Ben Kenigsberg

United States

Journalist at Freelance

Film critic and journalist at various publications, frequently @nytimes.

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Articles

‘Slumlord Millionaire’ Review: Costs of Living

3 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Ben Kenigsberg

Candidates for California governor face off about affordability, high cost of living in first bipartisan clashSACRAMENTO — In a largely courteous gathering of a half dozen of California’s top gubernatorial candidates, four Democrats and two Republicans agreed that despite the state boasting one of the world’s largest economies, too many of its residents are suffering because of the affordability crisis in …
'Slumlord Millionaire' Review: Costs of Living

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Ben Kenigsberg

The documentary "Slumlord Millionaire" aims to put a face to a problem that far too many readers in New York will already be familiar with: the high cost of housing in the city. The film, directed by Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez, tells the stories of a cross section of people who in different ways are pushing back.
Three Great Documentaries to Stream

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Ben Kenigsberg

6 hours ago12 Classic Movies That Are Still a Pleasure to WatchWe’ve all watched classic movies that are indisputably great, but aren’t much fun. These classic movies easily stand the test of time. Notorious (1947) …9 hours agoMaria Bello Files For DivorceMaria Bello wants to 86 her marriage to a celeb chef ... because she just filed for divorce.
Three Great Documentaries to Stream

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Ben Kenigsberg

This month's picks follow a journalist facing an Alzheimer's diagnosis and a unionization effort for Amazon workers. Plus, an exploration into the nature of film editing. The proliferation of documentaries on streaming services makes it difficult to choose what to watch. Each month, we select three nonfiction films - classics, overlooked recent docs and more - that will reward your time. Stream it on Paramount+. Rent it on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Cannes 2025: Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident" Wins Palme d'Or

1 month ago | rogerebert.com | Ben Kenigsberg

Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident," a Death and the Maiden -like drama about a group of Iranians confronting a man whom they suspect was their torturer in prison, won the Palme d'Or on Saturday night at the 78th Cannes Film Festival.
Cannes 2025: The Mastermind, Young Mothers

1 month ago | rogerebert.com | Ben Kenigsberg

The title of Kelly Reichardt's "The Mastermind, " the last film to premiere in competition at Cannes this year, only gets funnier the more you think about it. Josh O'Connor stars as J.B., a judge's son and former art student who hatches a plan to rob a handful of paintings from a museum in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Cannes 2025: Yes, Woman and Child, The Six Billion Dollar Man

1 month ago | rogerebert.com | Ben Kenigsberg

Few movies at Cannes this year have been as aggressively confrontational as Nadav Lapid's "Yes," showing in the parallel festival Directors' Fortnight. "Nothing in this film was reasonable," Lapid said, introducing it on Thursday. "Nothing in this film was normal." He praised his collaborators for following the project's logic and repeatedly saying yes. The Israeli director won the top prize at Berlin in 2019 for "Synonyms" and made his Cannes competition debut with "Ahed's Knee" in 2021.
Cannes 2025: A Private Life, The Disappearance of Josef Mengele

1 month ago | rogerebert.com | Ben Kenigsberg

Jodie Foster is known to be fluent in French, but Rebecca Zlotowski's film "A Private Life," showing out of competition,is said to mark her first time playing a leading role in the language. It's a good fit, as her character, Lilian Steiner, is an American by birth. Lilian has lived in France for decades, but her capacity for reading nuances may still be slightly off. Then again, that blind spot may simply be a part of who she is.
Cannes 2025: The Secret Agent, The Love That Remains, Magellan

1 month ago | rogerebert.com | Ben Kenigsberg

Bearing no relation to the Joseph Conrad novel, the competition entry "The Secret Agent," from the Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho ("Bacurau"), is a tricky item to discuss. Not only does it have the kind of convoluted plot-filled with double identities, assassins, and possible red herrings-that you would expect from a film with that title, but it's also a movie that backs into revealing what it's really about.
Cannes 2025: A Useful Ghost, Arco

1 month ago | rogerebert.com | Ben Kenigsberg

Dust, a character explains in "A Useful Ghost," is supposed to be a necessary evil in Thailand. It's a sign of progress; houses are being razed to build a mall. Of course, having a lot of dust around means that you need to own a vacuum cleaner, and the self-identified "academic ladyboy" (Wisarut Homhuan) we meet at the beginning of the movie has just purchased a faulty one: For whatever reason, overnight, the vacuum released all the dust it had gathered.