Tag: Foreign Film Review
Suntan | Review
Death in Greece: Papadimitropoulos Examines a Doctor and His Devils with Engrossing Character Portrait
An uncomfortable but prolific subset of the psychological drama would...
The Ottoman Lieutenant | Review
The Turkish Lieutenant’s Woman: Ruben Stumbles on Tedious War Time Romance
At one point, director Joseph Ruben was the go-to guy for glossy B-grade...
The Sense of an Ending | Review
Man of Letters: Batra Crafts Low-Key Adaptation with Handsome Ensemble
“The wine of youth does not always clear with advancing years; sometimes it grows turbid,”...
Brimstone | Review
The Love of a Preacher Man: Koolhoven’s Pseudo-Feminist Western an Ambitiously Grotesque Affront
Unveiling the most expensive Dutch film production since Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book...
Joaquim | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Once Upon a Time Tiradentes: Gomes Delivers Exceptional, Unique Biopic on Brazil’s Crusader of Enlightenment
Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes tackles eighteenth century revolutionary Joachim Jose...
On the Beach at Night Alone | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Qualified for Love: Sangsoo Showcases Minhee in Latest Perambulation on Soju Soaked Saudade
Prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo consistently unveils mannered films with marked...
Return to Montauk | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
The Past is Present: Schlondorff Explores Romantic Regrets in Mismated Adaptation
A key figure in the New German Wave from the mid-60s through the 1970’s,...
Land of Mine | Review
Enemy Mine: Zandvliet Explores the Casualties of War
Martin Zandvliet leaves behind the world of theater for his third feature, Land of Mine, a based...
A Fantastic Woman | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
A Time to Love and a Time to Die: Lelio’s Fantastic Portrait of Pain and Perseverance
“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” murmurs the...
Spoor | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Animal Love: Holland Blunders with Hysterical Murder Mystery
What reveals itself to be an interesting inversion on parable of the boy who cried wolf, Polish...
On Body and Soul | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
That Obscure Object: Enyedi Mounts Moving, Lyrical Return with Inspired Portrait of Desire
For her first film in nearly twenty years, Hungarian auteur Ildiko Enyedi returns with...
Requiem for Mrs. J | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
The Day the Music Died: Vuletic Courts Comedy of Frustration with Shades of Thanatos
If anyone comes close to conjuring comedy from the Kafkaesque, it’s...
Barrage | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
You’ll Like My Mother: Schroeder Stages Conflicted, Femme Centric Triplicate of Intergenerational Conflict
As the title succinctly suggests, Luxembourg’s Laura Schroeder navigates the trenchant, inescapable...
The Lure | Review
They Could Go on Singing: Smoczynska’s Debut a Fairy Tale Grim
Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska crafts a memorable directorial debut with The Lure, a 1980s...
Anatahan (1953)| Review
Island of Lost Souls: Von Sternberg’s Lost Post-Colonial Swan Song Resurrected
Best remembered for his indelible string of films starring Marlene Dietrich in the early...
The Salesman | Review
Dark but Full of Diamonds: Farhadi Incorporates Miller’s Tragic Theater for Gendered Revenge
In keeping with his string of tersely titled but searing domestic melodramas,...
Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo | Review
The Night is Young: Ducastel & Martineau’s Procedural Queer Romance
For their seventh theatrical feature, Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (also known for its more...
The Marseille Trilogy | Review
In 2017’s first major (and highly impressive) restoration, Janus films breathes new life into novelist/playwright/director Marcel Pagnol’s indelible Marseille Trilogy, a triptych of films...
Call Me By Your Name | 2017 Sundance Film Festival Review
His Summer of Love: Guadagnino Returns with Perceptive, Tender Sketch of First Love
Presented with an intoxicating combination of old fashioned reticence with bold and...
Berlin Syndrome | 2017 Sundance Film Festival Review
He’s a Collector: Shortland Returns to Germany for Simmering Psychological Thriller
Australian director Cate Shortland, most revered for her 2013 sophomore feature Lore, returns once...
God’s Own Country | 2017 Sundance Film Festival Review
Gheorghe at the Farm: Lee’s Rustic Romantic Drama Hits the Requisite Notes
For those who have been yearning for a less angst-ridden and more contemporary...
Family Life | 2017 Sundance Film Festival Review
Strangers When We Meet: Scherson and Jimenez Present Sibling Identity Exercise
Two members of Chile’s contemporary cinema scene join forces in co-directing Family Life, an...
Staying Vertical | Review
The Bipedal Advantage: Guiraudie Returns to Vaguely Pernicious Themes
After his 2013 breakout success with Stranger By the Lake, a nod to France’s Hitchcockian forefather...
We Are the Flesh | Review
Live Flesh: Minter’s Perverts the Shadows in the Cave with Delirious Debut
Director Emiliano Rocha Minter (who was the still photographer on Gerardo Naranjo’s 2011...
Paradise | 2017 Palm Springs Film Festival Review
The Mind is Its Own Place: Konchalovsky Returns with a Grueling, Haunting Holocaust Triptych
In all likelihood, there will never be an end to cinematic...
