Author Archives: Eric Hsiao

I SAW THE TV GLOW by Jane Schoenbrun | Trailer WATCH THIS IF: You think a waking nightmare that gnaws at your innards while forcing you to question the very nature of your reality sounds like a swell time. NICKEL BOYS by RaMell Ross | Trailer WATCH THIS IF: You want to see the world a littleContinue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2024”

PAST LIVES by Celine Song | Trailer Who we are at any given moment is but the culmination of a series of choices, circumstances, luck, and mistakes, from both the parameters of our own lives and all the lives that precede us. Thus, there are infinite lives you could have lived, with infinite people youContinue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2023”

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE by Daniels | Trailer It’s been more than ten months since the year’s defining film first assaulted my psyche, and I am still exhausted by the unrelenting inventiveness of it all. So obliterated were my preconceived notions of what cinema can be that I was left with only one question:Continue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2022”

THE POWER OF THE DOG by Jane Campion | Trailer After a dozen years away from feature filmmaking, New Zealand writer-director Jane Campion returns with this intricately composed tale of the existential wreckage of toxic masculinity as expressed by a Benedict Cumberbatch performance that will sear itself into the deepest recesses of your soul. EveryContinue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2021”

NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS by Eliza Hittman | Trailer Her face remains stoic but struggles to conceal a universe of anxiety. Even with the unyielding loyalty of her best friend, the journey from small town Pennsylvania to New York City is a cold and daunting one. This world was simply not designed for 17-year-old girls,Continue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2020”

THE FAREWELL by Lulu Wang | Trailer Being a child of immigrants means being caught between two worlds, two cultures, two languages, and two seemingly opposing worldviews. Being a viewer of The Farewell means being caught between laughing and sobbing while sitting in awe of a work of both cultural specificity rarely seen on screen andContinue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2019”

ANNIHILATION by Alex Garland Trailer “We are disintegrating. Our bodies as fast as our minds. Can’t you feel it?” After a night of unspeakable horrors, the house has been consumed by trees and vines. Dispirited flower beings continue to stand sentry. Lena finds Josie sitting alone, the tall grass billowing in the gentle breeze. TheContinue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2018”

1. LADY BIRD Greta Gerwig’s vignette-driven directorial debut, through its haphazardly headstrong heroine, is the most infatuating and resonant of journeys through American teenage self-actualization to ever grace our screens.  In every fully realized character, you see so much of yourself and so much of may have been ignored or forgotten: the mother-daughter battle of wills,Continue reading “THE AUTHORITATIVE TOP NINE FILMS OF 2017”

1. LA LA LAND is the most beautiful of reminders of why we go to the movies, where cinematic spectacle can be found in the twirl of a candy-colored dress or the tapping of shoes upon a lonely bench, that a glossy homage to the golden-age of musicals can also be the most daring showcase of modernContinue reading “The Authoritative Top Ten Films of 2016”

1. INSIDE OUT is a universal story with a timeless yet completely unique lesson wrapped up in one of the most ambitious, creative, and satisfying artistic achievements of our time. Sadness is something that the movies, and the entertainment industrial complex in general, are usually trying to eliminate, or at least sweep under the rug; pain andContinue reading “The Authoritative Top Ten Films of 2015”