Tag: Foreign Film Review
The Two of Us | Review
If We Try: Berri’s Exceptional Debut Granted Sterling Restoration
Arriving just in time to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, French auteur Claude Berri’s 1967 directorial...
Zoology | Blu-ray Review
Russian director Ivan I. Tverdovsky became an automatic name in the cult films register with his 2016 sophomore film Zoology, an allegory about a...
A Bride for Rip Van Winkle | Review
(Not So) Bright Future: Iwai’s Returns with Troubling Portrait of Modern Love
At the beginning of Japanese director Shunji Iwai’s latest film, A Bride for...
Aurora Borealis | 2017 Warsaw Film Festival Review
Daughters of the Dawn: Meszaros Examines Painful Period with Reconciliation Drama
Hungary’s cinematic canon can’t be discussed without a deliberation on the importance of Marta...
Journeyman | 2017 BFI London Film Festival Review
Fading Bull: Considine’s Heartfelt Drama of an Incapacitated Boxer
Following his final championship match, a boxer suffers a serious head injury that alters his personality...
Montparnasse Bienvenue (Jeune Femme) | 2017 BFI London Film Festival Review
Wander Woman: Serraille’s Tantalizing Tale of Wayward Independence
Upon breaking up with her former lover, a youthful woman roams the streets of Paris with a...
Kill Baby, Kill | Blu-ray Review
The influential reach of Italian giallo master Mario Bava is far and wide, and a retrospective earlier this year at The Quad helped re-introduce...
Luk’Luk’I | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
Understanding the Ignored: Wapeemukwa Misfires But Manages to Deeply Move
The line between reality and fiction are difficult to separate in this Wayne Wapeemukwa’s feature...
The Motive | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
Master of the Universe: Cuenca Returns with Predictable Exercise on the Writing Process
If you can’t find a muse, make one. Or so might be...
Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
Tulip Fevered: Universality Found in Bulbs & Bicycle
In Dutch filmmaker Mike van Diem’s whimsical Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle, a young Canadian-Italian...
The Journey | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
Salam Baghdad! Al-daradji Looks at Second Chances
A young woman walks into a crowded Baghdad train station, her finger poised on a detonator. Sara (played by newcomer...
Le Fidèle (Racer and the Jailbird) | Venice Film Festival Review
A Child’s Heart: Roskam Keeps Digging to Find What Lies Beneath Fast Cars & Bank Heists
From native Belgium to the States and back, Michaël...
Mademoiselle Paradis | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
Paradis Regained: Albert Explores Thwarted Romantic Episode of Obscured Pianist
Austrian director Barbara Albert revisits 1770s high-society Vienna in her exploration of an attraction between...
Number One | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
One is the Loneliest Number: Marshall Explores White Collar Gender Politics
Gender disparity in the workplace is hardly unique to the American job market, as...
Beyond Words | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
Stranger in a Strange Land: Antoniak Explores the Black and White of the Refugee Crisis
The ongoing refugee crisis provides the framework of Urszula Antoniak’s...
Disappearance | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
Terms of Estrangement: Koole Poses Familial Woes in Chilly Scenes of Winter
“Family is just accident…,” remarks one of the tortured characters in Marsha Norman’s...
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno | 2017 Venice Film Festival Review
A Summer of Love, One Dance at a Time: Kechiche’s Sprawling, Circular Poem Follows in the Footsteps of Blue
It’s only the first part for now...
The Price of Success | 2017 Toronto International Film Festival Review
The Price of Life: Lussi-Modeste’s Modest Profile on the Sacrifice of Fame and Fortune
Director Teddy Lussi-Modeste scored positive notices for his 2011 debut Jimmy...
Castaway (1986) | Review
Castabout: Roeg’s Neglected Island Adventure Collapses Marriage and Misogyny
The Quad celebrates the career of renowned British auteur Nicolas Roeg in a week-long retrospective in...
The Villainess | Review
Born to Kill: Byung-gil Gets Blood Simple in Crackling Clash of Vengeance
Your eyes might feel bruised but your pulse will remain elevated throughout Jung...
Polina | Review
The Spurning Point: Preljocaj Does the Dance Divine with Sensible Debut
Famed French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj melds his modern rhythms with a classic bildungsroman structure...
The Wound | Review
Go Tell It on the Mountain: Trengove Recruits Nakhane Toure for Defiant, Profound Debut
South African director John Trengove tackles the compelling subject of black...
The Nile Hilton Incident | Review
Cairo Crime: A Murder Mystery Simmers Against the Backdrop of a Revolution
After an animated feature about a dystopian nightmare (2009’s Metropia), a Swedish heist...
Planetarium | Review
Night of the Shooting Stars: Zlotowski’s Mysterious Glance at a World on a Wire
As one character observes to another upon a chance reunion in...
After Love (L’Économie du couple) | Review
Tight on Space: Inside Lafosse's Claustrophobic Family Drama
Festival darling Joachim Lafosse returns with his seventh feature, After Love, a relatable but difficult film solidly...
