Tag: Foreign Film Review
Both Sides of the Blade | Review
Lover Come Back: Denis Lets the Dark Side in Relationship Melodrama
Three’s definitely a crowd in Both Sides of the Blade (Avec amour et acharnement),...
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande | Review
The Roman Spring of Emma Thompson: Hyde Demands Over Time in Sex Work Dramedy
One wonders what Camille Paglia might have to say about Good...
Lost Illusions | Review
F is for Fake: Giannoli Highlights Prescience in Adaptation of Balzac Classic
The erosion of romanticism and idealism is at the core of Honore de...
Benediction | Review
Words of War: Davies Recuperates Another Poet in Impressionistic Biopic
Following the critical success of his masterful portrait of Emily Dickinson in A Quiet Passion...
Dashcam | Review
Arrhythmia of the Night: Savage Triumphs with Delightfully Bizarre Socio-Horror
There’s an art to successful presentations of unlikeable characters, further complicated when a protagonist is...
After Blue (Dirty Paradise) | Review
Taste of a Toxic Paradise: Mandico Casts a Dark Spell with Broody Sci-Fi
Through a variety of short films, music videos (including several for M83),...
Masquerade | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Bedos Takes the Grift Shift in French Riviera Crime Caper
For a film opening with W. Somerset Maugham’s line, “The French Riviera...
Leila’s Brothers | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
How to Beat the High Cost of Living: Roustayi Ponders Poverty in Familial Melodrama
“Anyone who has struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it...
La Jauría | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Beasts in the Jungle: Pulido Suffers the Children in Sinister Debut
At the bizarre intersection of a walkabout and a penal colony is La Jauría...
Les Amandiers (Forever Young) | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Mixed Nuts: Tedeschi Returns to Acting School in Charming, Vigorous Homage
For her fifth narrative feature, the indefatigable Valeria Bruni Tedeschi conjures a nostalgic reunion...
Don Juan | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Woman is a Woman: Bozon Invokes the Eternal Seducer in Eccentric Musical
Much like Casanova, the name Don Juan has become a euphemism for...
Nos Cérémonies (Summer Scars) | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Summertime Sadness: Reith Explores Brotherly Love with Ominous Magical Realism
It’s a formulation as old as storytelling, two men whose love for one another is...
Continental Drift (South) | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Conventional Liaisons: Baier Leans into the Comedy of Crisis Through Familial Rift
Swiss director Lionel Baier completes the third section of an intended four part...
Men | Review
Take Back the Fright: Garland Returns with Cryptic Fable on Trenchant Misogyny
The tagline for George Cukor’s 1939 classic The Women, which notably featured...
Marcel! | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Dog Gone: Trinca Debuts Pleasant Semi-autobiographical Dramedy
“I’m devoted to divination,” sniffs a haughty Alba Rohrwacher as a self-centered mother in Jasmine Trinca’s directorial debut,...
Frère et soeur (Brother and Sister) | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
I’m Not One of Your Fans: Desplechin Delivers Camp Classic with Failed Melodrama
No one depicted in Frère et soeur (Brother and Sister), the latest...
Goutte d’Or (Son of Ramses) | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Sun of a Gun: Cogitore Returns with Cryptic Drama on Violence, Exploitation
France’s Clément Cogitore is clearly a fan of the mysterious and inexplicable sinews...
The Woodcutter Story | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
One Flew Over the Cuckold’s Nest: Myllylahti Contends Hope Floats in Black Comedy
By their nature, fables provide fanciful cinematic avenues of metaphorical expression as...
Tchaikovsky’s Wife | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Lady Beard: Serebrennikov Delivers Extravagant Recuperation of a Woman Undone
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, one of the 19th century’s most prolific composers, whose music remains an...
Esterno notte (Exterior Night) | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Dead in Red: Bellocchio Returns to Infamous Kidnapping for Television Debut
In his continuation in recuperating fantastical elements of Italian political and criminal history, Marco...
Operation Mincemeat | Review
Get Them to the Greek: Madden Traipses Lightly Through Factual WWII Espionage
Despite it’s presentation as a frothy pseudo-comedy, the events transpiring in John...
Il Buco | Review
Frammartino Digs Deep, But Barely Scratches the Surface
Michelangelo Frammartino’s Il Buco (“The Hole”) is a meditative journey into the center of the earth,...
Reflection | Review
In the Fog Mirror: Vasyanovych Punishes with Numbing Exercise on War & Trauma
Following up on his international breakout, Atlantis (2019), Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych...
Human Factors | Review
The Discomfort of Strangers: Trocker Collapses Paranoia and Perspectives in Brooding Familial Drama
Communication, when you really think about it, is all but impossible. Words...
Lux Æterna | Review
Devil’s Familiars: Noé Stirs a Witches’ Brew in Latest Provocation
For those familiar with cult auteur Gaspar Noé, one either has a taste for his...
Anaïs in Love | Review
She’s Pure as New York Snow: Bourgeois-Tacquet Charms in Effortless, Effective Comedy
With her unexpectedly charming debut, Anaïs in Love, director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet presents the...
