Justin Chang

The protagonists of two films, an Anthony Bourdain bio-pic and a drama about a neglected poet, find themselves struggling with their writerly destinies.

In Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s historical drama, a series of puzzling crimes at a besieged fortress yields even more confounding questions about faith, war, and leadership.

In Gregg Araki’s film, a B.D.S.M. workplace relationship opens up a cross-generational debate about carnal mores.

In a starry, stirring adaptation of Homer’s epic, the director’s signature realism grounds, without dispelling, the drama’s emotional and mythological power.

In rich, melancholy new films from the directors Carla Simón and Mark Jenkin, the restorative power of cinema turns out to be a shore thing.

In Olivia Wilde’s bickersome couples comedy, an evening of refreshments and recriminations leads to an intriguing proposition.

In the Disney-Pixar series’ latest chapter, Jessie, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear confront a looming threat—screen time—that’s changing the play habits of children everywhere.

His new alien thriller has shades of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Minority Report,” even “The Post”—but the retreads yield diminishing returns.

Two surprise hits, both directed by precocious YouTube-trained talents, breathe shivery cinematic life into urban legends and cautionary tales.

It wasn’t a banner year for the world’s most important film festival, but there were gems among the twenty-two films contending for the Palme d’Or.

Matters of adolescent identity and child welfare loom compellingly large in new festival-premièred films from Marine Atlan, Jordan Firstman, and Cristian Mungiu.

In its first week, the seventy-ninth edition of the festival unveiled standout new works by James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi.