Belladonna of Sadness

This transgressive animated film from 1973 Japan has been recently restored. Blending gorgeous, watercolor-infused Japanese landscapes with Western influences like Art Nouveau and Expressionism, the film tells the sexually outré and hallucinogenic story of two lovers in a feudal village.

"...landscapes meshed with Western influences like Art Nouveau and Expressionism (think Klimt and Schiele), the film tells the story..."

May 13, 2016 Movie Review by Josh Kupecki

Mr. Turner

Mike Leigh delivers a fascinating, period-rich portrait of the latter years of the painter J.M.W. Turner.

"...generally recognized as precursors of Impressionism and even Abstract Expressionism...."

Jan. 30, 2015 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Lady and the Duke

"...at once wholly false and completely beautiful; it's cinematic expressionism taken to a hyperreal level, and for that reason..."

June 28, 2002 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Golem

This rarely screened silent film is based on the Jewish folktale of the golem. Remembered as a high point in German Expressionism, with dramatically painted sets and crowd scenes and stylized acting. The Golem is played by co-director Wegener, who also directed this story a couple of other times.

"...Golem is remembered as a high point in German Expressionism, with dramatically painted sets and crowd scenes and stylized..."

June 22, 2000 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Killer Condom

"...goofy blend of detective noir by way of German Expressionism, gay identity drama by way of soft-core titillation, and..."

Aug. 21, 1998 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

JLG by JLG

"...like a bizarre merger of socialist realism and German Expressionism, this odd little comedy is related as unnaturally as..."

June 16, 1995 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Often cited as the first true horror movie and one of the first films to tell its story through the eyes of a delirious madman, the techniques of this film milestone are rarely imitated. Eschewing naturalism, the movie's sets are all painted in hallucinatory black-and-white designs and the acting, as well, follows Expressionistic techniques popular in Germany at the time.

"...the history of the cinema. This hallmark of German Expressionism will include new title cards prepared by Price and..."

July 15, 1994 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

La Strada

This Academy Award-winner sealed Fellini's reputation as a director of international renown. La Strada represents a fertile cross-pollination of Fellini's noted tendencies toward both stark neorealism and symbolic expressionism. It stars Masina in one of her most memorable roles as the simple naïf, who is bought for a bowl of food by a roadshow strongman (Quinn) who treats her brutishly. An overwhelming humanism underscores the whole film and leaves its ultimate meaning up to interpretation.

"...Fellini's noted tendencies toward both stark neorealism and symbolic expressionism. It stars Masina in one of her most memorable..."

May 13, 1994 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Shadows and Fog

"...mysticism in a black-and-white film set somewhere in German expressionism, a little north of Fellini and far south of..."

March 20, 1992 Movie Review by Kathleen Maher

Take Me to the Palette

Bernie Taupin is as lyrical with a brush as with a pen

"...Seventies, that's when I really became aware of abstract expressionism. Because in the downtime between shows, I would walk..."

Aug. 24, 2012 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Abstract Expressionism, 1940s-1960s

"Abstract Expressionism, 1940s-1960s" is at once a stand-alone illustration of a pivotal time in American art and a prelude to the continued explosions of radical artistic energy that marked New York throughout the 20th century

"..."Abstract Expressionism, 1940s-1960s"..."

Dec. 29, 2006 Arts Review by Nikki Moore

Charlotte

Calmly heartrending animated biography of artist Charlotte Salomon

"...was both Jewish and a rising painter experimenting in expressionism – one of the forms that the Nazis smeared..."

May 13, 2022 Movie Review by Richard Whittaker

The French Dispatch

Wes Anderson's candy-colored tribute to The New Yorker

"...and greedy art dealer Cadazio (Brody), jump start abstract expressionism (or, more specifically, the French Splatter-school Action-group). “Revisions to..."

Oct. 22, 2021 Movie Review by Josh Kupecki

Archenemy

Revisionist Superman riff brings new meaning to street-level superheroics

"...innovative comic books, and most especially the visionary abstract expressionism of Bill Sienkiewicz (the defining artist of The New..."

Dec. 11, 2020 Movie Review by Richard Whittaker

Son of the White Mare

Gorgeous avant garde animation recounts a Hungarian myth

"...intent). It is undeniably stylistically unique: A mix of expressionism, art deco, and traditional folk and tribal arts, it..."

