The Transfiguration (2016)
June 6, 2026
Michael O'Shea's grounded debut uses vampirism as a lens for trauma and isolation. The film never says, and the ambiguity is the point.
Tag: Social Realism
Social realism points the camera at ordinary life and refuses to look away. This tag collects reviews and essays on socially realist film and fiction: class, work, and lives rendered without glamor or rescue.
1960sNight of the Living Dead (1968)
May 19, 2026
George Romero's 1968 zombie template. The genre's foundational document.
2010sGet Out (2017)
May 19, 2026
Jordan Peele's 2017 directorial debut. Daniel Kaluuya at his white girlfriend's parents' house.
1940sMeet John Doe (1941)
May 19, 2026
Meet John Doe is Frank Capra's 1941 American political drama about a newspaper columnist who invents a fictional everyman who threatens to commit suicide on Christmas Eve in protest against social injustice, and who must then find a real person…
2000sTokyo Godfathers (2003)
May 19, 2026
Satoshi Kon directs the story of three homeless Tokyo residents who find an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve and search for the parents. Tokyo Godfathers is Satoshi Kon's 2003 Japanese animated film depicting three homeless Tokyo residents, a middle-aged alcoholic…
1980sThey Live (1988)
May 19, 2026
A drifter discovers sunglasses that reveal the wealthy elite are alien creatures controlling humanity through subliminal messaging. They Live is John Carpenter's 1988 American science-fiction horror film depicting a drifter who discovers sunglasses that reveal the wealthy elite are alien…
2010sThe Act of Killing (2012)
May 19, 2026
Aging death squad leaders reenact their killings as movie scenes. The Act of Killing is Joshua Oppenheimer's 2012 Danish-British-Norwegian documentary depicting former Indonesian death squad leaders who participated in the 1965-66 anti-communist purges that killed approximately five hundred thousand to…
1980sRoger & Me (1989)
May 19, 2026
Michael Moore's 1989 directorial debut. GM CEO Roger Smith and Flint Michigan plant closures.
2010sO.J.: Made in America (2016)
May 19, 2026
Simpson trial through race-and-celebrity prism. Won Oscar despite TV format.
2010sCitizenfour (2014)
May 19, 2026
Citizenfour is Laura Poitras's 2014 American documentary depicting Edward Snowden's June 2013 meetings with Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong, when Snowden disclosed classified National Security Agency documents revealing extensive surveillance programs. Citizenfour proves how documentary could operate…
1970sThe China Syndrome (1979)
May 19, 2026
James Bridges' 1979 nuclear plant near-meltdown. Released twelve days before Three Mile Island.
1980sGandhi (1982)
May 19, 2026
Richard Attenborough's 1982 Gandhi biopic. Three-hour epic of nonviolent resistance.