Terence Davies' Benediction is not a puzzle, nor does it court confusion. Instead, it explains how Siegfried Sassoon’s life, whether he wants it or not, is a blessing.
PositionEditor-at-Large
JoinedMay 27, 2017
Articles55
Fran Hoepfner is an Editor-at-Large at Bright Wall/Dark Room and has been contributing to the magazine since 2013. She recently completed her MFA in fiction at Rutgers in Newark, and launched Fran Magazine, in early 2022.
In weaker, lesser, dumber hands, Design for Living is a movie about three horny morons; in Lubitsch’s, all three characters spark and sparkle, an abundance of wit powering them through reckless indecisions.
That so many of the films at the New York Film Festival this year focused on ugly and stressful subjects feels not like a demerit, but rather a catharsis—a healing that can only be done in a dark room, surrounded by others.
No book or film is perfect, far from it, but Maurice gets close. It grasps for an ideal, and often, that pursuit is just as worthy.
We meet Newman's character at a disadvantage in The Sting, but because this is Paul Newman, and we know Paul Newman, it’s more than evident that The Paul Newman Show is about to begin.
The magic trick of Joanna Hogg’s film is not so much that The Souvenir Part II is funnier or stranger or better than its predecessor: it’s that Part II redefines both films as another form of memoir entirely.
As I walked up the steps to the Walter Reade theater, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of triumph, my first day back on campus. Everyone was there! In line, tired, clutching cheap coffee and festival badges. Some people got haircuts. Even the grumps were buzzing, happy to finally have some place to be.
I carry Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again with me the way I do band-aids or Excedrin or a spare pen. I know it’s there in case of an emergency.
In more ways than one, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a movie about how your boss thinks it’s okay to die at work. Obviously it’s not the preferred outcome, but it’s a plenty acceptable one.
A throwaway joke in a 105-minute film watched nearly four years ago in a city I’ve only been to twice stands firm like a monolith in the wavy goop of my brain. It is nothing; it is everything.
Fran Hoepfner on Nomadland, Lovers Rock, Malmkrog, Undine, The Human Voice, The Truffle Hunters, Night of the Kings and more from this year's (remote) New York Film Festival.
I'm not here to ask whether or not Some Like It Hot holds up. Of course it holds up! For crying out loud, what a bad question.
