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Cinema Purgatorio
Cultural criticism and reviews. Enduring the torments of the IP era in hope of deliverance.

Latest

Apr
08
Seven fuck-ugly CGI dwarfs look shocked and terrified, with Dopey pointing directly at the camera.

Snow White and the Seven Adaptations

The foul and fairest of them all.
18 min read
Mar
28
A screenshot from The Zone of Interest. A Nazi family picnics in the grass beside a river.

Barbarism and its Discontents

On model settler farmers and exemplary pioneers.
18 min read
Mar
05
Adrian Brody stands pensively on the Oscars stage, his left arm extended, his right arm clutching his prize statuette..

Oscar Clickbait

"It's not my first rodeo, but I will be brief. I will not be egregious, I promise."
13 min read
Feb
28
Theatre Revue

Theatre Revue

2024's traffic of the stage
12 min read
Feb
18
At either side, a teenage girl and her younger sister. Between them, standing in a double doorway, their father.

Separating the National Culture From the Nation

"They not like us."
13 min read
Feb
05
The 'Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry' Issue

The 'Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry' Issue

"Either better than Citizen Kane or the worst piece of shit that anyone ever loaded on the projector."
13 min read
Jan
24
In the foreground, a silhouetted figure. In front of him, at dusk, a figure in grey with a black mask.

New Year, New Newsletter

“If I could just request that you refrain from killing each other. And don't kill the actors, either."
12 min read
Jan
16
Queer: A Man Apart

Queer: A Man Apart

"I'm not queer. I'm disembodied."
14 min read
Dec
18
The End: Tried So Hard and Got So Far

The End: Tried So Hard and Got So Far

Joshua Oppenheimer's Tilda Swinton climate apocalypse musical isn't nearly as much fun as it should be, nor as arresting as his previous work.
11 min read
Dec
03
Tongues Untied: LGBTQ+ People Aren't Going Back

Tongues Untied: LGBTQ+ People Aren't Going Back

"End the silence, baby. We can make a serious revolution, together."
8 min read