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The big screen brought to your little screen
One of the finest independent cinemas in London, the Rio also has a lost archive – reports on Hackney life made by local young people in the 80s. A new picture book celebrates a treasure trove of photos revealing a history of street life, social activism and protest.
Twenty years on from the release of X-Men, it’s hard to imagine a time when comic book films weren’t box office gold. When the genre was on life support, Wolverine and co. showed how to bridge the gap between hardcore fans and casual viewers, finds Frederick O'Brien
As new releases are currently sparse, looking back to past successes of cross-pollination in action films feels crucial. Spaghetti Westerns borrowed from Kurosawa, Bruce Lee built a bridge between East and West. Thomas H. Sheriff looks back on a decade of cultural frenzy
One of Chantal Akerman's lesser known works feels singularly important during times of global isolation. Toute Une Nuit telegraphs the importance of human connection over one finite period of time and now plays like a foggy memory, finds Patrick Preziosi
Edward Yang's domestic epic Yi Yi premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 20 years ago this week, where Yang won Best Director. Today, the film is a vital, tender resource on subverting midlife crises and saving lives through cinema, finds Ian Wang
A claustrophobic yet deeply stylish depiction of a weary, wary surveillance expert, The Conversation in its solitary Hitchcockian eeriness is the ultimate cautionary tale for these lonely weeks and months, finds Adam Solomons
Despite its disagreeable main characters, Stephen Frears’ record store romp still has plenty to offer for the hopeless romantics of the 2020s. Has there been a better failed and healed love story since? Adam Solomons investigates
Long before Parasite conquered the UK’s foreign-language box office and Cold War hit new heights for Polish cinema, Mój Nikifor sold just one ticket in September 2007. But it’s an under-appreciated gem, finds Adam Solomons
Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner returns with a prickly sci-fi hybrid to give Invasion of the Body Snatchers a run for its money. Nick Chen meets the filmmaker to find out about anti-cinema and whether there really is such a thing as happiness
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