About

Cinema Purgatorio is a newsletter of film and cultural criticism and review. Why Purgatory and not Paradise? I mean, have you seen what’s playing?

I kid, but not really. The world is in a bad way, and the movies are no different. Some would regard today’s media a hellscape, but hell implies fatalism, a belief that nothing will get better. And while savage reviews are great fun to read and write, to only ever bemoan the state of the arts risks becoming a shtick, a formula that is the antithesis of critical engagement. Hell and Purgatory both contain grueling punishments, but the latter promises an end, with Paradise to follow.

Beyond grisly optimism, the Purgatory concept and its midpoint status of being neither here nor there, is useful for the approach of this newsletter. There is no singular focus, theme, or format to Cinema Purgatorio, but instead dualities between which it sits: a thousand-word insta-reaction to a five-thousand word essay. A publishing schedule between once a week and once a month. Coverage of movies' influence on the other arts and vice versa, timely coverage and counterprogramming, garbage mingling gold, mass culture with minimal appeal, critical distance borne of intimate knowledge, art for art's sake as art forsaken. The interest is less in bland compromise than the clash of contradictions.

To that end, I try to remain aware that a work may not be as it seems. Some movies are torture, sure, but there is always the possibility of something that surprises: a performance that saves a film, a film that saves a life. You'll never know if you don't take the plunge. It's only by going through Hell that you'll come up to see the stars.

---

Start your own thing

Enjoying the experience? Get started for free and set up your very own subscription business using Ghost, the same platform that powers this website.