Natalia Winkelman

Tomatometer-approved critic

Biography:

Natalia Winkelman is a film critic and entertainment reporter based in Brooklyn. She has covered film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and NYFF. She holds a B.A. in Film Studies from Columbia University.

Publications: Film Threat, Slate, The Daily Beast, Another Gaze, Los Angeles Review of Books, Vague Visages

Movie Reviews Only

Movies
TV

T-Meter	Title \| Year	Review
63%	Unicorn Store (2019)	You can practically see the gears of Larson's earnest intentions straining to churn out an earned resolution for her heroine, but it's tainted by the botched coming-of-age lesson we all have to endure to get there. - Slate EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 25, 2019
100%	Honey Boy (2019)	LaBeouf's renown is split into two distinct camps: the talent and the troubles. The cleverness of Honey Boy lies in its bridging of these two elements, its deft way of demonstrating that pain is not only injurious; it's also propulsive. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 31, 2019
90%	Big Time Adolescence (2019)	It's Davidson who steals and carries the film, and it's a shame that Zeke is flat enough to be that easily expendable-Davidson is anything but. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 29, 2019
61%	Vox Lux (2018)	It succeeds in spinning an audacious and provocative pop tale, and one that, incidentally, stands in opposition to the mushy earworm of a moral offered up in A Star is Born. - Los Angeles Review of Books EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 14, 2019
90%	Capernaum (Capharnaüm) (2018)	Labaki's lens is so patient and empathic, her knack for storytelling so full of soul and temerity, that we're inclined to follow her lead. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 5, 2019
83%	The Other Side of the Wind (2018)	This opening voiceover and the film's postmortem construction make it, in addition to a final masterwork by a fading mastermind, a complex and ambivalent tribute to that mind. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 6, 2018
66%	Suspiria (2018)	A dark fantasy shimmering with the dusty luster of the past...Suspiria holds a whispered decree: believe women. But also: don't underestimate them. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 2, 2018
100%	Shirkers (2018)	Like Tan's original 1992 script, Shirkers is beautiful, complex, and haunting. It deserves to be seen. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 2, 2018
83%	My Dinner with Hervé (2018)	Mawkish and unsophisticated, My Dinner With Hervé would probably be too trite to watch if it weren't for Dinklage. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 22, 2018
75%	Una (2017)	How do we fairly portray a nymphet? Are we obliged to render her a miserable purple-lipped corpse, as Una chooses to do? - Another Gaze EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 16, 2018
80%	Daisies (1967)	The Maries, and Daisies itself, are quintessential fruits of the Czech New Wave, deconstructing social hierarchies while embodying the free-flowing, iconoclastic ethos that roused and buoyed 1960s Czechoslovak cinema. - Vague Visages EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 16, 2018
90%	The Sentence (2018)	We know that the camera isn't being held by a stranger but a beloved uncle, which imbues each exchange with not only affection but also an irreproducible immediacy. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 15, 2018
100%	Recovery Boys (2018)	It's a powerful indictment: not only of hostility toward drug users, but also of toxic masculine molds that command men against seeking help, relief, and love. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 10, 2018
97%	Pick of the Litter (2018)	What's more enjoyable than watching these very good boys and girls lick and leap and play? - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 10, 2018
93%	Long Day's Journey Into Night (Di qiu zui hou de ye wan) (2019)	With a daunting level of detail and expert grasp of mood, Long Day's Journey ventures into expressionistic new territory, pondering questions of time, space, and truth. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 10, 2018
96%	Roma (2018)	Roma is, overall, a quiet film, stable and calmly alert even when the volatility onscreen goes, within minutes, from zero to 100. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 9, 2018
83%	Her Smell (2019)	Formally audacious and ferociously intelligent, Her Smell is Perry's greatest achievement yet, a wild saga of prestige and madness that is ultimately rooted in the female bonds keeping women sane. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 5, 2018
66%	Lizzie (2018)	As a whole, the movie may not be perfect-its lifelessness can feel, at moments, as oppressive as the 19th century patriarchy-but don't worry: Lizzie shows us all how to escape. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 17, 2018
97%	Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018)	Hale County is the type of film designed to violate common rules of cinema. Story gives way to lyricism; there's little dialogue, minimal plot, minutes upon minutes of pastoral imagery...Ross's lens captures a reality that's rarely seen by the human eye. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 17, 2018
81%	Mid90s (2018)	Clocking in at under 90 minutes, the movie can feel a bit thin and tropey. But it's still a strong as hell debut for Hill, who succeeds in elevating it to something more: a portrait that's real, evocative, and free from moralizing. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 12, 2018
