Jose Solís

Cinema can serve as a connection to the divine, writes Jose Solís, and Víctor Erice's "Close Your Eyes" is an invitation to just that.

"La Llamada," the pop-infused musical making its U.S. debut at Repertorio Español this season in New York, is a reminder that "music, like faith, creates community — and where there is community, there is God."

"Eternal You" looks at the industry of the digital afterlife. Filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck interview CEOs and others behind companies such as one that claims to simulate a text-based chat with the deceased.

Through her work in politics and women's rights, Simone Veil left an indelible mark not only in France but in Europe, as evidenced in the new biopic directed by Olivier Dahan, "Simone: Woman of the Century."

Most of the characters in "Joyland," the debut film by Pakistani director Saim Sadiq, are limited by what they've been taught they are allowed to desire.

"All the Beauty and the Bloodshed," the Academy Award-nominated documentary by Laura Poitras, is a love song to an artist who continues to defy expectations and push boundaries.

Laurel Parmet is too sensitive a filmmaker to turn "The Starling Girl" into yet another criticism of religion. What her film, grounded in Eliza Scanlen's performance, does so well is suggest God also lives in Jem's desire.

Director Luke Lorentzen doesn't turn anyone into victims or heroes in his new documentary. He merely observes, creating devastatingly beautiful tableaux that often highlight how impersonal death in America can be.

A new documentary follows four women who seek to raise awareness about climate change through advocacy in government and official institutions. It's a time bomb of a film that is also defiantly infused with hope.

Blanquita is the unusual heroine of Fernando Guzzoni's eponymously titled film. Inspired by child sexual exploitation by the powerful in his native Chile, the movie invites us not to forget about those on the sidelines.

In Season 5 of "The Crown," Prince Charles comes off as the unlikeliest of heroes, the season's MVP, a strange beacon of hope for what is coming in the show's sixth, and final, season.

Nicole Kidman's soulful portrayal in "Being the Ricardos" invites us into Lucille Ball's imagination, a place where she is visited by the muse, a place very similar to the method of imaginative prayer.

"The Hand of God" is a treasure chest of experiences, a safe place through which the artists involved in the film, as well as audience members, can access precious memories, a permanent link to the divine.

Review: The first part of this series about the legendary Tejano singer unfolds very much like life itself: a collection of seemingly innocuous scenes whose meaning is revealed only when we're able to look back.