Justin Chang
@justincchang.bsky.social
Film Critic, The New Yorker and NPR’s Fresh Air | 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism | Chair, National Society of Film Critics | Programmer, New York Film Festival
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@filmlinc.bsky.social · yesterdayWe’re thrilled to announce the world premiere of GODZILLA MINUS ZERO as the #NYFF64 Spotlight Gala selection, taking place September 26 with Takashi Yamazaki and members of the film team in attendance. #NYFF64 is presented in partnership with ROLEX. Learn more: filmlinc.org/godzilla @gkids.com
Resistance is feudal: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's marvelously intricate historical mystery, THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER, reviewed. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“The Samurai and the Prisoner” Fits a War Epic Into an Elegant Puzzle Box
In Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s historical drama, “The Samurai and the Prisoner,” a series of puzzling crimes at a besieged fortress yields even more confounding questions about faith, war, and leadership.
newyorker.com
We’re thrilled to announce that Tony Gilroy’s BEHEMOTH!, starring Pedro Pascal in the performance of his career so far, is the #NYFF64 Centerpiece selection, making its world premiere on October 2. #NYFF64 is presented in partnership with ROLEX. Learn more: filmlinc.org/behemoth
Mamdani criticizes Netanyahu. Later, a crazy man stabs a Jewish man and an Asian man. And we get an article suggesting that while one stabbing (dismissed in six words) is just a shrug, the other implicates the mayor. Disgraceful framing. Shame on everyone involved. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/n...
After Stabbings, a Rise in Jewish Fears and Questions for Mamdani (Gift Article)
Some politicians said Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s criticism of Israel had created a dangerous environment. He pushed back, condemning the stabbings of two men on the Upper West Side and defending his state...
nytimes.com
We’re thrilled to announce that Ava DuVernay’s 14th is the #NYFF64 Closing Night selection, making its world premiere at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, October 9, with DuVernay and film participants in attendance. Learn more: filmlinc.org/14th #NYFF64 is presented in partnership with ROLEX.
Immensely honored to share that I’m somehow the new secretary for LAFCA! Can’t thank @justincchang.bsky.social enough for his continual, unfailing mentorship, the Board* for their ardent belief in me, and the membership body for choosing me; this is incredible.
Los Angeles Film Critics Association@lafilmcritics.bsky.social · 3w agoWe are proud to welcome our new secretary @swenryan.bsky.social and giving a huge thanks to @justincchang.bsky.social for his many years of board service
Troy Story: on the career-spanning resonance and secular magic of Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY, which, like so many of his great films, despairs over a point of no return — a time when mortals, for sheer cruelty, have left the gods behind. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Christopher Nolan Has Always Been Making “The Odyssey”
In a starry, stirring adaptation of Homer’s epic, the director’s signature realism grounds, without dispelling, the drama’s emotional and mythological power.
newyorker.com
We’re thrilled to announce that James Gray’s PAPER TIGER, starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson, is the #NYFF64 Opening Night selection, making its North American premiere on September 25! Opening Night is presented in partnership with ROLEX.
Time and tide: the beguiling coastal mysteries of Carla Simón’s ROMERÍA and Mark Jenkin’s ROSE OF NEVADA. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Coastal Mysteries of “Romería” and “Rose of Nevada”
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.
newyorker.com
Cruz Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Olivia Wilde's THE INVITE, reviewed: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“The Invite” Is a Witty Relationship Comedy That Could Be Wilder
In Olivia Wilde’s bickersome couples comedy, an evening of refreshments and recriminations leads to an intriguing proposition.
newyorker.com
Another sad loss today: the longtime New Yorker writer Mark Singer. Here's his marvelous profile of Ricky Jay, from 1993. www.newyorker.com/magazine/199...
Ricky Jay’s Magical Secrets
From 1993: The magician’s deft illusions flout reality, and he rejects the notion that magic is a suitable entertainment for children.
newyorker.com
In the blink of an iPad: TOY STORY 5G, reviewed. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Toy Story 5” Won’t Leave Kids to Their Own Devices
In the latest chapter of “Toy Story,” Jessie, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear confront a looming threat—screen time—that’s changing the play habits of children everywhere.
newyorker.com
Contact solutions: I reviewed Steven Spielberg’s latest D-Day movie. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
In “Disclosure Day,” Steven Spielberg Replays the Hits
His new alien thriller has shades of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Minority Report,” even “The Post”—but the retreads yield diminishing returns.
newyorker.com
Fright supremacy: on BACKROOMS, OBSESSION, and Hollywood’s Zoomer-horror renaissance: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
With “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” Hollywood Is Having a Zoomer-Horror Renaissance.
