A member of the legendary Cahiers quintet, Jacques Rivette was a critic before a filmmaker. Reading his early criticism, though, it’s clear he thought in images from the start, even in words, emphasizing closed complex circuits of mise-en-scene, the better to form meaning. However, he trains one ey

Absurd, Charming, Conceptual, Death, Enigmatic, Event, Excessive, Feminine, Figurative, Functional, Grotesque, Hallucinatory, Layered, Loose, Manic, Paranoid, Playful, Polychromatic, Quirky, Sardonic, Saturated, Self-reflection, Sexy, Spectral, Whimsical

Kracauer was an astute observer of modern mass culture and developed methods for analyzing films, photography, advertising, urban planning and dance. His book "From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of German Film" helped lay the foundation for modern film criticism.

Layered, Philosophy, Smart

The short films of the American artist T. J. Wilcox feel like physical objects: flickering, kinetic paintings. The impression of material density comes from his labor-intensive methods. Each film is pieced together, almost frame by frame, from vintage and new film clips, including animation. The proc

Atmospheric, Avant-garde film, Enigmatic, Layered, Sophisticated

Just a guy with a blog (or five) and a love of film, liquids and words. Like WSB, I eat images. Like everybody else, I keep getting older; I just happen to write about it, from a particular angle, on the internet where everybody can see. Sometimes people pay me to write things. I also make little mov

Architectural, Event, Excessive, Flux, Hermeneutics, Joyful, Layered, Lyrical, Mythic, Open-ended, Perceptual, Playful, Repetition, Science fiction, Sensual, Slangy, Sprawling, Urban