Jordan Raup's Avatar

Jordan Raup

@jpraup

815
Followers
459
Following
45
Posts
26.07.2023
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Jordan Raup @jpraup

Preview
Berlinale Review: Trial of Hein Is a Rigorous Debut Feature Questioning Identity and Memory From Biblical tales of the prodigal son to Zach Braff’s Garden State, stories of returning home after an extended absence are ripe territory to explore reconciliation and changed identity. With his ri...

Kai Stänicke's Trial of Hein takes a Dogville-esque approach to exploring identity and memory.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Berlinale review:

23.02.2026 00:39 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
“We Cut 95% of It Out”: Matt Johnson on Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Constant Re-Editing, and Season 3 From its humble beginnings as a scrappy viral web series nearly two decades ago, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol's Groundhog Day-esque mission of attempting to book a show at Toronto's Rivoli Theatre ha...

"We shoot so, so much footage, but the real discipline is that we then cut 95% of it out." Matt Johnson talks with @jpraup.bsky.social about setting the bar for action and comedy this year wiht Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie:

13.02.2026 18:57 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Berlinale Review: Crocodile is a Choppy Yet Inspiring Portrait of Resourceful Filmmaking The ever-increasing accessibility of filmmaking means that anyone with basic technology can shoot and edit a film. However, only those with a story worth telling can hope to reach an audience and buil...

#Crocodile captures the endlessly resourceful, creative spirit of a group of Nigerian filmmakers, though it feels like an imprecise first draft of a much larger tale yet to be fully told.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Berlinale review:

20.02.2026 18:24 👍 2 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

Scripted with the meticulous patience of a Cristian Mungiu or Nuri Bilge Ceylan film, Visar Morina’s Sundance winner Shame and Money is a pressure-cooker of a drama about the crushing demands of capitalism.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Critic's Pick review: thefilmstage.com/sundance-rev...

04.02.2026 00:56 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Sundance Review: If I Go Will They Miss Me Finds Poetic Beauty in Coming of Age Finding poetic beauty in the quotidian, Walter Thompson-Hernández’s If I Go Will They Miss Me centers on coming of age in housing projects of southern Los Angeles. It’s a way of life often depicted wi...

Walter Thompson-Hernández’s Sundance premiere If I Go Will They Miss Me searches for the divine in everyday life. Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review:

02.02.2026 17:59 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Sundance Review: Kogonada’s Free-Flowing Zi is an Experimental Career Reset A filmmaker attempting a career reset following an ill-received feature of larger scope often offers a fascinating study in artistic rejuvenation, be it David Lynch’s Blue Velvet or M. Night Shyamalan...

Zi at least demonstrates Kogonada hasn’t lost his filmmaking mojo, crafting a movie that may seem more personal to him than most viewers. Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Sundance review:

01.02.2026 02:16 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
A Poet Review: A Darkly Humorous Tale of Failed Creative Pursuits Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Cannes coverage. A Poet opens in theaters on January 30. Far removed from the mournful yearnings of A Quiet Passion––much less the quotid...

Simón Mesa Soto’s A Poet finds unexpected poetry in the jagged, pained misery of dashed dreams and misinterpreted, career-ending good intentions.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review as the Cannes winner arrives in U.S. theaters:

30.01.2026 16:34 👍 4 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

Can heartily recommend The Lake, One in a Million, Night Nurse, Who Killed Alex Odeh?, Barbara Forever, Time and Water, Nuisance Bear, Kikuyu Land, and Jaripeo.

30.01.2026 14:20 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Sundance Review: Josephine is a Stomach-Churning Portrait of Lost Innocence Perspective is everything in Beth de Araújo’s Josephine, a stomach-churning drama focused on the loss of innocence and the ill-equipped guidance—both parental and bureaucratic—that can compound enduri...

Perspective is everything in Beth de Araújo’s #Josephine, a stomach-churning drama focused on the loss of innocence and the ill-equipped guidance—both parental and bureaucratic—that can compound enduring trauma.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Sundance review:

30.01.2026 02:20 👍 4 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

We can thank production designer Florencia Martin for the inclusion of Modelos, a few small beers, etc. in One Battle After Another, and more revealed in a wonderful chat:

28.01.2026 17:10 👍 12 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

This is a lovely movie!

27.01.2026 20:41 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

Abby Ellis’ thrilling, terrifying documentary The Lake captures the mission to defuse an environmental nuclear bomb.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's Critic's Pick review of the Sundance premiere: thefilmstage.com/sundance-rev...

23.01.2026 00:46 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
Preview
Sundance Review: One in a Million Tells an Epic Saga of Exile and Assimilation “War is not the hardest thing a person can go through. It’s not as hard as what comes after.” These opening words are the guiding theme of Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes’ One in a Million, an epic saga ...

The Sundance premiere One in a Million tells an epic saga of exile and assimilation, examining how perceived liberty doesn’t always mean true independence.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review:

24.01.2026 00:39 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Sundance kicks off on a strong note with The Lake, which understands that the most exceptional, impactful environmental docs are about direct human action on a micro scale.

