The two-part documentary asks us to rethink what we know about looting, art restitution, the art market, and who the war’s heroes and villains really were.
Film
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Universal Language Brings Tim Hortons to Tehran
Centered on an Iranian community in a fictional Winnipeg-Tehran hybrid, the absurdist comedy is a joyous depiction of emphatically unalienated people.
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The Tumultuous Journey of Faith Ringgold’s Rikers Mural
Catherine Gund’s Paint Me a Road Out of Here uses the artwork to tell truths about the US carceral system.
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At Sundance, Films Tackled Sex, Love, Gender, and the Law
Whether it’s catfishing clueless rich guys, catching sex predators on YouTube, or assisting a woman in conceiving a child, questions of legality often have little to do with morality.
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The Existential Crisis of Free Leonard Peltier
The film was made to agitate for the release of the wrongly imprisoned Indigenous activist. Despite last-minute edits after his clemency, it still shows some cracks.
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Zodiac Killer Project Is a Parody of the True Crime Genre
The documentary is an incisive critique of how cliché-bound the genre has become, encouraging viewers to ask more from it.
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Pepe Imagines a Hippo’s Perspective on Life
The film’s hippo protagonist demonstrates that stories about animal subjectivity can unveil many otherwise hidden absurdities of our society.
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Palestinian Film Centering Stories From Gaza Shortlisted for Oscars
Rashid Masharawi’s From Ground Zero weaves together the work of 22 Gazan filmmakers surviving through Israel’s continued attacks.
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The Return Is a Shabby CliffsNotes Version of the Odyssey
Homer’s Odysseus is complicated and playful — a man who has suffered, and is changed. Pasolini’s Odysseus squints, and occasionally flexes.
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The Emotional Valences of Brutalism
Historically, cinema has invoked the architectural movement as an easy shorthand for villainy. In The Brutalist, though, it embodies a proletarian dream.
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Werner Herzog’s Anticlimatic Exploration of the Human Brain
The filmmaker seems out of his depth in Theater of Thought, too willing to let his subjects make questionable claims without pushing back or delving deeper.
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Five Video Essays for the Holiday Season
Killer bananas, Grand Theft Auto telephone poles, online gambling, and other ways to fill a little downtime.