Bright Wall/Dark Room
@brightwalldarkroom.com
An independent, reader-supported online film journal, offering a different lens on movies since 2013.
issues/essays/podcasts: brightwalldarkroom.com
support: https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/subscribe
all the things: https://linktr.ee/brightwalldarkroom
issues/essays/podcasts: brightwalldarkroom.com
support: https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/subscribe
all the things: https://linktr.ee/brightwalldarkroom
Pinned
Train Dreams (2025): The Foundation of All Things
The “great mystery” that the opening narration of Train Dreams gestures toward is, perhaps, love—a love that forgives and persists without guarantees, that remains present even after the people who in...
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
New this weekend on the site:
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
New this weekend on the site:
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Train Dreams (2025): The Foundation of All Things
The “great mystery” that the opening narration of Train Dreams gestures toward is, perhaps, love—a love that forgives and persists without guarantees, that remains present even after the people who in...
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 17, 2026 at 8:54 PM
New this weekend on the site:
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
In honor of Steven Soderbergh's 63rd birthday today, we've unlocked our 2018 Soderbergh issue and it's now entirely free to read!
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
January 14, 2026 at 6:33 PM
In honor of Steven Soderbergh's 63rd birthday today, we've unlocked our 2018 Soderbergh issue and it's now entirely free to read!
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
This is about A Woman Under the Influence but it is also a lot about saying fuck corporations, be uncomfortable, make independent art—even if it doesn’t pay off in your lifetime
New today on the site!
@carriecourogen.bsky.social on Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, and the enduring power of A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE
@carriecourogen.bsky.social on Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, and the enduring power of A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE
A Woman Under the Influence (1974): Tomorrow's Gonna Be Better
A Woman Under the Influence endures as a statement on womanhood not because it is a film-as-time-capsule—a relic of the women’s lib era—but because it’s just as relevant now as ever.
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
December 30, 2025 at 8:09 PM
This is about A Woman Under the Influence but it is also a lot about saying fuck corporations, be uncomfortable, make independent art—even if it doesn’t pay off in your lifetime
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
Train Dreams was my second favorite movie of 2025—shot *entirely* in Washington state, as beautiful as it’s ever looked on screen—and this wonderful essay from Riley gets at some of what I loved most about it.
New this weekend on the site:
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Train Dreams (2025): The Foundation of All Things
The “great mystery” that the opening narration of Train Dreams gestures toward is, perhaps, love—a love that forgives and persists without guarantees, that remains present even after the people who in...
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 17, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Train Dreams was my second favorite movie of 2025—shot *entirely* in Washington state, as beautiful as it’s ever looked on screen—and this wonderful essay from Riley gets at some of what I loved most about it.
"In more ways than one, WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is a movie about how your boss thinks it’s okay to die at work. Obviously it’s not the preferred outcome, but it’s a plenty acceptable one."
- @franhoepfner.bsky.social
- @franhoepfner.bsky.social
Wonkavision - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a movie about how your boss thinks it’s okay to die at work.
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:36 AM
"In more ways than one, WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is a movie about how your boss thinks it’s okay to die at work. Obviously it’s not the preferred outcome, but it’s a plenty acceptable one."
- @franhoepfner.bsky.social
- @franhoepfner.bsky.social
"It's why I gravitate towards art centered on people in the shadows: weirdos, obsessives, psychics, neurotics. It’s why I find ways to sneak the strange & unexpected into my high school courses. And it’s why one of the few concert films I can completely lose myself in is STOP MAKING SENSE."
Stop Making Sense: One Must Imagine Talking Heads Happy
The Talking Heads are strange truth-tellers, joyfully angry people, persistently interested in the power of art. And collaborating with Jonathan Demme elevated their music to something truly transcend...
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:24 AM
"It's why I gravitate towards art centered on people in the shadows: weirdos, obsessives, psychics, neurotics. It’s why I find ways to sneak the strange & unexpected into my high school courses. And it’s why one of the few concert films I can completely lose myself in is STOP MAKING SENSE."