Aug. 21, 2020 Movie Review by Richard Whittaker

The Last Tree

British migrant coming-of-age drama empathetically explores what it is to belong

"...budding romance with a blue-haired girl (Bellenea). Amoo’s screen expressionism can sometime stray in slackness, although cinematographer Stil Williams’s..."

July 17, 2020 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Adrift

True-life survival adventure stays afloat because of Shailene Woodley

"...ingenuity, which ranges from hand-held documentary style to dramatic expressionism. Together, Kormákur and Richardson create gripping action sequences, with..."

June 1, 2018 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

2015 Academy Award-Nominated Animated Short Films

Five Oscar nominees, plus some extra treats.

"...burden of dying parents and sibling rivalry with striking expressionism, as Jacobs incorporates two-dimensional, life-size renderings of her characters..."

Jan. 30, 2015 Movie Review by William Goss

New Day Rising

My Education puts music to an 83-year-old silent German expressionist touchstone

"...time that honor was bestowed. Murnau had brought German expressionism to American shores...."

April 30, 2010 Music Feature by Audra Schroeder

Miss March

Two-fifths of the Whitest Kids U'Know comedy troupe wrote, star in, and co-directed this nubile sex romp about a road trip to the Playboy mansion.

"...the country that gave the world jazz and abstract expressionism and Orson Welles. We invented basketball and hip-hop. Now..."

March 20, 2009 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

Heyd Fontenot's new paintings of naked people show the artist's looser, sloppier side

"...Fontenot has also incorporated expressionism in loose backgrounds. A virtuosic talent, he leaps from..."

Feb. 6, 2009 Arts Review

Disaster Movie

We're running out of genres to spoof: This time it's disaster movies.

"...Psychological Thriller Movie, Fatal-Disease Domestic Drama Movie, Silent German Expressionism Movie, and, eventually, Spoof Movie, each more cynical and..."

Sept. 5, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The Great Man

Kate Christensen's fourth novel is reminiscent of that particular breed that can only be weaved and wielded by a true artisan

"...Great Man is about art and, more specifically, abstract expressionism, which plopped out of the art-world womb in the..."

Aug. 17, 2007 Books Review by Sofia Resnick

The Whole Universe Rocks

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "Make It New" explores how modernism changed everything.

"...tricky. Is modernism the fervid, almost putrescent emotionalism of expressionism or the steely, speedy lines of the futurists? Is..."

Dec. 12, 2003 Arts Feature by Katherine Catmull

Day of Wrath

Made during the German occupation of Denmark, Dreyer's film explores the power of the supernatural to annihilate the foundations of society, although the story is set in the remote period of the witch hunts of the 17th-century. His first film since making Vampyr in 1932, Day of Wrath still shows Dreyer to be a master imagist.

"...and substance. Dreyer's debt to the German roots of expressionism can be seen in the way he modulates the..."

July 1, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Open Your Eyes

"...Amenábar combines elements of science fiction, horror, and German Expressionism with the more traditional elements of a love story..."

April 30, 1999 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Mission: Impossible

"...of camera angles taken from the school of German Expressionism, this movie is strictly business. And maybe Mission: Impossible..."

May 24, 1996 Movie Review by Steve Davis

Accents and Cowlicks: Julio Torres on Problemista

SNL alum explores the magical world of immigration

"...realist element, and Torres was especially drawn to German Expressionism with its “dark, mazelike landscapes.” Moreover, for Swinton’s character..."

March 21, 2024 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

Review: Shaver Catalog Begins Afterlife With New West Reissues

Victory, Electric Shaver, The Earth Rolls On arrive on colored vinyl

"...Me"), and the entire second side raise ecstatic, soul-baring expressionism. Tramp on Your Street next, please. ShaverVictory (New West)..."

June 16, 2023 Music Feature by Raoul Hernandez

Frank Wo / Men Collective's Virtual Show Offers a Warped Sense of Control

In K ! :D D: Ö, you get to not only watch these kinetic provocateurs move through virtual environments, but also influence their actions

"...whose work "is underpinned with intersectional social awareness, gender expressionism, Freudian curiosities, body positivity, and absurdist exploration." Back in..."

Dec. 11, 2020 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

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