The 50 Year Argument (2014)

Anchored by the old-world charm of its editor, Robert Silvers, the film focuses on notable contributors to and articles in the Review; it slides fluidly between handsomely shot contemporary interviews and well-curated retro footage. Michael Stuhlbarg reads the spare voice-over while a vintage jazz soundtrack invokes a lost golden age of uptown Manhattan sophistication. The articles' texts are enlightened by the rich visual illustration with which they're accompanied. Many famous articles are read by their authors in this thematically dense but wholly accessible film about how fifty years of sensuous ideas can open a dialogue towards social and political change.