The Impossible Choice — and What It Reveals On The Plainsman (Cecil B. DeMille, 1936) There is a scene in the middle of The Plainsman that I cannot stop thinking about. Wild Bill Hickok — Gary Cooper, laconic and still as a fence post in a windstorm — has been captured by Chief Yellow Hand’s…

DISCOVER YOUR OWN STORY BY WATCHING GAME OF THRONES You already know which character you are. You have never said it out loud. But somewhere in the middle of a season, when everyone else was talking about the plot twists, you were watching one person. Not the hero everyone was rooting for, but the one…

Nicolas Cage told Esquire magazine his character in “Spider-Noir” is “70 percent Bogart and 30 percent Bugs Bunny.” But even that Looney Tunes description doesn’t quite capture the inspired insanity of Cage’s performance in this uneven but visually popping and admirably bold film-noir comic-book tale. Cage switches gears about 147 times in “Spider-Noir”—affecting different accents and inflections, engaging in…

The courtyard of the Hollywood building occupied by Humphrey Bogart in “In a Lonely Place” (1950) is one of the most evocative spaces I’ve seen in a movie. Small apartments are lined up around a Spanish-style courtyard with a fountain. Each flat is occupied by a single person. If you look across from your window, you can see…

Great Expectations: When the Story You Want Isn’t the Story You Need One of the great things about Charles Dickens is the way his people colonize your memory. I wonder if there’s any writer except Shakespeare who has created more characters whose names we remember, and whose types seem so true to human nature. A…

Vertigo: When You Fall in Love With an Image, You Lose the Person “Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you what to do and what to say?” This cry from a wounded heart comes at the end of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” and by the time it comes we are completely…

The Third Man: When the World Is Out of Joint, Your Story Matters More Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed’s “The Third Man”? The score was performed on a zither by Anton Karas, who was playing in a Vienna beerhouse one night when…

Conscience. That Stuff Can Drive You Nuts. Conscience. That stuff can drive you nuts. So says Terry Malloy, the longshoreman who testifies against his union in “On the Waterfront.” The line, said by Marlon Brando, resonates all through the picture because the story is about conscience–and so is the story behind the story. This was…

Khartoum: When History Becomes a Story About Meaning There are some films that feel like spectacle, and there are films that feel like destiny. Khartoum belongs to the second kind. It is an epic about empire and resistance, but also — and more importantly — about the fragile human struggle to stay true to oneself when the…

Shelter follows Michael Mason (Jason Statham), a hermit living on a small Scottish island who typically only sees two people in his day-to-day life. Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) and her uncle provide Michael with supplies, riding out on choppy seas and leaving Michael’s goods outside on his doorstep. When Jessie’s uncle dies, forcing Michael to…

Based on Freida McFadden’s book, Paul Feig’s “The Housemaid” presents itself as a thriller full of twists and turns — a story that promises transformation. And yet, while the journey is engaging, it never fully becomes the experience it could have been. You sense the potential for something more playful, more daring, more alive. Especially…

“Marty, Life is Short” by Lawrence Kasdan feels like a conversation that has been unfolding for a lifetime. Not a conventional documentary that keeps its distance, but an encounter between two people who have already shared thousands of stories. Martin Short opens by joking how absurd it is to pretend they don’t know each other….

“Ladies First” makes some valid points, then proceeds to beat them to death. The film’s gender-swapped premise imagines a world where prejudice against men is as pervasive as prejudice against women is in ours, permeating everything from corporate boardrooms to family dynamics. Naked men are used to sell fast-food hamburgers from places like Burger Queen…

“It takes an awful lot to kill a person,” observes Bowdrie, the central character in RJ Collins’ thriller Hunting Season. It’s one of those lines that immediately signals what kind of story we are entering: a world where survival is not just physical, but deeply psychological — where a man’s past is never really past. As…

Among all the directorial debuts made by actors in this century, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Elena Ferrante adaptation “The Lost Daughter” (2021) holds a special place for me. It is one of those rare films that dares to enter the inner landscape of a woman’s life—not as a polished narrative, but as a raw, unfiltered truth. Nominated…

Picking up five years after the events of the first film, John Garrity (Butler), along with his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and now-teenaged son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis), are still living with other survivors at the Greenland bunker complex. There, they wait for conditions to improve so that they can return to the surface. Alas,…

“Telling a story set in the past can be a great way to talk about the present. “Nuremberg” shows how. Director screenwriter James Vanderbilt’s historical drama should be impossible to watch without thinking about the genocides, wars, and state repressions happening all over the world, and whether those responsible will ever be held accountable. If…

