Articles by Robert Bell

Qissa

Anup Singh

PUBLISHED Oct 8, 2014

Though it's initially set in 1947, during the partition of the British Indian Empire, Qissa eschews the biopic format, making it clear from...

Bates Motel: Season Two [Blu-ray]

PUBLISHED Oct 7, 2014

In theory, Bates Motel shouldn't work. Unlike many programs that are pitched by people passionate about a project, this was conceived by Un...

The Double

Richard Ayoade

PUBLISHED Oct 6, 2014

During the brief director interview included with the Blu-ray release of Dostoevsky adaptation The Double, Richard Ayoade notes what attrac...

The Notebook

János Szász

PUBLISHED Sep 26, 2014

Stripped down to its fundamentals, János Szász's strikingly cruel and unrelentingly misanthropic deconstruction of wartime psychology, The...

Hyena

Gerard Johnson

PUBLISHED Sep 16, 2014

In the myopic world according to Hyena, Gerard Johnson's second feature-length film, women are mostly just passive whores waiting to be res...

National Gallery

Frederick Wiseman

PUBLISHED Sep 15, 2014

Frederick Wiseman's particular approach to the documentary form is an acquired taste. Unlike most of his peers, who organize their work lik...

Ned Rifle

Hal Hartley

PUBLISHED Sep 10, 2014

In the '90s, Hal Hartley was an indie film God. His humble, low-budget aesthetic, his propensity for verbosity, his pseudo-indulgent (albei...

Force Majeure

Ruben Östlund

PUBLISHED Sep 9, 2014

Throughout his career, Swedish director Ruben Östlund has tackled stories that deconstruct social norms. He's primarily focused on the natu...