Notebook

1 week ago | mubi.com | Saffron Maeve

“I swear you are my only beloved wife!” the text on the computer screen reads, above a drawing of two hearts skewered by a single arrow. This message, rendered with the program AtariArtist on a Taxan CRT monitor, is Derek’s (Chow Yun-fat) response to a pointed question from his wife, Bao-er (Cora Miao): “Will there be more like her?” Bao-er refers to Derek’s affair with a younger woman, which has led the couple to separate.

4 weeks ago | mubi.com | Robert Rubsam

Miguel Gomes’s Grand Tour premieres in theaters on March 28 before coming to MUBI on April 18. Some years ago, I traveled nearly the length of Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. That winter was warm, as nearly all are now, but a Siberian winter is still winter by any definition, and for two weeks I shivered my way from Ulaanbaatar to Moscow.

1 month ago | mubi.com | Jillian Steinhauer

The robot is voguing and reciting poetry. It moves the limbs of its humanoid body around the screen, fluttering its hands, spreading and swooping its legs. “Dip into your mind,” it says. “Welcome to your insides.” Its face looks like an African mask, with a mouth that lights up when it speaks. “To rest is to refresh. … Have some chamomile tea, skip the wine.” At this I chuckle loudly, as do other members of the audience.

1 month ago | mubi.com | Gabriel Winslow-Yost

The promise of a new sensory cinema calls upon almost every trick from over a half-century of big-screen novelties. “Are You Experienced?” is the spring 2025 edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture. I had tweaked something in my neck a few days before I went to see a 4DX screening of Flight Risk (2025)—a fact I should have considered, but did not. You don’t usually have to think about whether your body is ready for a movie.

1 month ago | mubi.com | Daniel Kasman

The festival is shrinking, and that may be a good thing. The Berlin International Film Festival is shrinking. Not in the number of films shown—in fact, like Toronto and Rotterdam, it would greatly benefit from judicious slimming—but in the grandeur of its selection. The “big” films at Berlinale—in terms of stars, major auteurs, visionary scope, fervid anticipation—seem fewer each year, as most vie, for promotional reasons, to premiere at Cannes or Venice. This is perfectly fine.