This is the latest in Mark Cousins’s lengthy documentaries (a follow-up to his 2012 The Story of Film: An Odyssey) on the current state and the future of the global film industry, delightfully narrated by the director in his calming and assuring Irish accent.  

Gleefully defiant, it is at times frustrating, at others seemingly overstating its case (both intentionally). The director (curator might be a better title) explores cinema from around the world, from multiplex fodder to flashy Indian epics to new horror and everything in between. He focuses on how technological advancements and other factors (streaming and, yes, COVID) are changing how movies are made, but more importantly how they are watched.

This is of course a must for film buffs; I go to movies every day but came away realizing how little I knew. Still, it’s done so well and with such knowledge, rigor and insight that it may create a few new buffs out of casual moviegoers. (160 min)