Tag: Foreign Film Review
Parasite | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Judgement in Stone: Joon ho Tackles Privilege in Black Comedy
Strident class disparities in South Korea provide Bong Joon-ho with a novel approach to...
The Orphanage | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Back in the U.S.S.R.: Sadat Goes Back to Soviet-Ruled Afghanistan in Amiable Sophomore Film
Following the success of her celebrated 2016 debut, Wolf and Sheep,...
Heroes Don’t Die | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Crimes of the Heart: Rapin Explores Mediums as Remembrance with Inquisitive Debut
The idea of reincarnation was once a virulent staple of American genre films,...
The Unknown Saint | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Gimme the Loot: Money is the Root of Good and Evil in Aljem’s Debut
Love the sinner and not the sin seems to be the...
Non-Fiction | Review
The French Publisher’s Wife: Assayas Straddles Digital Criminals and Corporate Cannibals in Playful Bon Mot
Hardly a stranger to the back room wheeling and dealing...
Quartet (1981) | Review
Of Human Bondage: Ivory Gets Art Deco Dysfunction in Underrated Rhys Adaptation
Merchant Ivory became the first major company to adapt the work of novelist...
Rafiki | Review
Let’s Be Friends: Kahiu Dares to Question Kenyan Conservatism
Social conventions always require such power and resistance that brave individuals must engage in a continuous...
High Life | Review
An Outpost of Progress: Denis Gets Daring with Esoteric Sci-Fi
Of Claire Denis’ impressive English language debut High Life, perhaps a famous line from Alien...
Boyz In The Wood | 2019 SXSW Film Festival Review Ninian Doff
Ninian Doff Goes Brogue While Delinquents Go Scot-Free
Scottish music video-director Ninian Doff offers an uneven but hilarious debut with Boyz in the Wood: a bonkers action-comedy...
Knife + Heart | Review
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key Light: Gonzalez’s Queer Giallo a Dicey Mélange
Love as an overwhelming, all-consuming fire...
Ash Is Purest White | Review
Love is Like a Stove: Zhangke Tackles Genre in Time-Spanning Romance
Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke continues to experiment in tone and form with his latest...
3 Faces | Review
Faces, Places: Panahi Provokes the Patriarchy in Quiet Hybrid Drama
Now nearly half way through his twenty-year ban from filmmaking, (a damning sentence passed down...
Woman at War | Review
Female Misbehavior: Erlingsson Explores Ecofeminism in Entertaining Character Portrait
After exploring the defining social elements between humans and their horses in his homegrown debut Of...
Climax | Review
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough: Noe Does Sensory Deception with Latest Dark Odyssey
Come again? Enfant terrible Gaspar Noe returns to cinema of...
Transit | Review
Those Who Leave: Petzold Collapses Past and Present with Holocaust Redux
Switching things up considerably compared to his previous offerings, German auteur Christian Petzold makes...
Greta | Review
She Will Always Beat You: Huppert Get Homicidal in Jordan’s B-Thriller
There’s more than one way to depend on the kindness of strangers, including using...
Hotel by the River | Review
Heartbreak Hotel: Estrangement and Reunion Synchronize in Latest Sangsoo Slice of Life
It’s a short-lived distinction to be called the latest anything from South Korean...
Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben) | Review
Iran So Far Away: Farhadi Stumbles with Spanish Soap Opera
Two-time Oscar-winning Iranian auteur Asghar Farhadi (A Separation; The Salesman) makes his Spanish-language debut with...
Acid | 2019 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Melt With You: Gorchilin Tracks the Apathy of Russia’s Youth in Agitated Debut
No one gives a damn about their generation until they begin to...
Daughter of Mine | Review
Miss Mom: Bispuri Challenges Family Symmetry in Captivating Sophomore Pic
With her sensory filled coming-of-age sophomore feature, Laura Bispuri navigates the sweet and sour voyage...
Dolce Fine Giornata | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
Under the Tuscan Sun: Borcuch Presents Compelling Intersection on Art and Political Responsibility
Polish director Jacek Borcuch travels abroad once again for his fifth feature,...
I Am Mother | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
They Call Me Mother: Sputore Examines What It Means to Be Human in Sci-Fi Debut
Australia’s Grant Sputore makes an impressive directorial debut with the...
Monos | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
Monkey See Monkey Do: Landes’ Latest a Moody, Hermetic Portrait of Guerilla Warfare
Brazil’s Alejandro Landes concocts a moody, textured exercise on child soldiers and...
The Heiresses (Las herederas) | Review
Inherit the Wind: Martinessi Explores Class and Desire in Impressive Character Study
While they seem to have outlived their best of times, the two privileged...
Pity | Review
Help Me, I’m Poor: Makridis Adds a Footnote to the Greek Cinema
Look no further than Babis Makridis’ sophomore feature, the bluntly named Pity, for...
