Stuart Klawans

Film Critic

Stuart Klawans is the film critic for The Nation.

The Way of All Flesh The Way of All Flesh

Hark! The squeal of the two-headed amphibian. Mating season must have begun.

Apr 21, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Accountant of Death Accountant of Death

After we admit that all historical circumstances are specific and all sufferings absolute--that Serbian "police" are not Nazis and ethnic Albanians not Jews (and NATO forces can...

Apr 15, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

The End of Humanism The End of Humanism

Like a guest at a potlatch, laughing to see his host's worldly goods go up in flames, I roared at The Matrix--roared and at the same time was humbled, knowing Warner Bros.

Apr 8, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Better Ed Than Dead Better Ed Than Dead

Like the telephone before it, television has been an instrument for overcoming American loneliness.

Apr 1, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Carried Away Carried Away

My friend Dennis Paoli says there are two kinds of horror movies, and since his screenwriting credits include Re-Animator, I treat his categories with respect.

Mar 18, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Too Many Cigarettes Too Many Cigarettes

Monday: Screening of Garry Marshall's The Other Sister, which seems to be about a goldfish.

Mar 11, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Touched by an Angel Touched by an Angel

It's characteristic of Erick Zonca's extraordinary first feature, The Dreamlife of Angels, that we never learn how Isa got that scar across her right eyebrow.

Mar 4, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Oscar Who? Oscar Who?

Although the producers of the Academy Awards ceremony like to boast that a billion people watch their broadcast, I take comfort in knowing that another 5 billion do not.

Feb 25, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Room With a View Room With a View

A man locks his daughters in a one-room house for their first twelve years. The girls--twins--don't attend school; they don't play with other kids. They're never even given a ba...

Feb 18, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Rear Windows Rear Windows

Said the comic gangster in Payback, misquoting an old saw, "Don't shit where you eat. Or, I mean, where you live. That's it.

Feb 11, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

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