In The Promise, Oscar Isaac plays a young Armenian man, Mikael Pogosian, who leaves his small village to go to medical school in Constantinople. The titular promise refers to his pledge to return and marry a village girl (Angela Sarafyan), whose dowr …Read more

Last week, photos of Saffiyah Khan, half Pakistani/half Bosnian UK citizen, went viral when she came to assist a hijab-wearing Muslim woman getting harassed by a group of EDL lads. The English Defense League—an extreme right wing, anti-Islamic group— …Read more

Jack Lowden is the kind of actor who can make golfing look like the most thrilling sport on Earth. And no offense to golfers, there must be a reason why the sport has remained so popular for more than a century, but because of its solitary nature and …Read more

In Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary, the titular jazz titan remains elusive and out of reach as the title of the film might imply. Director John Scheinfeld starts at the beginning of  Coltrane’s life in North Carolina where his religious …Read more

Joseph Cedar’s first English-language film centers around the eponymous hero, Norman Oppenheimer. He is introduced as an amusingly grating New York schmoozer of limited success. Richard Gere, as Norman, is always ruddy-cheeked, trawling midtown, a pe …Read more

The Lost City of Z is James Grey’s entry into the cinematic tradition of obsessive adventurer movies. Based on the real-life expeditionist of the early 20th century, Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), Grey’s approach is characteristically subtle. This i …Read more

Doing the right thing seems impossible when no one knows exactly what “the right thing” is. One morning, railroad linesman Tzanko Petrov (Stefan Denolyubov) finds millions in cash lying on the tracks. Rather than keeping the money, he calls the autho …Read more

Stanley Kubrick’s contributions to cinema extend well beyond his innovative way of juxtaposing images to tell stories and his symmetrical compositions; he was also a master at using music to heighten and highlight emotions. Whether he was using Jocel …Read more

In 1942, 13-year-old Ernst Lossa (Ivo Pietzcker) is transferred from a children’s home to Dr. Werner Veithausen’s (Sebastian Koch) psychiatric hospital. Though there is nothing wrong with him, Ernst is Yenish and Third Reich “gypsy” discrimination al …Read more

In Christian Schwochow’s Cracks in the Shell from 2011 a young drama student, belittled by her drama teacher, goes on to win the leading role in a play and takes her method acting to dark, dangerous places. In Schwochow’s new film Paula, young artist …Read more