Bijou Blog

Creative and critical movie writing from the Ped Mall to the moon!

Regular features on the Bijou Blog include reviews, personal and critical essays, creative work, coverage of the True/False film festival, our Youtube Cine-Club, and more! Open to the public for submissions! Submit to bijoubloggers@gmail.com using the format:

Submission title / author name + bio / piece (uploaded as a Doc)

Listen in to Bijou Banter on iTunes, bijou.uiowa.edu, or live on KRUI Fridays at 3pm (FM 89.7)!


Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Iceman (Val Kilmer) embrace after a dogfight.

Playing With The Boys

Monday, February 6, 2023
Daniel Kaluuya in the 2022 film "Nope"

Bijou's Best of 2022

Wednesday, January 25, 2023
The Monkees as they appear in Head

Why Head Matters

Thursday, December 1, 2022
Young Sophie (Frankie Corio) sits and reads while Calum (Paul Mescal) removes his cast in the bathroom.

Tender is the Ghost, the Ghost I Love Most

Saturday, November 12, 2022
Once a year, when my mind finally catches up with my sprinting body, I check my mother’s Facebook. Navigating her page has the same numbing reflexiveness as reciting the national anthem. I dash around the “remembering” logo, go to the photo album, and watch my life unfold before me.
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Promare: Flames of Empathy

Tuesday, March 22, 2022
In one of the most striking scenes of Promare (2019), the first feature-length film from Japanese studio Trigger, the city of Promepolis is under attack. The city’s dull gray buildings, reduced to lifeless shapes under a moon-and-starless night, have suddenly erupted into eye-burning neon fire.
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Thelma and Louise

Saturday, March 5, 2022
As a lesbian who aspires to be a filmmaker, I have always questioned my relationship with film.
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Chungking Express

Friday, February 25, 2022
In Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, the unpredictability and vastness of love are visualized through two interconnected relationships. In the first story, Cop 223 marks the expiration of his past relationship with the purchasing of pineapple cans.
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Punch-Drunk Love

Friday, February 4, 2022
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my favorite directors in the industry. Within his slightly-off characters and sweeping California landscapes is an exploration of what makes us human. Part of our experience as people is falling in love.
Collection of posters from Bijou Best of 2021

Bijou's Best of 2021

Friday, January 28, 2022
Members of the Bijou Film Board share their favorite new releases, first watches and film-related experiences of 2021. Did any of your favorites make the lists? Read on to find out...