Hello Reader, Hit reply to let me know where you sit on Cronenberg (including, who on earth is Cronenberg anyway?)! As I talk about on today's podcast on Cronenberg's The Shrouds, I started out as a Cronenberg skeptic. What had trickled down to me about Cronenberg was that he made horror movies, often body horror movies, often about psycho-sexual things. Although I've liked plenty of films that fit into each of these categories, none of them are my go-to favourite genres. I pretty much...
7 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, Last weekend, I went to see Andrew Ahn's new film The Wedding Banquet (2025) which updates and reimagines Ang Lee's 1993 queer classic for a 2025 audience. Admittedly, I was a little skeptical. Much as I liked Lee's film and Ahn's feature debut Spa Night, I wondered...do we really need to revive this rather dated story 30 years later? But I went to see it because, if nothing else, I will watch anything with Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon, Certain Women, and Lockdown...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, There's a persistent myth that the best way to watch movies that you'll enjoy is to watch what's already in your well-established wheelhouse. The last thing you want to do is take a risk on an unknown quantity that you might not like. I 100% understand this. You only have so much free time, and you want the movies you watch to count. But here's the truth: One of the best highs you can get from cinema is when you discover a film you wouldn't have otherwise watched and didn't...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hello Reader, You are receiving this as a paying subscriber to The Globetrotting Watchlist (which includes Film Adventurer and Cinephile Members), a monthly newsletter that helps you expand your cinematic horizons through streaming recommendations for the best socially progressive under-the-radar films worldwide. Your support helps us pay our expenses to keep Seventh Row, a non-profit, ad-free and online. What's Inside the Globetrotting Newsletter This month, I'm recommending: Three must-see...
about 1 month ago • 9 min read
Hello Reader, As we teased in episode 161, this is the time of year when the best international films of the year come out in cinemas. One of the year's best films, the queer French erotic thriller Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie, is out in cinemas this week. It's definitely not for everyone, but it's an extremely well-made film that takes unexpected turns and is often very funny. Episode 165: Alain Guiraudie's Misericordia Today, on the podcast, I briefly discuss why I liked the film and...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, It’s not very often that we get a movie for adults that’s smart and fun and screening theatrically. But Steven Soderbergh’s London-set spy thriller Black Bag fits this bill and opened in North American cinemas last weekend. The film features major stars like Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, who play the married couple around whose relationship the film pivots, and major lesser-known talents like Tom Burke and Naomie Harris in key supporting roles. As a card-carrying...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, Joan Micklin Silver was writing and directing movies in 1970s America when very few women were. Elaine May’s A New Leaf came a few years before Silver’s first feature, but Silver pre-dated filmmakers like Claudia Weill, Nora Ephron, and more who followed in her footsteps. Her four features are all excellent, and a great B Side to the era's films — the Jewishness of a Woody Allen movie without all the creepiness, the emancipated women of Mazursky but told by a woman. But what...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, You are receiving this as a paying subscriber to The Globetrotting Watchlist (which includes Film Adventurer and Cinephile Members), a monthly newsletter that helps you expand your cinematic horizons through streaming recommendations for the best socially progressive under-the-radar films worldwide. Your support helps us pay our expenses to keep Seventh Row, a non-profit, ad-free and online. What's Inside the Globetrotting Newsletter This month, I'm recommending: Winter in...
2 months ago • 7 min read
Hello Reader, Contrary to popular belief, when Oscar season ends, good movie season begins. The 3-4 month window after the Oscars and before summer movie season is when 90% of the year’s best movies get released. Today on the podcast, film critic C.J. Prince of Acquired Cinema joins Alex to look back on the wide variety of excellent international movies that have been released right after the Oscars during this window. We explain some of the attributes that define these films, which are...
3 months ago • 1 min read