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
Especially Ishtar.
Even Ishtar?
January 18, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Especially Ishtar.
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
Wonderful essay on a wonderful film.
New this weekend on the site:
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Train Dreams (2025): The Foundation of All Things
The “great mystery” that the opening narration of Train Dreams gestures toward is, perhaps, love—a love that forgives and persists without guarantees, that remains present even after the people who in...
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 17, 2026 at 10:11 PM
Wonderful essay on a wonderful film.
New this weekend on the site:
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Train Dreams (2025): The Foundation of All Things
The “great mystery” that the opening narration of Train Dreams gestures toward is, perhaps, love—a love that forgives and persists without guarantees, that remains present even after the people who in...
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 17, 2026 at 8:54 PM
New this weekend on the site:
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
Our Best of 2025 issue rolls on, with @rileywomack.bsky.social on TRAIN DREAMS
(🎨 by @studioralston.bsky.social)
“What does it mean to be a good person? Is it a small thing, or is it big? Is it enough to try?”
- @kelsfjord.bsky.social
- @kelsfjord.bsky.social
Fargo: This is a True Story
The characters in Fargo are all navigating their own lives, doing their best and their worst. What does it mean to be a good person? Is it a small thing, or is it big? Is it enough to try?
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 17, 2026 at 6:42 AM
“What does it mean to be a good person? Is it a small thing, or is it big? Is it enough to try?”
- @kelsfjord.bsky.social
- @kelsfjord.bsky.social
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
Hey folks Calvary Food Shelf has been helping out people in Minneapolis for 30 years, and now they’re ramping up to meet the crisis, including doing home deliveries so people don’t have to risk going out.
They’re just over halfway to their current goal—let’s get them all the way, shall we?
They’re just over halfway to their current goal—let’s get them all the way, shall we?
Support Calvary Food Shelf: Emergency Response Fundraiser on GiveMN
Help us respond to urgent community needs
www.givemn.org
January 15, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Hey folks Calvary Food Shelf has been helping out people in Minneapolis for 30 years, and now they’re ramping up to meet the crisis, including doing home deliveries so people don’t have to risk going out.
They’re just over halfway to their current goal—let’s get them all the way, shall we?
They’re just over halfway to their current goal—let’s get them all the way, shall we?
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
An essential analysis for a must-see film!
New on the site!
Our Best of 2025 issue continues, with @dodgyboffin.com on Steven Soderbergh’s BLACK BAG
Our Best of 2025 issue continues, with @dodgyboffin.com on Steven Soderbergh’s BLACK BAG
Black Bag (2025): Suspicions, Hearsay, and Pillow Talk
Black Bag is a study of the notion of trust—and how it can be assured in a world where everyone is always lying to each other.
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 10, 2026 at 7:38 PM
An essential analysis for a must-see film!
Durational Distance: Select Memories of Sátántangó
- Hannah Bonner
- Hannah Bonner
Durational Distance: Select Memories of Sátántangó: Select Memories of Sátántangó - Bright Wall/Dark Room
In the images from Sátántangó that still cling to me, I see my mind’s selective memory: its search at work. How the memories of scenes become not a catalogue of the film, but another creation altogeth...
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 17, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Durational Distance: Select Memories of Sátántangó
- Hannah Bonner
- Hannah Bonner
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
false
"You’re not going to get in the car and go to the next town to see a movie," says Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos
Ted Sarandos commits to 45-day theatrical windows, believes theaters are for city folk
Ted Sarandos commits to 45-day theatrical windows, believes theaters are for city folk
www.avclub.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:29 PM
false
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
I've been dying to tell people I wrote the essay for TROUBLE IN PARADISE, a true Lubitsch masterpiece, and now I can. It's hilarious, it's gorgeous, there's nothing like it, and spending time with Trouble last year soothed my soul. www.criterion.com/films/723-tr....
