The Historical Era of the Film I remember my first experience with “Call Me by Your Name (2017)” feeling like I was visiting a time and place just out of reach, both familiar and elusive. The backdrop of this film’s production fascinated me because it wasn’t just about 1983 Italy—the era in which the story … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film When I think back on the world into which CODA (2021) emerged, I immediately recall the intense mixture of change and uncertainty that marked the late 2010s and the dawn of the 2020s. The film’s release came on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic’s first devastating year—a moment that, … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film From the first time I watched Broken Blossoms (1919), I felt as if I was peering through a time-warped window into a world on the verge of transformation. The film emerged at the tail end of World War I, a moment that, for me as a film historian, is … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film Whenever I revisit Bringing Up Baby (1938), I’m struck by how much it feels both of its time and strangely unmoored from it. The political, economic, and social fabric of the United States in the late 1930s was woven with contradictions—a ferment of anxiety and hope. Living in a … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film Long before I even encountered Bridge of Spies (2015), the era depicted in the film was already haunting my understanding of 20th-century history. When I watched this film, I couldn’t separate its world from my own subjective sense of the Cold War as more than textbook drama. The film … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film I can still recall my first viewing of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)” and how it struck me as both quintessentially modern and yet clearly marked by its own era. It’s difficult for me to separate this film from the tumult and excitement of the United States in the early … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film Looking back at my first experience with Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), I found myself constantly weighing the magnitude of the era it sought to portray against the one in which it was crafted. Before immersing myself in the film’s world, I always remind myself that the Holocaust—one … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film Whenever I watch Bonnie and Clyde (1967), I’m almost immediately struck by how alive the film feels with the energy of its time. I can’t help but see traces of the late 1960s—an America shaped by profound transformation and uncertainty—simmering in every frame. The political landscape, as I understand … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film There’s always something paradoxical for me about watching “Blow-Up (1966),” because it so expertly captures the flavor of its own production era in ways that, decades later, seem almost uncanny. When I immerse myself in its world, I’m reminded that its creation fell right in the midst of a … Read more
The Historical Era of the Film When I first watched Blade Runner 2049 (2017), I couldn’t help but feel caught between two eras. The film emerged at a time marked by extraordinary political turbulence and economic uncertainty across the world. In 2017, global societies were grappling with the lingering effects of the late 2000s economic … Read more
