PETERSON REVIEWS
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Smoke Screens
On ‘The Nowhere Inn’ and ‘Prisoners of the Ghostland.’
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‘Taste of Cherry’ is Simple and Complicated
The jarring meta finale may seem playful — from a pessimistic perspective even a copout — but I think it’s wise.
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Ways of Seeing
On ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye,’ ‘Mogul Mowgli’, and ‘The Voyeurs.’
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‘The Straight Story’ is a Surprisingly Sweet Effort from David Lynch
I’ll admit that I teetered on the verge of tears for almost all of ‘The Straight Story.’
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‘The Loneliest Planet’ Upends the End-of-a-Relationship Movie
The movie isn’t about who these people are, but how they respond to the unexpected.
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‘Road to Morocco’ Has You Had-to-Be-There-Itis
This is a movie whose comedy feels distinctly 1942.
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Clouds
On ‘The Card Counter’ and ‘Malignant.’
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Detours
On ‘Bad Education.’
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Yes, No, Maybe
On ‘Ema’ and ‘No.’
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The Lull of the Road in ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’
The evocative ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’ is most interested in the road’s dreamy monotony and the spell it can put you under.
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Dark Pasts
On ‘Candyman’ and ‘The Night House.’
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The Keyed-Up Horrors of ‘Amores Perros’
You’re never at ease while watching it — almost everything about it is assaultive.
OCTOBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Thrills and Chills’
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Sin and Vice
On ‘The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh,’ ‘Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key,’ and ‘All the Colors of the Dark,’ an informal trilogy from Sergio Martino starring Edwige Fenech.
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