82%	Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)	Vagueness and clutter distract on several occasions, and the frenetic pace makes it difficult to keep up. But by the end, Moore's stuffed so many tangled tangents in that the doc's impassioned spirit & impact as a whole outweigh the less convincing bits. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 7, 2018
67%	American Chaos (2018)	Want to know what trumps news fatigue? Political documentary fatigue...an earnest and engaging effort that still fails to add much to the conversation. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 4, 2018
92%	Searching (2018)	Its bold embrace of technology is near-revolutionary. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 23, 2018
92%	We the Animals (2018)	A work of piercing feeling and effortless artistry...For a film this small and focused to pack such an emotional punch is a feat. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 17, 2018
88%	Madeline's Madeline (2018)	An immersive piece of meta-art that transcends conventional narrative boundaries and probes the ethics of collaboration, authority, and ownership. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 10, 2018
57%	Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town (2018)	...a scrappy, madcap indie that's clearly less interested in any semblance of stylistic or emotional consistency than it is in just keeping us dizzy. Its moments of charm are few and fleeting. - The Daily Beast EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 25, 2018
67%	The Year of Spectacular Men (2018)	The story is at its best when it zeros in on Izzy and Sabrina's relationship, and the real-life sisters manage to recreate a genuinely believable big-sis-little-sis dynamic. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 18, 2018
32%	Zoe (2018)	...a floaty, maddeningly sulky film that wants, more than anything, for its audience to feel it. By the end, all we're feeling is wearied out. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 30, 2018
96%	Little Woods (2019)	DaCosta offers something much more valuable and exceptional than conventional thrills: women who are alive and authentic, whom we care about and believe in. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 23, 2018
100%	Half the Picture (2018)	Half the Picture, Amy Adrion's no-frills documentary, offers a diligent, straightforward overview of the innumerable obstacles facing today's female directors, both aspiring and accomplished. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 9, 2018
79%	Sadie (2018)	Patchy as it is, Sadie has its exhilarating moments - bursts of clarity emanating from an intriguing premise and captivating central performance. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 23, 2018
100%	Weed the People (2018)	Weed the People is one part didactic, one part polemic, and one part human story. The documentary methodically alternates among these three, ultimately landing a compelling, if at times sentimental and anecdotal argument. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 19, 2018
81%	Fast Color (2019)	The movie's mood is so sincere, its allegory so heartfelt, that it's easy to forgive the theatricality. In our anxious era, Fast Color presents an elegant study of motherhood and black womanhood through a highly original lens. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 19, 2018
76%	Never Goin' Back (2018)	You can expect the same defecation and drug humor that crud up comedies of this ilk. Its vacuity is intentional, and maybe we could use more movies of the women-behaving-badly variety. But there's a real danger in perpetuating this type of teenage girl. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 9, 2018
80%	Love, Cecil (2018)	Dreamy without being fussy, Love, Cecil is a handsome paean to its subject. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 12, 2018
64%	I Think We're Alone Now (2018)	Above all, I Think We're Alone Now is an exercise in ambiance, and Morano is nothing if not a brilliant conductor of tone. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 29, 2018
63%	Tyrel (2018)	A finely gradated study of race and masculinity in the age of Trump, Tyrel is also an engrossing portrait of the revealing power of language. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 24, 2018
96%	Three Identical Strangers (2018)	It's a compelling ride. But the film also manages to accumulate a layered look at the nature of brotherhood, parenting, adoption, and above all the power we do or do not have over the mental and emotional tendencies woven into our DNA. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 24, 2018
74%	Pity (2018)	By the end, Pity transcends its simplistic premise to become a cogent allegory for the perils of solipsism. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 24, 2018
94%	Loveling (Benzinho) (2018)	Warm and winsome, Loveling is an intimate family drama. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 19, 2018
84%	The Final Year (2018)	Heavy-handed, sure, but somehow we forgive the film's fawning. Less "West Wing" drama than moving memoir, The Final Year leaves us feeling at once wistful and hopeful. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 17, 2018
94%	Big Sonia (2017)	Big Sonia is a warm celebration of one woman's astonishing resilience and big heart. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 5, 2018
94%	The Rape Of Recy Taylor (2017)	Taylor's story is one thread in a much larger, tattered tapestry of race and gender relations that Buirski's compassionate film helps to illuminate. - Film Threat EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 19, 2017