My coverage of this year’s New York Film Festival begins with Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. An abridged, yet faithful, adaptation of William Shakespeare’s famed play, Coen’s black and white stunner gives captivating reason for its own existence. With stark, gorgeous visuals and dynamic performances, The Tragedy of Macbeth finds crevices and spaces unexplored in a familiar story. Minor spoilers ahead…

Nerds of fantasy and Arthurian lore rejoice, David Lowery’s latest film is a sumptuous translation of the anonymous Pearl Poet’s chivalric romance into visual splendor. A medieval epic unlike any other, The Green Knight grapples with the tensions between Christian honor and primordial pagan magic amidst a hero’s journey. Deliberate, visceral, and cerebral, the film rises above its sword and sorcery as true poetry in motion. Minor spoilers ahead…