23.01.2026 01:04 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

I've seen over 40 films premiering at 2026 Sundance. Here's my picks for what to see, many of which are available online:

21.01.2026 14:15 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
“How Do I Keep Leonardo DiCaprio Safe?”: Breaking Down the Stunts of One Battle After Another When One Battle After Another was first announced, before it even had a confirmed title, the potential of what a Paul Thomas Anderson-directed action movie could be boggled the mind. Upon its release ...

"It was scary at first because Paul [Thomas Anderson] wanted all the actors to do their own stunts." Stunt coordinator Brian Machleit breaks down crafting the action of One Battle After Another with @jpraup.bsky.social:

19.01.2026 18:29 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s debut A Useful Ghost is a strange, tranquil, humorous exploration of the conundrums that would emerge were ghosts an accepted occurrence in everyday life.

Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review as the Cannes winner opens in theaters: thefilmstage.com/cannes-revie...

15.01.2026 14:30 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
The Best Films of 2025 and Most-Anticipated Films of 2026 On a special 2025 wrap-up podcast, The Film Stage co-founder and editor-in-chief Jordan Raup is joined by managing editor and Emulsion host Nick Newman and The B-Side co-host Conor O'Donnell to discus...

On a special podcast episode, we discuss the best films of 2025 and the most-anticipated movies of 2026.

Listen to @jpraup.bsky.social, @codonnell.bsky.social & Nick Newman's discussion:

12.01.2026 14:13 👍 5 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
OBEX Review: An Inventive, Lo-Fi, and Otherworldly Adventure Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Sundance coverage. Obex opens in theaters on January 9. While the likes of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and Steven Lisberger’s TRON have...

Albert Birney's OBEX, opening Friday, is an earnest, even poignant look at how entertainment can provide a sense of comfort for the most lonely souls. Read @jpraup.bsky.social's review:

07.01.2026 14:40 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

Saying goodbye to 2025 by counting down my favorite movie posters for US releases over at the @thefilmstage.com.

#posterizedpropaganda

31.12.2025 22:48 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
2025 Films Ranked A list of 132 films compiled on Letterboxd, including Hamnet (2025), The Naked Gun (2025), Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (2024), One Battle After Another (2025) and Peter Hujar's Day (202...

2025 Films I Saw, Best to Worst

boxd.it/zstB8

31.12.2025 17:00 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
The Best Undistributed Films of 2025 After highlighting the 50 best films you may have missed this year and our overall top 50 films of 2025, today we put our spotlight on those that still need a home: movies we loved on the festival cir...

Calling all U.S. distributors: please pick up these movies!

29.12.2025 21:04 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
The Film Stage’s Top 50 Films of 2025 For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2025. We’ve asked contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentio...

Looking for a movie to watch this holiday? Here's 50 great choices from 2025:

29.12.2025 21:05 👍 15 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
The Film Stage’s Most-Read Posts of 2025 As we continue to explore the best in 2025, today we're taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, feat...

The Film Stage's 2025 year-in-review is here!

Catch up on our most-read reviews, interviews, features, news, trailers, and more this year:

30.12.2025 16:17 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Jordan Raup’s Top 10 Films of 2025 Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2025, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists. In a year of tumultuous upheaval for Hollywood, ...

One Battle After Another, The Shrouds, and The Mastermind are among our editor-in-chief @jpraup.bsky.social's top 10 films of 2025:

25.12.2025 19:28 👍 13 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1

Happy holidays! I wrote about my favorite films and first-viewings of the year:

25.12.2025 19:48 👍 14 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

2026 in cinema: Hamaguchi, Jane Schoenbrun, Lee Chang-dong, Mike Leigh, Albert Serra, James Gray, Annie Baker, Spielberg, Almodóvar, Shyamalan, John Wilson, Stephen Cone, Valeska Grisebach, Cristian Mungiu, Nolan, Fincher, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 Terrence Malick and Frank Ocean, and so much more. Read our preview!

18.12.2025 14:24 👍 16 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0

Before @thefilmstage.com's 100 most-anticipated films of 2026 feature drops, here are the films coming next year we can heartily recommend:

17.12.2025 16:47 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
“The Story is Told by Faces”: Darius Khondji on the Cinematography of Marty Supreme and His Prolific Year As I noted in our round-up of the best cinematography of 2025, "If we were giving an award for the most varied cinematography of the year, it would surely go to Darius Khondji, who has lensed a trio o...

"What Josh got from Timothée is, for me, mind-blowing. I forgot about all his other performances after this."

Darius Khondji talks to @jpraup.bsky.social about crafting the cinematography of #MartySupreme, his prolific year, and why cinema will never die:

17.12.2025 15:06 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1

My rule every year is that I end my GOTY catch up as soon as Film Stage drops it’s top 50. Now it is movie time. No one ask me to play a video game for like 3 weeks thanks.

15.12.2025 01:15 👍 28 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0