January 16, 2026 at 6:28 PM
I've been dying to tell people I wrote the essay for TROUBLE IN PARADISE, a true Lubitsch masterpiece, and now I can. It's hilarious, it's gorgeous, there's nothing like it, and spending time with Trouble last year soothed my soul. www.criterion.com/films/723-tr....
Pre-code perfection coming to Criterion in April:
Ernst Lubitsch’s TROUBLE IN PARADISE
Ernst Lubitsch’s TROUBLE IN PARADISE
January 16, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Pre-code perfection coming to Criterion in April:
Ernst Lubitsch’s TROUBLE IN PARADISE
Ernst Lubitsch’s TROUBLE IN PARADISE
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
Yall not only is BOYZ N THE HOOD in the Criterion Collection but so are BABY BOY and POETIC JUSTICE too!! This is amazing news.
January 16, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Yall not only is BOYZ N THE HOOD in the Criterion Collection but so are BABY BOY and POETIC JUSTICE too!! This is amazing news.
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
Tokyo Drifteeerrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
January 15, 2026 at 12:44 AM
Tokyo Drifteeerrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
New today!
Our Best of 2025 issue continues:
"On its surface, the film may feel slight on account of its slim runtime & seemingly small stakes. But after sitting with a second viewing, what PETER HUJAR'S DAY opens my vision to is the sublime ordinariness of being with others."
- Spencer Williams
Our Best of 2025 issue continues:
"On its surface, the film may feel slight on account of its slim runtime & seemingly small stakes. But after sitting with a second viewing, what PETER HUJAR'S DAY opens my vision to is the sublime ordinariness of being with others."
- Spencer Williams
Peter Hujar’s Day and the Art of Yapping
Peter Hujar’s Day opens my vision to the sublime ordinariness of being with others.
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:40 PM
New today!
Our Best of 2025 issue continues:
"On its surface, the film may feel slight on account of its slim runtime & seemingly small stakes. But after sitting with a second viewing, what PETER HUJAR'S DAY opens my vision to is the sublime ordinariness of being with others."
- Spencer Williams
Our Best of 2025 issue continues:
"On its surface, the film may feel slight on account of its slim runtime & seemingly small stakes. But after sitting with a second viewing, what PETER HUJAR'S DAY opens my vision to is the sublime ordinariness of being with others."
- Spencer Williams
In honor of Steven Soderbergh's 63rd birthday today, we've unlocked our 2018 Soderbergh issue and it's now entirely free to read!
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
January 14, 2026 at 6:33 PM
In honor of Steven Soderbergh's 63rd birthday today, we've unlocked our 2018 Soderbergh issue and it's now entirely free to read!
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
(🎨 by Tony Stella)
www.brightwalldarkroom.com/magazine/iss...
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
January 14, 2026 at 11:56 AM
Even Though It’s Breaking: On Barbarism and Barbers - @frankfalisi.bsky.social
Even Though It's Breaking: On Barbarism and Barbers | The Great Dictator (1940)
To be bold, to dare to be stupid: this single frame in The Great Dictator is the most essential frame occurring in Charles Chaplin’s filmography.
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Even Though It’s Breaking: On Barbarism and Barbers - @frankfalisi.bsky.social
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
January 13, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Putting Paddington into TRAIN DREAMS makes as much sense as anything else right now, only in a good way.
I Photoshop Paddington into a movie, TV show, or pop culture until I forget: Day 1731
January 13, 2026 at 8:57 AM
Putting Paddington into TRAIN DREAMS makes as much sense as anything else right now, only in a good way.
Reposted by Bright Wall/Dark Room
I Photoshop Paddington into a movie, TV show, or pop culture until I forget: Day 1765
January 13, 2026 at 6:26 AM
I Photoshop Paddington into a movie, TV show, or pop culture until I forget: Day 1765