Joshua Brunsting

Mamoru Oshii’s Angel’s Egg, now returning to theaters for its 40th anniversary in a startling new 4k restoration, is that rare cinematic achievement that arrives, as unknowable as it may be, as less a series of events that convey a story, and more like some sort of religious text, expressing the authors worldview. I mean, just take it from the man himself.

It may be a cliché, but in the case of Rosa la Rose, Fille Publique it’s inarguably true that not all performances are made equal. Now playing at The Metrograph in New York City (in a glorious new 2K restoration I might add), Rosa la Rose stars the luminous Marianne Basler as the titular Rosa, a freshly 20-year-old prostitute working the streets of Paris with the unassuming confidence of a truly alive young woman.

It’s always wonderful when someone or something can beat the age-old idea of the “sophomore slump.” One of the newer documentary film festivals to hit the calendar, DC/DOX enters its second year this Thursday, running from June 13-16 in Washington, DC.