my name is Rachel, and I like to write film reviews. in the past, i’ve approached this doctorally, bringing a notebook to the theater and writing to a particular angle of the film. this time, i’m doing something a little different. this time, i’m only writing my first impressions.

Your Monster



Caroline Lindy’s Your Monster is an ode to pathetic women everywhere. That is, until it ends with a cliche that even I’ve written. 

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The Brutalist



It’s rare that very long films intelligibly maintain whatever thesis they postured in the
beginning. The Brutalist is not one of those rarities. 


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Vintage Spotlight: BAMBULE 

“You will get your education through masturbation”, chant the defiant girls of a Berlin borstal as they wait outside the solitary confinement cubicle to which their friend has been banished. These girls are the drumming force of the 1970 tv movie, BAMBULE, directed by Eberhard Itzenplitz and written by Red Army Faction member, Ulrike Marie Meinhof. 

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ANATOMY OF A FALL 

ANATOMY OF A FALL…what a journey! The film’s strength lies not in its mystery, but its innovation and complex characters. 

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PAST LIVES

Celine Song’s PAST LIVES is one of those stories you might roll your eyes at when your friends describe it to you. But, if it’s filmed right, it might just make you sob. This was my experience, anyway.  

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LISA FRANKENSTEIN 
 
LISA FRANKENSTEIN surprised me at every turn. 

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AMERICAN FICTION

I have no enticing opening line: AMERICAN FICTION was simply a good film. It courageously explores a delicate subject.

Under Construction
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IRON CLAW

IRON CLAW was a relentless tragedy from which I departed with one outstanding conclusion: Zac Efron is a star.  

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THE HOLDOVERS

Frankly, I have little to say about Alexander Payne’s THE HOLDOVERS. This is simply because I loved it so much. Troubled but brilliant student Angus (Dominic Sessa) is left behind by his mother who suddenly decides to spend the holidays with her new husband. His caretakers become the terse and solitude teacher Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) and the school’s hardened head cook, Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is grieving the loss of her son to the Vietnam War. 

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MEAN GIRLS

There’s a glaring problem here: how do you make transgressive jokes in a society that has all but banned them?    

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ANYONE BUT YOU

There is a phenomenon sweeping New York City–particularly blistering downtown. I call it the “Leather Pant Invasion”. The Leather Pant Invasion refers to...the sorority girls with slick-back buns and high waist leather atrocities who walk hand in hand with the average-looking finance bros who will inevitably cause the next recession. For them, Sydney Sweeney made an enormous failure of a movie—for them, there is ANYONE BUT YOU.


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MAY DECEMBER

MAY DECEMBER was an incredible film..I think Haynes wants us asking–what kind of actors can empathize with monsters?

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