The musical score plays an even greater role in The Godfather: Part II than it did in the original film. Nostalgic and mournful, it evokes a sense of loss—of passing eras—that stirs emotions we would not normally associate with a story rooted in murder, extortion, bribery, and fear. Why should we feel regret for the decline of…

A Private Story Cinema Session with Peter de Kuster Every week on this site, we do something that most film critics never attempt. We do not simply review the film. We ask what the film is asking of you. We trace the Hero’s Journey through the moral collapse of a hitman in The Killer. We…

No one does a dark and grisly murder like the Scandinavians. The steadily rising popularity of Nordic noir is a testament to that fact, as viewers continue to embrace the twisty, chilly subgenre, known for flawed protagonists, moody visuals, bleak subject matter, and its slow-burn approach to storytelling. Usually darker than the average crime thriller,…

Mary Boleyn says, “You know I love him.”Anne replies, “Well, perhaps you should stop.” Two sisters. One man. A throne. And beneath it all: a story about power—who claims it, who performs it, and who pays the price for misunderstanding it. Watching The Other Boleyn Girl, you might be tempted to see it as a historical…

A Six-Week Online Storytelling Masterclass for Professionals Who Are Done Being Forgettable There is a difference between people who are interesting and people who are unforgettable. Interesting people have good ideas, strong opinions, and impressive credentials. Unforgettable people have a story — one great, true, specific story that makes everyone in the room lean slightly…

John Woo’s The Killer was a true gamechanger—at least, that’s how many of us remember it. The one-two punch of his 1989 masterpiece and Hard Boiled didn’t just redefine action cinema; it shaped how we saw stories told through movement, tension, and moral conflict. For those who first encountered it decades ago, perhaps on VHS, the idea of remaking The…

Have you seen the tenderhearted fantasy drama about a lonely cleaning lady at a government facility who forms an intense emotional bond with an intelligent aquatic creature confined to a tank and desperate to escape? No, it’s not Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, but Remarkably Bright Creatures, a new feature adapted from the bestselling 2022…

A Brand Story Intensive for Founders, Entrepreneurs, and Creative Professionals Who Are Done Hiding Behind Their Product Every week on this site, we decode the storytelling genius behind great films. We find the narrative intelligence in Nordic noir. We trace the Heroine’s Journey through historical drama. We show how the greatest directors — Scorsese, Fincher,…

Je m’appelle Agnèta (2026) is a Swedish‑French‑language comedy‑drama about a middle‑aged woman who thinks she’s leaving Stockholm for a fresh start as an au pair in Provence, only to find her “child” is actually an elderly, eccentric Swedish man. The film is less about dramatic plot twists and more about the quiet, funny, sometimes painful process…

Stories are often presented as battles between good and evil. But the most compelling stories—the ones that stay with us—are never really about that. They are about the conflict within. Netflix’s Man on Fire, based on A.J. Quinnell’s novel and following earlier film adaptations, introduces us to John Creasy, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. At first…

Warren Beatty has always had that rare quality: the ability to play a man who doesn’t just charm others, but who is completely seduced by his own story. In Bugsy, that quality becomes something deeper, almost dangerous. Because this is not just a performance—it is the portrait of a man who creates a vision, and then…

When David Fincher directed Gone Girl, much was said about how he transformed Gillian Flynn’s already twisted novel into something even more layered and seductive. Antonio Campos achieves something similar with HBO’s The Staircase—but he goes one step further. He doesn’t just tell a story; he exposes how stories themselves are constructed, manipulated, and believed. And that…

Story Intelligence: A Bespoke Session for Leadership Teams Who Want to See Themselves Clearly The most watched characters on television right now are not the heroes. They are the villains. Walter White. Roy Cohn. Tom Ripley. The calculating intelligence of The Staircase‘s Michael Peterson. The cold precision of the protagonist in The Killer. The terrifying…

If nothing else, Ben-Hur, directed by Timur Bekmambetov from a script by Keith R. Clarke and John Ridley, is a masterpiece of condensation. And that immediately interests me—not as a film critic, but as someone who studies the power of story. The celebrated 1959 version of the saga, once the most Oscar-winning picture of all time,…

A Two-Day Story Retreat for Anyone Who Has Ever Been Permanently Changed by a Great Film There is always one film. The one you watched at exactly the wrong age and it frightened you in ways you are still not entirely able to explain. Or the one that showed you a version of yourself you…

A review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button suggests that the film feels “remote,” perhaps even “cold,” and that this might be due to its use of digital technology rather than traditional film. It’s a tempting idea — elegant, even — but ultimately, it mistakes the instrument for the storyteller. Because stories don’t become cold or…

