Tag: Foreign Film Review
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...
Godless | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
Just a Slob Like One of Us: Petrova Paints Bleak Portrait of Bulgarian Stupor
Judging from a recent slew of titles touring the festival circuit...
Orphan | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
Woman Thou Art Loosed: Des Pallieres Disorientates with Fractured Character Portrait
Between constantly shifting time periods and abrupt transitions from one clutch of characters to...
Zoology | 2016 Toronto Int. Film Festival Review
Tale of Tails: Tverdovsky’s Myopic Modern Fable Chases Its Own Tail
Zoology. You ask, what does it mean? For the purposes of Ivan Tverdovsky’s sophomore...
Demon | Review
A Dybbuk Got Your Baby: Wrona’s Atmospheric Blend of Horror and History
For his third feature, Marcin Wrona adapts Piotr Rowicki’s stage play Adherence into...
London Road | Review
The Kindness of Stranglers: Norris Mounts Film Version of Macabre Musical
Those familiar with the infamous 2011 musical London Road should be pleased with this...
Klown Forever | Review
In Heart a Clown: Norgaard Takes another Spin with Popular Man-Children Duo
For those familiar with the various trials and travails of best buddies Casper...
In Order of Disappearance | Review
Gone Baby Gone: Moland’s Deadpan Nordic Noir Enhanced by Skarsgard
There’s a droll viciousness to In Order of Disappearance, a Nordic Neo-Noir which premiered...
Mia Madre | Review
Mamma Mia: Moretti’s Continues Exploring a Death in the Family
After having won the Palme d’Or in 2001 for his film The Son’s Room, Italian...
Blood Father | Review
Forgiveness of Blood: Richet Delivers Grimy Gibson in Slice of B-Movie Glory
If you’re looking for any sort of striking originality in French director Jean-Francois...
Florence Foster Jenkins | Review
Florence and the Machine: Frears Lets the Music Speak for Itself in Curio Biopic
In recent years, the quality of output from British director Stephen...
Summertime | Review
An Affair to Remember: Corsini’s Enjoyable, Brightly Hued Period Piece
Catherine Corsini returns with her ninth feature film, Summertime (La belle saison), an early 70s...
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Review
Filth and Wisdom: Saunders and Lumley Can’t Get Back to Where They Started From
This wheel doesn’t so much as explode as it does simply...
The Whispering Star | 2016 Japan Cuts Film Festival Review
The Human Factor: Sono’s Somber Allusions to the Allegory of the Cave
When one contemplates the continuously expanding filmography of Japanese auteur Sion Sono, hyperbolic...
Our Little Sister | Review
Sisters Doing It For Themselves: Kore-eda’s Continued Examination of Polite Familial Discord
Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with Our Little Sister (aka Umimachi Diary), another...
