On a purely surface level, you can draw comparisons between Céline Sciamma’s recent award-winning Cannes film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and the Palme d’Or winning film “Blue is the Warmest Color” from filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche. Both films, though very different in execution, follow a passionate love story between two women. However, for many film fans, that’s the beginning, middle, and end of the similarities, as Sciamma and Kechiche seemingly approach the subject from two completely different points of view.

Continue reading Céline Sciamma Appreciates Abdellatif Kechiche’s “Male Gaze” & Defends Sex Scenes In ‘Blue Is The Warmest Color’ at The Playlist.

Happy (early) Pride Month (in two days of course)! Though we’ll all already be plenty busy dodging our exes at parades and scrubbing glitter out of our clothes, this June offers LGBTQ people everywhere a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come. This year is an especially important one, as it marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, when an uprising at a gay club in New York City galvanized gay and transgender people across the country.

Continue reading The Best LGBTQ Films Of The 21st Century (So Far) at The Playlist.

Abdellatif Kechiche is a controversial filmmaker, to say the least. He is perhaps best known for his films “The Secret of the Grain” and, of course, the Palme d’Or-winning film “Blue is the Warmest Color.” The director has been known, especially on the latter film, to be difficult to work with. But his latest controversy is perhaps much more severe. You see, Kechiche has now been accused of sexual assault.

Continue reading ‘Blue Is The Warmest Color’ Filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche Accused Of Sexual Assault at The Playlist.

If you haven’t noticed from the decorations, shop displays, email reminders, and worried reminder texts from your partner, it’s Valentine’s Day, the annual celebration of love, sex, romance, coupledom and having arguments in the Uber on the way to the second-choice restaurant. As always, we’re looking through the holiday through the cinematic lens, and whether you’re planning on snuggling up together on the sofa, or putting something on for company while you listlessly swipe through Tinder, we figured you could probably use some movie recommendations.

Continue reading The 50 Best Romantic Films Of The 21st Century So Far at The Playlist.

Cinema is a romantic’s medium. To watch a movie is to feel through others, to experience lives and cultures beyond your own or, sometimes, to relate in ways you never could before. The best films invite you to love and care, to believe you’re close to strangers and nestle inside their thoughts, their laughs, their sorrows and their pains. To watch a movie is to become someone else, if for a fleeting moment.

It’s sappy and corny to say as much, but that’s the same with Valentine’s Day.

Continue reading 15 Great Films To Watch On Valentine’s Day at The Playlist.

The unspeakable horrors of this weekend in Orlando, Florida — a massacre in a nightclub that claimed the lives of over fifty people — hit all Americans on a visceral gut level. But none were hit harder than the LGBT community, seemingly the target of this shocking crime.

While this new video supercut may seem opportunistic from the outside, Fandor, the originator of the clip writes, “We commissioned this piece prior to the terrible events in Orlando.

Continue reading Love Wins: Watch The ‘Rainbow Flag of Film’ Tribute To LGBTQ Cinema at The Playlist.

‘Twas the night before cinephile Christmas… Film critics and fans from around the world, including Team Playlist, are heading to the south of France for the Cannes Film Festival, the world’s most prestigious celebration of the movies. The 69th festival kicks off tomorrow with the screening of Woody Allen’s “Cafe Society,” and George Miller’s jury will start getting a look at the 21 films in competition soon after that.

Continue reading Ranked: The 21st Century Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or Winners So Far at The Playlist.

Interview: Talking Sex & Cinema With 'Love 3D' Director Gaspar Noé

Continue reading Interview: Talking Sex & Cinema With ‘Love 3D’ Director Gaspar Noé at The Playlist.

As the dust cleared from our Best of 2014 features, 2015 previews and awards season coverage, we realized something terrifying: we’re now halfway through the current decade. Five years have passed since the 2010s began, we’re all sixty months (or sixty two?) older, and literally thousands of movies have hit theaters in that time.

So what better time to take stock of the decade thus far? Box-office returns might have been dominated by superheroes, ice princesses and dystopian teen-on-teen murder, but once you look outside the multiplex (or even, very occasionally, within it), it’s clear that cinema is as healthy as it’s ever been, with everyone from A-list auteurs to foreign-language first-timers delivering stunning, boundary-pushing work.

Continue reading The 50 Best Films Of The Decade So Far at The Playlist.

17 Films Rated NC-17: Did They Deserve The 'Certificate Of Doom'?

Continue reading 17 Films Rated NC-17: Did They Deserve The ‘Certificate Of Doom’? at The Playlist.

NYFF: Abdellatif Kechiche Open To 'Blue Is The Warmest Color' Sequel, Says Director's Cut Will Be 40 Minutes Longer

Continue reading NYFF: Abdellatif Kechiche Open To ‘Blue Is The Warmest Color’ Sequel, Says Director’s Cut Will Be 40 Minutes Longer at The Playlist.

'Blue Is The Warmest Color' Director Changes His Mind, Says The Film Should Be Released After All

Continue reading ‘Blue Is The Warmest Color’ Director Changes His Mind, Says The Film Should Be Released After All at The Playlist.

'Blue Is The Warmest Color' Director Says The Film Shouldn't Be Released & He Thought Of Replacing Léa Seydoux

Continue reading ‘Blue Is The Warmest Color’ Director Says The Film Shouldn’t Be Released & He Thought Of Replacing Léa Seydoux at The Playlist.

The 5 Best Films Plus The Highs & Lows Of The Playlist's Cannes 2013

Continue reading The 5 Best Films Plus The Highs & Lows Of The Playlist’s Cannes 2013 at The Playlist.