The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Follow TFE on Substackd
Oscar Volley It's Back
Oscar Charts Updated!
Saturday, November 22, 2025 at 2:16PM by Eurocheese
can we have father and son Skarsgård nominations, please?
In Round One (in case you missed it) I shared thoughts on One Battle After Another, Train Dreams, Blue Moon, Hedda and more. Here are a few thoughts on ten more films, ranked by personal preference...
Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 10:00AM by Eurocheese
It’s that time of year! Los Angeles screening season is in full gear, with Oscar hopefuls sending out invites right and left. Here are my comments and rankings (by preference order)on the last batch of 10 films (!) with more to come soon.
One Battle After Another – A+. Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliance can be hit and miss, but this is among his very best works. DiCaprio capitalizes on the comedic energy he’s brought to Tarantino films, bringing frenetic energy to this sprawling, action-packed epic. Teyana Taylor’s popping introduction, newcomer Chase Infiniti’s grounding steady hand and an insanely madcap villain from Sean Penn are all nomination-worthy, with even the smaller parts for Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall packing a punch. The must-see of the season...
Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 5:01PM by Eurocheese
Josh O'Connor and Paul Mescal in THE HISTORY OF SOUND
Memories, like music, can take on new meaning as we sit with them over time. The History of Sound opens on beautiful, panoramic shots with hints of possibility or even romance as we follow Paul Mescal’s Lionel, a lonely young man from the sticks who is eager to experience life. He heads off to college and meets Josh O’Connor as David, brimming with charm and curiosity, who spends his nights commanding rooms with his enthusiastic piano playing. Soon the love of music between the two (brought together by Lionel singing niche folk songs) spills into a relationship. It’s easy to be drawn in by the appeal of these actors, but something about this unspoken relationship feels a bit too easy. When Lionel heads home and eventually receives an invitation to join David on a trip researching music, it feels like he is walking out of his mundane life and into a dream...
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 7:37PM by Elisa Giudici
Tom Wait in Jim Jarmusch's FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER
On the closing night of Venice 82, the Golden Lion went to Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother. The decision immediately set off a storm of controversy. The overwhelming favorite had been Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia's Oscar submission, and a film that electrified audiences with its urgency and moral weight. Yet once again, the jury—this year led by Alexander Payne—opted for a different kind of statement: not the raw political immediacy of Gaza, but the quieter, “career-crowning” recognition of a grand elder of cinema.
This dynamic is nothing new on the Lido...
Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 10:28AM Elisa Giudici reporting from Venice
With Scarlet, Mamoru Hosoda takes his boldest swing yet, and lands his weakest film. Even compared with his early commercial outings (Digimon, One Piece), this latest work is a misfire: ambitious in scope, but undone by confused storytelling and uneven execution. The premise fuses Shakespeare and isekai. The film opens in 16th-century Denmark, where Scarlet, daughter of a murdered king, vows revenge against her uncle Claudius, who has seized the throne. Before she can act, Claudius poisons her, and the story pivots into the logic of isekai: Scarlet awakens in a strange afterlife populated by dragons and people from different eras, suspended in time. Death here is permanent, raising the stakes but also exposing how little sense the world makes...