Vortex | Review
All That We See or Seem: Noe Delivers Devastation Through the Definitiveness of Death
There’s no pleasure to be had, whatsoever, in the experiencing...
I Love America | Review
I Never Sang for My Mother: Azuelos Mines Own Experiences for Dynamic Melodrama
Presenting a narrative partially autobiographical in nature with her latest film, I...
Black Box | Review
Guilt By Aviation: Gozlan Delivers Intrigue with Paranoia Tinged Tech Thriller
Director Yann Gozlan returns to the realm of social pariahs in his fourth...
Hatching | Review
The Egg & I: Bergholm Births Straightforward Tween Body Horror
Finland’s Hanna Bergholm makes a splash with her interesting, if ultimately one-note debut, Hatching,...
Firebird | Review
Bird on a Wire: Rebane Resurrects a Familiar Stymied Love Affair in Absurd Melodrama
Over a century ago, Lord Alfred Douglas coined the euphonious phrase...
The Duke | Review
The Goya Next Door: Michell’s Swan Song a Slender Thread of Anti-authoritarianism
We’re primed to believe in the importance of a film whenever we’re greeted...
The Tale of King Crab | Review
Shellfish People: Rigo de Righi & Matteo Zoppis Craft Unique Narrative Steeped in Oral Tradition
For their directorial debut The Tale of King Crab, directors...
Paris, 13th District (Les Olympiades) | Review
Same Old Song & Angst: Audiard Misfires with Millennial Love Tugs
Jacques Audiard turns to youth culture amour fou with his latest feature, Paris, 13th...
Aline | Review
The Face of Another: Lemercier Normalizes Weird Choices in Bizarre Biopic
Like something novel born out of a 30 Rock satire (remember the unauthorized Janis...
You Won’t Be Alone | Review
Practical Magic: Stolevski Impresses with Eloquent Folk Horror Trauma
Nature and Nurture are the affixed ingredients in a codependent dance swirling under the surface of...
The Girl and the Spider | Review
A Roommate of One’s Own: The Zurcher Bros. Cast a Spell in Weirdo Existential Melodrama
The two central characters of Ramon and Silvan Zurcher’s enchantingly...
Donbass | Review
Come and See: Loznitsa Crafts Overwhelming Nightmare of Modern War-torn Ukraine
Dropping us directly into the wartime propaganda machine of modern-day eastern Ukraine, which has...
Bull | Review
All the Rage: Williams Returns with a (Familiar) Vengeance
After a decade working in television, British director Paul Andrew Williams finally returns to narrative filmmaking...
The Rose Maker (La fine fleur) | Review
In the Name of the Rose: Frot Elevates Formulaic Melodrama from Pinaud
“What is life without beauty?,” inquires antiquated rosarian Eve Vernet in Pierre Pinaud’s...
Sonne | 2022 Berlin International Film Festival Review
The Sun Also Scheisse: Ayub Explores Identity Politics in Modern European Diaspora
For her directorial debut, Sonne, director Kurdwin Ayub draws on her background as...
Zero Fucks Given (Rien à foutre) | Review
Ground Control: Exarchopoulos Takes Flight in Portrait of Repressed Anguish
For their directorial debut Zero Fucks Given, Julie Lecoustre and Emmanuel Marre opt for a...
Nitram | Review
A Pleasure to Burn: Kurzel Explores the Making of a Murderer in Disturbing Portrait
On April 28, 1996, lone gunman Martin Bryant shot and killed...
Infinite Storm | Review
White Woman in a Blizzard: Szumowska Pitts Watts Against the Elements in True Life Trauma Drama
Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska unleashes her tenth narrative feature...
Mothering Sunday | Review
Woman in Love: Husson Mounts Reticent Portrait of Living Life Out Loud
At first glance, Mothering Sunday has all the impeccable furnishings evident in the...
Ahed’s Knee | Review
Kneedful Things: Lapid Highlights Complex Conflicts in Indignant Screech
The entirety of Ahed’s Knee, the fourth film from Israel’s Nadav Lapid, is formatted to aggravate...
Bloody Oranges | Review
Strange Fruit: Meurisse Gets Gonzo with Slice of Cinema Bizarre
Director Jean-Christophe Meurisse follows up his 2016 comedy Apnee with something a bit more uncomfortable...
Great Freedom | Review
Laws of Attraction: Rogowski Shines Bright in Recuperative Queer Prison Drama
Although there’s nary an upside down pink triangle in sight, Austria’s Sebastian Meise cultivates...
Interview: Lenny & Harpo Guit – Mother Shmuckers
Lenny Guit and Harpo Guit are the masterminds behind Mother Shmuckers (Fils de Plouc), one of the most unhinged comedies to grace Sundance’s Midnight...
Mother Schmuckers | Review
O Brother, Why Art Thou?: The Guit Bros. Get Down & Out in Bizarre Debut
Something is rotten in the state of Belgium, or so...