Online Course: From Stories to Action From Stories to Action is a deep dive into the storytelling skills of ideation, prototyping, and iteration. This seminar will teach you how to frame your ideas as experiments and bring others in on your vision of the future. Use experimentation to learn from failure and move from incremental to…

There is a line from Leonard Cohen that I often return to: “There is a crack in everything—that’s how the light gets in.” Hemingway sharpens that idea when he writes that the world breaks people, and that many become stronger in the broken places. “Imperfect Women,” the AppleTV+ limited series based on the novel by…

The Power of Your Story: Reef Hawk’s Reckoning in Outcome* By Peter de Kuster “Outcome” centers on Reef Hawk (Keanu Reeves), a 56-year-old, two-time Oscar-winning action star who’s been a celebrity since dancing and singing on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. When we first meet him, he’s been out of the spotlight for five years,…

Online Course: Storytelling for Impact Whether you need someone to support your organization, get behind your idea, or get excited about following your lead, refining your storytelling skills can help. In this online course, you’ll learn in the footsteps of great storytellers about how to shape your idea into a story. You’ll create a story…

If mountaineering films and documentaries have taught those of us who haven’t conquered comparable heights anything, it is that climbing is both an art and a science. Not only do you need stamina, as well as muscles and lungs in top form, you also need to be a patient and instinctive problem solver, asking the…

Hello Storytelling! Learn the foundational skills and mindsets of business storytelling Develop a common language and understanding of business storytelling across your organization. This flexible, online experience introduces non-storytellers to the concepts of the storytelling process and offers business storytellers (in design, innovation, creativity, advertising, marketing, communication, PR) a tried-and-tested approach to creative problem solving….

“Crime 101” might sound like a lighthearted caper, but this film cuts deeper—straight into the underworld of personal stories that define us, trap us, and sometimes set us free. Through its jewel thief Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth ), obsessed detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo ), and sharp insurance broker Sharon Colvin (Halle Berry ), it…

Abner Hale is not a simple hero or a one‑dimensional zealot. He is a man shaped by a very specific story he tells himself: “I am here to bring God’s truth to a people who do not know it.” This story is his identity, his vocation, and his armor. It lets him sail across the ocean, leave…

Brannigan (1975) – The Last Warrior and the Story You Tell Yourself In the mid‑1970s, John Wayne stepped into Brannigan not as a young gunslinger, but as a war‑hardened old warrior summoned to cross the ocean and redeploy his way of doing things in a world that no longer understands him. On the surface, Brannigan is a British‑set police‑procedural…

Your story is your life. As human beings, we continually tell ourselves stories — of success or failure; of power or victimhood; stories that endure for an hour, or a day, or an entire lifetime. We have stories about our work, our families and relationships, our health; about what we want and what we’re capable…

“Good Will Hunting” is less a story about mathematical genius than about a young man who has spent his life hiding inside a story he no longer believes in — and the people who try to help him rewrite it. The film is heartbreaking not because someone is too smart, but because he is smart enough…

“Rob Peace” feels less like a conventional biopic and more like a narrative about how a gifted life becomes entangled in stories that were never meant to be his own. The film is about a young man whose brilliance in science and vision for a better future are pulled in different directions by the stories of…

Seen through the lens of The Power of Your Story, the line “Are you alone?” in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown lands not as casual small talk, but as a quiet diagnosis of the noir hero’s inner world. The private eye’s reply — “Isn’t everybody?” — becomes, in this framework, a recognition that at the heart of the detective’s vocation…

Seen through the lens of The Power of Your Story, the Netflix Norwegian crime thriller series “Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole” reads less like a tight puzzle and more like an unfolding psychological saga about a man whose life becomes a burden he cannot outrun. If the story had been condensed into five or six episodes, it might have…

The line “Who the [expletive] is Tommy Shelby?” that punctuates the trailers for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man lands as a punchline, but it can also be read as the central question of the film: Who is this man, and who gets to decide? From the lens of The Power of Your Story, that line becomes a narrative mission statement…

One Battle After Another: The Story You Tell Yourself in Endless Conflict Peter de Kuster Aren’t you tired of fighting? Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another comes along at a time in world history in which conflict seems to be the daily duty, turning Thomas Pynchon’s ’80s-set Vineland into a deeply humanist story of rebellion that will be…

In Highlander: Endgame, the eternal blade returns as the first storyteller. The clash of steel now weaves through modern shadows and ancient memories, whispering: even immortals must face endings to claim true beginnings. From a Power of Your Story perspective, the film is not just a clash of undying warriors; it’s about what happens when eternity’s survivors confront…