PETERSON REVIEWS
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‘The Story of a Three-Day Pass’: An Early Triumph for Melvin Van Peebles
Van Peebles would only get bigger — and bolder.
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Small Gestures, Big Problems in ‘Charulata’
On Satyajit Ray’s masterful romantic drama.
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‘The Crime is Mine’: Murder is Their Business
François Ozon’s frothy screwball comedy homage harkens back to the heightened style of 2002’s ‘8 Women.’
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A Doomed, One-Sided Love in ‘Senso’
On Luchino Visconti’s sumptuous, devastating melodrama.
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‘Go Fish’: A Heartfelt, Pioneering Romantic Comedy
Rose Troche’s breakthrough was a milestone for lesbian representation.
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‘Mystic Pizza’ is an Essential Coming-of-Age Comedy
Roger Ebert now-famously predicted that the film’s three leads would soon become movie stars; the promising ebullience of their performances still shines through.
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Odds & Ends: January 2024
Notes from the last month.
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‘The Car’ is About What You’d Expect
A hybrid of ‘Christine’ and ‘Jaws,’ this thriller about a self-driving car that hits the gas only so that it can kill people isn’t necessarily bad, but it doesn’t do anything that interesting with its premise, either.
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On Steve McQueen’s So-Called Vanity Project
Notes on ‘Le Mans.’
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‘Death Race 2000’ is a Tongue-in-Cheek Dystopian Thriller
The performers — particularly the in-on-the-joke cool Mary Woronov and the comically always-fuming Sylvestor Stallone — know precisely what kind of movie this is and seem to be luxuriating in the material, just as we are.
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The Poignance of ‘Crossroads’
Watching Britney Spears in her one and only movie hits differently now than it might have in 2002.
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Being There
‘The Zone of Interest’ and ‘Origin,’ reviewed.
SEPTEMBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Based on an Article’
ASDFJHGSD
In ‘Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros,’ It’s All in the Process
Revisiting Frederick Wiseman’s 44th documentary, which trains its gaze on the Troisgros family and its various culinary pursuits.
August 19, 2026
May 25, 2026
May 13. 2026
Strong, Stoic Types
Director-star Paul Newman’s 1971 treatment of Ken Kesey’s ‘Sometimes a Great Notion’ perceptively observes the corrosiveness of toxic masculinity.
August 7, 2026
Working Girls
‘Broken Mirrors,’ Marleen Gorris’ 1984 follow-up to her still-transcendent feminist drama ‘A Question of Silence,’ expands on its predecessor’s themes while dramatically improving on its writer-director’s aesthetic command.
July 9, 2026
Found Connections
Donna Deitch’s ‘Desert Hearts’ was a breakthrough for lesbian representation in cinema. It also achieves another rarified thing: Characters who feel like they exist outside a screenplay’s bounds.
June 30, 2026
Peterson Reviews 