Touch Me Not | Review
Touch All This Skin: Pintilie’s Hybrid Sexcapade Explores the Fleeting, Obscure Nature of Intimacy
With her narrative debut Touch Me Not, Romanian director Adina Pintilie...
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead | 2018 Intl. Film Festival & Awards Macao Review
New Year’s Evil: Wheatley Finds Humanity Amid Caustic Bickering
Shapeshifting his way along a varied filmography, Ben Wheatley is back after the tongue-in-cheek gunplay bonanza...
The Favourite | Review
Courtship at Court: Lanthimos Delights with 18th-century Royal Love Triangle
At Her Majesty Queen Anne’s palace, its a disheveled state of affairs. There’s an ongoing...
Cold War | Review
The Most Important Thing is to Love: Pawlikowski Delivers Beautifully Wrought, Chilly Amour Fou
Polish auteur Pawel Pawlikowski has had a curious trek to international...
ROMA | Review
Going Home Again: Cuarón Aces Return to Mexico with Autobiographical, Intimate drama
From one woman reaching the shore to another going back to it, from...
Mary Queen of Scots | Review
Two Queens Stand Before Me: Rourke’s Reticent Recapitulation of a Doomed Queen
Not since Charles Jarrott’s 1971 mounting of the infamous demise of Mary Stuart,...
The Mercy | Review
Come Sail Away: Marsh Gets Morose with Tale of Doomed Sailor
Director James Marsh tackles the tragedy of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst in The Mercy,...
Time Share (Tiempo Compartido) | Review
Meant to Be Spent Alone: Hofmann Returns with Cynical Comedy on Privileged Facades
If hell is other people, perhaps they signify an even hotter level...
Shoplifters | Review
Ties That Bind: Koreeda Examines the Essence of Family from Unexpected Perspective
Anyone familiar with the cinema of Japanese auteur Hirokazu Koreeda already knows what...
At Eternity’s Gate | Review
Pigments of Your Imagination: Inside Van Gogh’s Mind
Julian Schnabel’s aesthetically-spellbinding Vincent Van Gogh biopic, At Eternity’s Gate, places viewers inside the Dutch artist’s eye....
Burning | Review
A Touch of Class: Chang-dong Returns with Masterful Class Clash
Puns concerns its slow build will be sincerely intended in forthcoming deliberations on South Korean...
The Third Wife | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Raise the Red Lanterns: Mayfair Falls Short on Accessing Modernity in Ancient Times
A new voice in Vietnamese cinema, Ash Mayfair's female-centric coming-of-age feature debut The...
Her Job | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Scrubbing up: Labôt Debuts with Nuanced, Powerful Greek Drama of a Woman at Work
Her Job, Greek director Nikos Labôt's first feature roots its setting...
Mihkel | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Of Children and Criminals: Magnússon Blends Family & Estonian History into Nordic Crime Drama
An artist and documentary filmmaker for more than two decades, Ari...
Alone at My Wedding | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
A Lonely Flower Dress: Bergman Delivers Raw, Touching Romani Emancipation Drama
Marta Bergman’s feature debut depicts the struggle of Pamela (Alina Șerban), a young Romani...
Thou Shalt Not Kill | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Biblical Activism: Romanian Directors on a Crusade Against Corruption
Gabi Virginia Șarga and Cătălin Rotaru's debut feature can be easily seen as part of the...
The Cacophony of Donbas | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Dissected Symphony: Minaev Deconstructs Soviet Propaganda with a dose of Humanism
Finding the one and the only cause of a big historical event, especially when...
What They Had | Review
Tragedy + Comedy = Family: Chomko’s Unforgettable Alzheimer's Story
In a year where so many films feel politically charged, What They Had is a refreshingly...
The Guilty | Review
Right Man at the Wrong Desk: Gustav Möller Cracks the Case with Debut
You wouldn’t expect the tipping point of a thriller to be marked...
Dumont’s a Delicacy with Childhood of a Martyr in Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc | Blu-ray Review
Nearly a year after its celebrated premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Bruno Dumont’s instant cult musical Jeannette: The Childhood...
Colette | Review
Elle Époch: Westmoreland Recuperates a Literary Giant in Appealingly Frank Biopic
After winning the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for the 2005 breakout film Quinceañera, co-directors...
Five Fingers for Marseilles | Review
Finger Food: Matthews Attempts to Mount a Western in Modern Colonialist Trauma
Kudos to director Michael Matthews and screenwriter Sean Drummond for taking the time...
Retrospekt | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Domestic Disturbance: Rots Presents a Puzzle with Portrait of Troubled Woman
Female agency and fractured fellowship form the basis of Dutch director Esther Rots’ sophomore...
Maya | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Maya Love is Your Love: Hansen-Love Stumbles with Sluggish Romantic Drama
Following on the heels of her most widely acclaimed feature to date, 2016’s Things...
Saf | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
This Land is Our Land: Vatansever Presents Caustic Portrait of Urban Gentrification
Politically and economically motivated displacement is at the heart of Turkish director Ali...
