confess I've been inducted into the church of Jodie Foster from an early age, my movie love shaped by her presence since I can remember. Finding Foster to be the best part of a given film feels natural and just right. After all, she's my mother's favorite actress…

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