Returns to NYC in New 4K Restoration: Can She Bake a Cherry Pie

Posted on January 21, 2026 by admin

Henry Jaglom’s quietly offbeat 1983 film Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? is getting a new 4K restoration and a theatrical run at Metrograph beginning February 20.

Shot entirely on the Upper West Side, the film stars Karen Black as a woman navigating love and loneliness in Jaglom’s loose, conversational style. The movie favors lived-in moments over plot, letting scenes wander in ways that feel more like real life than scripted drama.

The film has picked up cult status over the years, helped by an unusual supporting cast that includes Orson Welles, Frances Fisher, and a pre-Seinfeld Larry David. The new restoration, sourced from a 4K scan of the original 35mm materials, preserves the film’s rough, intimate feel while giving it new clarity on the big screen.

For fans of New York–set cinema and indie films that play by their own rules, Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? is a welcome return.

Bitter Rice, Giuseppe De Santis’ Neo-Realist Classic, Returns in a New 4K Restoration

Posted on January 8, 2026 by admin

Giuseppe De Santis’ Bitter Rice (1949), one of the most provocative and influential films of Italian neorealism, will screen at Film Forum from January 30 through February 5 in a newly restored 4K edition.

Set during planting season in Northern Italy’s Po Valley, Bitter Rice follows a group of rice-field workers known as the mondine, focusing on an earthy laborer played by Silvana Mangano who becomes entangled with a small-time criminal, portrayed by Vittorio Gassman, and his glamorous accomplice, played by Doris Dowling. The film blends social realism with melodrama, pairing its portrait of grueling manual labor with sex, crime, and moral tension.

Filmed on location with real mondine visible in the background, Bitter Rice stands out even within neorealism for its raw physicality and pulp energy. The film was an early international success for producer Dino De Laurentiis, premiered at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Story the following year.

De Santis, who came up as a critic and screenwriter before directing, was deeply shaped by anti-Fascist film culture in Italy and by his collaborations with figures like Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini. Bitter Rice reflects that background, merging political consciousness with a visceral, almost sensational style that helped broaden the reach of neorealism beyond strictly austere realism.

The new 4K restoration offers a rare chance to see Bitter Rice with renewed visual clarity, restoring the texture and immediacy of a film that helped redefine postwar European cinema, and remains strikingly modern in its mix of social critique and genre filmmaking.

Brigitte Bardot, Iconic French Film Star and Cultural Figure, Dies at 91

Posted on December 28, 2025 by admin

Brigitte Bardot, the French actor, singer, and international cultural icon who rose to global fame in the 1950s before leaving cinema to become a prominent animal rights activist, has died at the age of 91. Her death was announced by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which did not disclose a cause.

Bardot became an international sensation with her breakthrough role in Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman (1956), a film that reshaped attitudes toward sexuality in postwar cinema and established her as one of France’s most recognizable celebrities. Over the following two decades, she starred in more than 40 films, including The Truth, Contempt, and Viva Maria!, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, and Henri-Georges Clouzot.

She retired from acting in 1973 at age 39 and devoted her life to animal welfare, founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986. In later years, Bardot remained a polarizing public figure due to her outspoken far-right political views and repeated convictions in France for inciting racial hatred.

French President Emmanuel Macron called Bardot “a legend of the century,” noting her lasting impact on French culture. She is survived by her son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.

“We Shall Not Be Moved” Recognized as One of the Year’s Top International Films

Posted on December 11, 2025 by admin

We Shall Not Be Moved (No nos moverán), Mexico’s official submission for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards®, has been named one of the year’s Best International Films by New York Film Critics Online. The recognition comes as the acclaimed debut feature from Mexican filmmaker Pierre Saint Martin continues its U.S. theatrical rollout.

Following a strong run in New York through Cinema Tropical, the dark dramedy will screen for one week at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco beginning December 18, before heading to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in January. A U.S. streaming release is expected to be announced soon.

Shot in black and white, the film follows Socorro, a 67-year-old retired lawyer played by Luisa Huertas, whose decades-long pursuit of the soldier responsible for her brother’s death during Mexico’s 1968 Tlatelolco massacre has consumed her life and fractured her family. When a new lead emerges, she risks everything to confront the past.

The film premiered at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, winning Best Mexican Film and the Audience Award, and went on to receive four Ariel Awards, including Best First Feature and Best Actress. It has screened at more than 40 international festivals and will also represent Mexico at Spain’s Goya Awards.

Saint Martin’s debut blends dark humor with an intimate exploration of memory, trauma, and political reckoning, offering a personal lens on one of Mexico’s most painful historical chapters.

“One Battle After Another” Dominates National Board of Review Awards

Posted on December 6, 2025 by admin

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another continued its awards-season surge, leading the 2025 National Board of Review honors with five major wins, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Supporting Actor for Benicio Del Toro, and Breakthrough Performance for Chase Infiniti.

The strong showing follows the film’s recent victories at both the Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle, positioning the Warner Bros. title as one of this season’s most formidable contenders.

Rose Byrne was named Best Actress for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, continuing her streak across multiple critics groups. Other notable winners included Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value, Ryan Coogler for Sinners (Best Original Screenplay), and Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar for Train Dreams (Best Adapted Screenplay).

NBR also recognized Arco as Best Animated Feature, It Was Just an Accident as Best International Film, and Cover-Up as Best Documentary. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning earned the group’s stunt artistry honor, while Sinners cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw received Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.

As usual, the organization released additional top-ten lists spanning films, international selections, documentaries, and independent features, which continue to serve as an early barometer of industry consensus.