The Ardennes | Review
Brother’s Keeper: Pront’s Squalid Crime Thriller a Promising Debut
Although we’ve seen certain tropes and characterizations aplenty, such as any number of disenfranchised families struggling...
Toni Erdmann | Review
Tony Toni Tone: Maren Ade Returns with Profound Portrait of Estranged Family Members
Comedic films coming out of Germany, at least those nabbing international acclaim...
I, Daniel Blake | Review
Brexit of Champions: Loach’s Unadorned Blue Collar Melodrama Rages against the Machine
As he has been doing since he became an auteur of note...
Old Stone | Review
Stone Cold: Ma’s Bleak Debut Conveys the Uselessness of Doing the Right Thing
Nice guys don’t get ahead, at least not if they’re part...
Things to Come | Review
Things Fall Apart: Hansen-Love Crafts Superb Scenario for Huppert
Director Mia Hansen-Løve breathes majestic layers of complexity into her fifth feature, Things to Come, documenting...
I Am Not Madame Bovary | Review
What Women Want: Feng’s Lusciously Filmed Satire a Wearying Critique on Cultural Custom
Prolific Chinese director Xiaogang Feng, whose films are often well-regarded box office...
Cosmos | Blu-ray Review
Kino Lorber announced US distribution rights to Polish auteur Andrzej Zulwaski’s Cosmos shortly before news broke of the filmmaker’s death following a struggle with...
Evolution | Review
Island of Lost Boys: Hadzihalilovic’s Triumphant Return to Enigmatic Filmmaking
French director Lucile Hadzihalilovic returns to the director’s seat for the first time since 2004’s...
Free Fire | 2016 BFI London Film Festival Review
Gunfight at Boston, MA: Wheatley’s Portrait of a Vicious Shootout
Massachusetts, 1970s. More precisely, the docks of Boston, where plans for a weapons trade at...
Una | 2016 BFI London Film Festival Review
Breaking the Taboo: Andrews’ Courageous Analysis of an Agonizing Affair
A young woman confronts her predator after an interval of fifteen years in the taut...
Tampopo (1985) | Review
Noodles and Co.: Itami’s Ramen Saga Retains Delightful Flavor
Before the categorization of a cinematic movement affectionately referred to as ‘food porn,’ Japanese director Juzo...
Creepy | Review
Social Disease: Kurosawa’s Aptly Titled Thriller Returns to Expressions of a Serial Killer
Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa does double duty this year releasing two extravagant,...
The Handmaiden | Review
Women in Revolt: Chan-wook’s Sumptuous Period Drama Wrestles with Romance, Revenge
Following his 2013 English language debut, Stoker, South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook returns to...
Under the Shadow | Review
Ghosts in Wartime: Anvari’s Period Piece the Horror Genre Needs
Iranian born Babak Anvari broke out with his literal assessment of class conflict in BAFTA-nominated...
True Crimes | 2016 Warsaw Film Festival Review
Cold Communist Files: Avranas Paints Unorthodox Procedural into Mincing Eurotrash
A late addition to the Greek Weird Wave thanks to his 2013 sophomore title Miss...
Aquarius | Review
Sign of the Times: Filho’s Formidable Examination of Life as a House
For his sophomore effort, Brazilian director crafts an intriguing character study around a...
Being 17 | Review
Changing Times: Téchiné Skews Youthful with Enjoyable Drama
Director André Téchiné manages his most emotionally rewarding venture in well over a decade with Being 17,...
Betty (1992) | Review
Betty’s Blue: Chabrol’s Compelling Character Study of Victimhood and Agency
Claude Chabrol, dubbed the Alfred Hitchcock after rising out of the Nouvelle Vague, began his...
The Color of Lies (1999) | Review
The Hole Truth: Chabrol Explores What Lies Beneath the Chilly Idyll in Brittany
The continually clever and constantly rueful Claude Chabrol ended his stretch of...
Standing Tall | Blu-ray Review
Notable for opening the 2015 Cannes Film Festival (making director Emmanuelle Bercot the second woman to nab such a distinction in the festival’s history),...
Frantz | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
The Guest Who’s Coming to Dinner: Ozon’s Period Culture Clash a Handsome, Uninvolving Production
In many ways, Francois Ozon’s output still swings jaggedly between the...
Hermia & Helena | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
Like so many other filmmakers from around the world, the Buenos Aires born writer/director Matías Piñeiro has found himself straddling borders with his latest...
The Dreamed Path | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
Scenes from a Fugue State: Schanelec Returns with Abstract Continuum of Dissolved Relationships
“I don’t know where to put myself,” says a character at one...
City of Tiny Lights | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
Farewell, My Lovely: Travis Tries Urban Neo Noir in Prosaic Adaptation
One gets the sense the source novel by Patrick Neate is a bit more...
Daguerrotype | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
Spirits of the Dead: Kurosawa Continues Ghostly Leitmotifs in First French Language Film
Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa makes a surprise venture into French language cinema...