“Backrooms” and “Obsession,” both directed by precocious YouTube-trained talents, breathe shivery cinematic life into urban legends and cautionary tales.
newyorker.com
Some critics are cantankerous; I tend toward the Cannes-rankerous. Here's how the 2026 competition stacked up: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
All the Films in Competition at Cannes 2026, Ranked from Best to Worst
There were 22 films in competition for this year’s Palme d’Or. Here’s how they stack up.
newyorker.com
You can't handle the youth: I wrote about Marine Atlan's LA GRADIVA, the Critics' Week champ and one of the great discoveries of #Cannes 2026, plus notes on Jordan Firstman's much-buzzed CLUB KID and Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or-winning FJORD. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Kids Are Not All Right at Cannes
Matters of adolescent identity and child welfare loom compellingly large in new festival-premièred films from Marine Atlan, Jordan Firstman, and Cristian Mungiu.
newyorker.com
Hazarding a Palme guess: it would be fitting for a festival that began with a LABYRINTH to end with a MINOTAUR. #Cannes
A middling Cannes competition so far, but I wrote about three standouts (with hopefully more to come): James Gray’s PAPER TIGER, Pawel Pawlikowski’s FATHERLAND, and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s ALL OF A SUDDEN. Plus some bonus memories of my first Cannes, in 2006: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Glories of Cannes Are Upon Us
At the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, directors and jurors consider the role of politics—and A.I.— in cinema, with Hollywood conspicuously absent.
newyorker.com
The new Cristian Mungiu and THE UNKNOWN are screening today at Cannes. If both are well received, the Palme d'Or race could come down to ... FJORD v Harari.
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s ALL OF A SUDDEN runs 196 minutes and the standing ovations should, too. #Cannes
May the forest be with you: if you haven’t botany tickets to Ildikó Enyedi’s SILENT FRIEND, you should. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A Ginkgo Tree Threads the Narrative of “Silent Friend”
In Ildikó Enyedi’s meditative nature epic, “Silent Friend,” three lonely experimenters from three different eras seek to unlock the secrets of plants—and learn something vital about themselves.
newyorker.com
The welcome changes to the International Oscar category come one year too late for our beloved 2025 Golden Bear DREAMS (d. Dag Johan Haugerud). It may not have overtaken the Norwegian SENTIMENTAL VALUE juggernaut, but it would have given it a run for its kroner. See it if you haven't!
I wrote about the remarkable new documentary OUR LAND, the magnificent restoration of THE HEADLESS WOMAN, and the furious moral clarity of the Martel Cinematic Universe: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Our Land” Is a Blistering Denunciation of Colonialist Oppression
In her first documentary feature, “Our Land,” Lucrecia Martel deepens her commitment to Indigenous, anti-colonial stories that harness the elusiveness of film itself.
newyorker.com
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2: a pretty good pile of stuff. www.newyorker.com/2026/05/11/t...
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” Gives the Decline of Magazines the Glossy Treatment
“ ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ was a fairy tale with many frogs and nary a single viable Prince Charming,” Justin Chang writes. The sequel grants its protagonists some romantic redemption.
newyorker.com
Train Screams: on Genki Kawamura's ingenious, scary, and unexpectedly moving EXIT 8, now playing in theatres. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Exit 8” Is a Video-Game Adaptation That Ingeniously Subverts Its Source
In Genki Kawamura’s infinity-loop thriller, “Exit 8,” a labyrinthine metro station becomes a metaphor for a life lived in extreme tunnel vision.
newyorker.com
Delirious with happiness for Variety and its new Chief Film Critic, @guylodge.bsky.social, whom I fully intend to begin addressing as “Critic-at-Lodge.” Seriously, the best news: variety.com/2026/film/ne...
Variety Hires Guy Lodge as Chief Film Critic
Guy Lodge, a longtime contributor to Variety, has been hired as chief film critic.
variety.com
On Kristoffer Borgli’s THE DRAMA: squirmily terrific as R.Patzendaya nuptial-disaster flick, half-assed as provocation, and, not to incite Cage-gap discourse, an improvement on DREAM SCENARIO. Spoilers ahoy: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“The Drama” Struggles to Justify Its Combustible Premise
In “The Drama,” a woman reveals a deep, dark secret before her wedding day—but it simply doesn’t ring true, Justin Chang writes.
newyorker.com
The best documentary of 2025 arrives on MUBI this Friday. My review, from August:
Justin Chang@justincchang.bsky.social · 12mo ago"Evil is not eternal, and truth will surely win." On dissidence, despair, and defiant hope in Julia Loktev's extraordinary five-part documentary, MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
