Nicole Kidman

As terrible as this film might make one feel, it is excellently done, slowly building up to a disturbingly quiet dread.

The Emmy Awards, much like their film, theater and music counterparts, are annually greeted with both excited buzz and exhausted indifference.

“The Beguiled” is a true testament to the woman behind the camera — a film with inspired visuals and masterful performances, and which imparts a needed feminist stamp on a story (the 1971 film starring Clint Eastwood, based on Thomas Cullinan’s novel of the same name) originally known for its pulp alone.

What Herzog produces, in spite of the quiet determination Nicole Kidman brings to Gertrude Bell’s character, feels more like an ‘80s made-for-TV movie.