Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor is a freelance film critic, book reviewer and feature writer living in Los Angeles.
Born in Israel and raised in London, Taylor taught media studies at the University of Washington in Seattle; her book Prime Time Families: Television Culture in Post-War America was published by the University of California Press.
Taylor has written for Village Voice Media, the LA Weekly, The New York Times, Elle magazine and other publications, and was a regular contributor to KPCC-Los Angeles' weekly film-review show FilmWeek.
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Pedro Almodovar brings his lush visual exuberance to this adaptation of three Alice Munro stories marked by spare, interior struggles. The odd fusion results in a surprisingly quiet, somber film. -
Director Damien Chazelle follows up Whiplash, his 2014 study in musical masochism, with a romantic musical full of catchy ditties and vibrant colors. -
In this rigorously observed French drama, Isabelle Huppert delivers a searing performance. "In Huppert," says critic Ella Taylor, "deadpan meets tumult wreaking havoc within." -
A sharp-tongued young woman weathers the sundry mortifications of teenage life in a film from first-time writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig. -
Director Verhoeven gleefully courts controversy with this bitterly sardonic film about the aftermath of a woman's violent rape. -
Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga play Richard and Mildred Loving, a Virginia couple whose interracial marriage propels them to the forefront of the civil rights movement — and to the U.S. Supreme Court. -
In Barry Jenkins' incandescent coming-of-age tale, three different actors cover three phases in the life of an African-American who takes a wayward path into manhood. -
In this triptych of films inspired by the short stories of Maile Meloy, director Kelly Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff) focuses on women striving to escape their prescribed roles. -
Sarah Paulson brings old-fashioned movie star charisma to this intimate two-character film that comes alive when the camera captures the emotions that flicker across her face from scene to scene. -
A Swedish curmudgeon slowly comes to accept the help of his neighbors in this familiar, crowd-pleasing film shot through with bracing moments of dark comedy.