Amnesia | Review
Never Forget: Schroeder Quietly Examines Cultural Identity in Isolation
In an intriguingly varied career, which was kick started during the early days of the Nouvelle...
From the Land of the Moon | Review
The Spa of Loneliness: Garcia’s Clunky Wartime Romance
Though she’s perhaps still best known as a prolific actress, Nicole Garcia has quietly built an impressive...
Kekszakallu | Review
A Man’s World: Solnicki Scores with Experimental Exercise in Ennui and Agency
Standing as the most enigmatic art-house debut to achieve limited theatrical release stateside,...
Footnotes | Review
The Tread Shoes: Calori and Testut Hoof through Musical Homage
Directors Paul Calori and Kostia Testut face something of an uphill battle with their directorial...
The Untamed | Review
The Pleasure Principle: Escalante Makes a Monster Mash with Distinctive Social Drama
The shadow of Andrzej Zulawski’s infamous erotic creature feature/divorce melodrama Possession (1981) looms...
The Midwife | Review
Midwife Crisis: Provost Squanders Fine Cast in Trite Melodrama
The essence of French director Martin Provost’s latest film The Midwife is supposed to revolve around...
Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966) | Review
The Little Girl Who Kills Down the Lane: Bava’s Boffo Ghost Story Heavy on Atmosphere, Light on Narrative
Of all the famed giallo masters, Mario...
Muchachas de Uniforme (1951) | Outfest 2017 LGBT Film Festival Review
Girls Interrupted: Crevenna’s Lost Classic Resurrected in all its Melodramatic Glory
Although remakes have largely become the bane of the seventh art, how certain properties...
False Confessions | Review
Fair is False and False is Fair: Bondy’s Final Conquest Collapses Theatrical and Cinematic Convention
Cinematic adaptations of 18th century French novelist and playwright Marivaux...
Paulina | Review
She’s Having a Baby: Mitre Explores the Yoke of Victimhood in Uncomfortable Drama
Argentina’s Santiago Mitre scores his first international success with his third feature,...
Spotlight on a Murderer | Blu-ray Review
An influential but often overlooked originator of French surrealism would be genre stalwart Georges Franju, still best remembered for his 1960 masterpiece, Eyes without...
Moka | Review
The Hand that Robs the Cradle: Mermoud Utilizes Devos for Sweet Vengeance
Revenge is a dish best served cold and a little neurotic, at least...
Past Life | Review
Music Makes You Lose Control: Nesher Explores Skeletons in the Closet with Period Drama
Having contributed to the rise of Israeli cinema since the late...
L’Amant double | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun: Ozon Hearkens Back to Enfant Terrible Days with Erotic Skin Flick
The forgotten art of the campy erotic thriller...
Rodin | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Wails of Auguste: Doillon Presents Shapeless Biopic on the Famed French Sculptor
Unfortunately, French auteur Jacques Doillon’s high profile remounting of French sculptor Auguste...
The Day After | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Three Women: Sang-soo Goes for Slight(ly) Sober in Black and White Mix-up
South Korea’s Hong Sangsoo surpasses his own prolific, breakneck speed with a whopping...
Golden Years | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
My Baby Shot Me Down: Techine’s Tedious Period Piece a Drained Chronicle
While perennial French auteur Andre Techine delivered one of his most vibrant narratives...
The Killing of a Sacred Deer | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Dear Hunter: Lanthimos Flatlines with Terse Revenge Fantasy
There’s no arguing the unique capabilities of Greek Weird Wave alum Yorgos Lanthimos, who broke out...
Happy End | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Sunshine of Their Love: Haneke Dishes Up Black Comedy with a Dollop of Self-Loathing
Happy families are all the same in a Michael Haneke...
A Ciambra | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Life of Pio: Carpignano Shows Them Who is Boss
With hand gestures that you’d typically associate to argumentative Italians and a Calabrian backdrop that one would...
Let the Sunshine In | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Tall Dark Stranger: Denis and Binoche are Remarkable Bedfellows in Light Comedy
Claire Denis comes as close as she ever will to romantic comedy...
Everybody’s Life | 2017 COLCOA French Film Festival Review
Au Beaune Pain: Lelouch Continues with Frivolous Comedy Spackle
Somewhere along the way Palme d'Or and Oscar winning auteur Claude Lelouch (1966’s A Man and...
Ice Mother |2017 Tribeca Film Festival Review
All That Weather Allows: Slama Formulates Empathetic Character Drama from Microwaved Melodrama
Taking a page from a formula established by Douglas Sirk’s classic soapy melodrama...
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki | Review
On a Black and White Day You Can See Forever: Kuosmanen Pleasantly Upends Expectations with Debut
Dressed up as a historical biopic of Finnish boxer...
Slack Bay | Review
Bay of Pigs: Dumont Sails Away into Macabre Absurdity
Stated best within the immortal and oft referenced introduction to Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, “Happy families are...