The winners will be celebrated at the NBR’s annual gala on January 13, 2026, in New York City.

Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend Returning to Theaters in 35mm This December

Posted on November 27, 2025 by admin

Billy Wilder’s landmark 1945 drama The Lost Weekend is set for a limited theatrical return beginning December 26, screening in a 35mm print for one week. The film, which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Ray Milland, and Best Adapted Screenplay, remains one of cinema’s most influential depictions of alcoholism.

Milland stars as Don Birnam, a writer whose battle with addiction spirals over a destructive four-day binge, anchored by Jane Wyman’s performance as the woman determined to pull him back from the edge. Initially met with hesitation from preview audiences unaccustomed to its stark realism, The Lost Weekend later emerged as one of Wilder’s defining achievements and a milestone in Hollywood’s shift toward more unsparing drama.

Screenings will also include the 1947 Warner Bros. “Merrie Melodies” short Slick Hare, which features animated caricatures of 1940s celebrities, including Ray Milland himself, in a playful nod to the film.

A post-screening discussion with Eric Monder, author of Dashing to the End: The Ray Milland Story, and film critic Molly Haskell will be held on opening night, December 26.

Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces Returns in Newly Restored 4K Edition

Posted on November 18, 2025 by admin

Film Forum will present a new 4K restoration of Bob Rafelson’s landmark drama Five Easy Pieces from December 19 to 25. Released in 1970, the film is considered a defining work of the New Hollywood era and features one of Jack Nicholson’s most celebrated early performances.

Nicholson stars as Bobby Dupea, a former piano prodigy turned oil-rig worker drifting through a life he can’t fully commit to. The film follows his uneasy relationships, including his volatile dynamic with girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black), encounters with fellow travelers on the road, and a return to his estranged family for a final attempt at reconciliation. Its blend of working-class realism, counterculture disillusionment, and character driven storytelling helped cement the film’s reputation as a touchstone of American independent cinema.

Shot by cinematographer László Kovács, the film was written by Carole Eastman, under the pseudonym Adrien Joyce, from sketches developed with Rafelson. Five Easy Pieces went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.

The restoration offers audiences a rare chance to revisit the film on the big screen more than fifty years after its release.

Film Forum to Host Weeklong Hitchcock and Herrmann Festival

Posted on November 14, 2025 by admin

Film Forum is set to launch Hitchcock and Herrmann, a one-week festival celebrating one of cinema’s most influential director-composer partnerships. Running December 12 to 18, the series highlights the collaboration between Alfred Hitchcock and legendary composer Bernard Herrmann, whose work together shaped some of the most iconic suspense films ever made.

The program showcases newly restored 4K presentations of classics including North by Northwest, Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, as well as a 35mm screening of The Wrong Man. The festival coincides with the release of Steven C. Smith’s new book Hitchcock & Herrmann: The Friendship & Film Scores That Changed Cinema. Smith will appear throughout the week to introduce select screenings, participate in conversations, and deliver an illustrated talk titled “Hitchcock & Herrmann: The Sound of Murder.”

Additional events include a discussion on The Wrong Man with author Jason Isralowitz and Film Forum Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein, exploring the real wrongful-conviction case that inspired Hitchcock’s film.

The full schedule, including introductions and special events, is available through Film Forum.

New 4K Restoration of Stanley Donen’s Charade Opens December 5 at Film Forum

Posted on November 10, 2025 by admin

A new 4K restoration of Stanley Donen’s 1963 classic Charade will screen at Film Forum in New York from December 5 to 11. Starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Walter Matthau, the film blends romance, suspense, and comedy, often described as “the most Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made.”

Set in Paris, Charade follows a widow pursued by several men trying to recover stolen money linked to her late husband. Known for its sharp dialogue, stylish direction, and the chemistry between Grant and Hepburn, the film remains one of Donen’s most celebrated works.

The restoration brings renewed clarity to the film’s cinematography and design, offering audiences a chance to revisit the title on the big screen more than six decades after its release.

Mexico’s Oscar Entry “We Shall Not Be Moved” Explores Legacy of the 1968 Student Movement

Posted on November 5, 2025 by admin

We Shall Not Be Moved (No nos moverán), Mexico’s official submission for the 98th Academy Awards, will begin its U.S. theatrical run on November 28 at Cinema Village in New York City, presented by Cinema Tropical. The film will then expand to additional cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Tucson, and Houston.

The debut feature by Pierre Saint-Martin Castellanos, the film is a dark dramedy about memory, loss, and the legacy of Mexico’s 1968 student movement, one of the nation’s most significant and tragic historical events. Shot in striking black and white, it stars Luisa Huertas as Socorro, a 67-year-old retired lawyer haunted by her brother’s death during the Tlatelolco massacre. Decades later, she sets out on a dangerous mission to confront the man responsible, forcing her family and herself to reckon with the past.

We Shall Not Be Moved premiered at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, where it won Best Mexican Film and the Audience Award. It went on to receive four Ariel Awards for Best First Feature, Screenplay, Actress, and Breakthrough Actor, and has screened at over 40 international film festivals. The film has also achieved a remarkable 14-week theatrical run in Mexico, the longest of any Mexican film this year, and will represent Mexico at the Goya Awards.

Director Pierre Saint-Martin Castellanos and lead actress Luisa Huertas are available for interviews.

We Shall Not Be Moved is both a personal and political exploration of how the wounds of violence and resistance continue to shape families and national identity in modern Mexico.