Tag: Foreign Film Review
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...
Angel (Un Ange) | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Wheels of Desire: Mortier Breaks Silence with Funereal Portrait of Dead Celebrity
It was a major punchline in Mike Nichols’ version of The Birdcage (1996)...
Where Hands Touch | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
I See a Dark Stranger: Asante Examines Obscured Holocaust Perspective in Anglo Period Piece
British director Amma Asante rounds out a thematic trilogy of sorts...
Angelo | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
The Moor the Merrier: Schleinzer Returns with Incendiary Portrait of Indentured Servitude
Austrian director Markus Schleinzer returns with his long-awaited sophomore film Angelo, a follow-up...
Sew the Winter to My Skin | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Or Else It Gets the Hose Again: Qubeka Recuperates a Rebel from Apartheid South Africa
South Africa’s film industry remains somewhat on the fringe of...
One Last Deal | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Art to Art: Haro Conjures Another Character Study in Crowd-pleasing Drama
Much like his contemporary Dome Karukoski, Finnish director Klaus Härö is one of his...
The Vice of Hope | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Hope to It: De Angelis Tackles Child Trafficking in Latest Neapolitan Drama
Life may be bleak, but it’s also textured with fascinating possibilities in the...
The River | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Bury the Sins & Wash Them Clean: Baigazin Presents the Dysfunction of Isolation in Simmering Drama
Over the last decade, several prominent voices out of...
Three Adventures of Brooke | 2018 Venice Film Festival Review
Of Time and the City: Yuan Qing Delights with Tender, Dainty Rohmerian Debut
An airy, relaxed tale of meandering bliss and the pursuit of meaning...
Let the Corpses Tan! | Review
All that Glitters: Cattet & Forzani Cut Stylish Swath Through Arid Neo-Western
For their third film, Let the Corpses Tan!, another heavily styled recalibration of...
Tumbbad | 2018 Venice Film Festival Review
Greedy Monster: Rahi Anil Barve’s Uneven Attempt at Horror-Fantasy Indian Epic
A debut feature for both Rahi Anil Barve and his co-director Adesh Prasad,...
A Prayer Before Dawn | Review
Break the Dawn: Sauvaire Browbeats with Violent, Grim Prison Drama
Although a simple plot synopsis tends to glorify the perilous pugilism which provides the bizarre...
Nico, 1988 | Review
What Costume Shall the Poor Girl Wear?: Nicchiarelli Knits Stellar Portrait of a Troubled Artist
“I’ve been at the bottom and I’ve been at the...
Baronesa | 2018 New Horizons Intl. Film Festival Review
A Song for Everyday Life: Antunes Looks at Womanhood in the Favelas
Set in the favela near Belo Horizonte, Brazil, this feature debut from Juliana...
Good Manners | Review
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf Mother?: Dutra & Rojas Spin Magical Spell with Subversive Class Commentary Horror
As its title would indicate, social etiquette and...
The Third Murder | Review
Murder Was the Case That They Gave Him: Kore-eda Mounts Philosophical Crime Thriller
Revered for his finely hewn dramas so often navigating the subtle isolation...
Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti | Review
Tahitian Treat: Cassel Casts a Gloom in Sanitized Biopic of a Starving Artist
He’s one of the more notable post-Impressionists and for the first time...
On Chesil Beach | Review
On the Waterfront: Cooke’s Tender Adaptation of Sexual Aversion in 1960s England
A couple of newly weds hit an irresolvable and unpleasant barrier during their...
The House That Jack Built | 2018 Cannes Film Festival Review
Lars and the Unreal Girls: The Danish Provocateur Pushes Buttons in Cruel, Grotesque Portrait of a Serial Killer
“O Muse, Recount to me the Causes”...
Leto | 2018 Cannes Film Festival Review
Goodbye Lenin: Serebrennikov’s Vibrant Time Capsule More than a Feeling
Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s on-going house-arrest in Moscow lends his latest film, the period piece...
Revenge | Review
Follow The Blood Trails: Fargeat Impresses And Disappoints With Feature Debut
Coralie Fargeat’s feature debut makes a bold attempt at redirecting the well-worn rape and...
Zama | Review
Mortal Transfer: Martel Returns with Lush, Dark Comedy on Colonial Maneuvering
Unfairly disposed to doomed distribution prospects and perhaps unfortunate dismissal during its initial reception...
Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc | Review
The Passion of the Joan: Dumont Approaches Ecclesiastical Fervor in Musical Comedy
If cinema could approach the same sacred realm as any pre-ordained religious doctrine,...
Marrowbone | Review
Love & Marrow: Sanchez Rattles Familiar Skeletons in Vintage Themed Debut
Spanish screenwriter Sergio F. Sanchez consults the bones for his directorial debut, Marrowbone, an...
Ismael’s Ghosts (Director’s Cut) | Review
Call Me, Ismael: Desplechin Presents Jumbled Portrait of the Artist as a Dulled Man
Perhaps not since the quill of Charles Dickens, wherein iconic Ebenezer...
The New Romantic | 2018 SXSW Film Festival Review
You've Got Male: Stone Adds to the Win Column with Delightful Debut
The New Romantic is a dramedy for the next generation that poses a...
The Breaker Upperers | 2018 SXSW Film Festival Review
Conscious Coupling: Modern Day "Womance" via Kiwi Duo
Yes, there is an extra syllable in the Breaker Upperers, a title imbued with the fumblings of...
Hannah | Review
No Whale Out: Pallaoro Strikes Somber Chords with Pitch Perfect Rampling
You’ll be hard pressed to find another melodrama as inconspicuously tightlipped as Andrea Pallaoro’s...
Foxtrot | Review
Dancing in Hollow: Maoz Moves Sharply between Shock, Grief & Absurdity
Israeli director Samuel Maoz was one of the most surprising Golden Lion winners in...
Mug (Twarz) | 2018 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Eyes Without a Face: Szumowska Constructs a Christ Figure in Melancholic Farce
Love is a many splendored thing, albeit something often compromised or mutilated by...
Shock Waves: Diary of My Mind / First Name: Mathieu | 2018 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review:
In the spirit of the 2011 German mini-series Dreileben (which included segments from Christian Petzold, Christoph Hochhausler, and Dominik Graf), in which a trio...
Eva | 2018 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
All About Eva: Jacquot Remounts Losey with a Haughty Huppert
“Don’t get hooked,” she warns of her much younger lover. But by the time she...
Western | Review
German Cowboys Navigate Rocky Terrain in Brooding Drama
A film like Western simmers like a marshmallow on an open fire, never quite flaring up, but instead...
On the Milky Road | Review
Road to Nowhere: Kusturica Returns with Aimless War-Torn Fairy Tale
All’s certainly not fair in love nor war in Serbian director Emir Kusturica’s first film...
