Tag: Foreign Film Review
The Devil’s Bath (Des Teufels Bad) | Review
Agnes of God: Franz & Fiala’s Bleak Portrait of Women & Madness
“A Witch is born out of the true hungers of her time,” wrote...
Bird | Review
Dole Days: Arnold Flutters About with Strange Bedfellows
There’s certainly a definable emotional core in Andrea Arnold’s fifth narrative feature, Bird, but the ideas and...
Small Things like These | Review
All the Small Things: Mielants Mines the Evils of Complicity
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do...
Emilia Pérez | Review
Risky Business: Audiard Surprises with Vibrant Genre Musical
Although it’s assembled from unlikely, even questionable sources, Jacques Audiard’s latest feature, Emilia Pérez, a genre...
The Apprentice | Review
The Devil and Donald Trump: Abbasi Reconstructs the Rise of a Crony Capitalist
Among the many wise observations written by nineteenth century Englishman Lord Acton,...
Daaaaaali! | Review
Good Golly, It’s Dali: Dupieux Dreams Surreal in Distinctive Biopic
It seems surrealism’s pioneer Salvador Dali is experiencing something of a culturally concentric resurgence as...
The Universal Theory (Die Theorie Von Allem) | Review
Multiverse of Sadness: Kroger Captivates with Cryptic Cold War Sci-Fi Exploit
Although it will invariably be confused with the 2014 Stephen Hawking biopic, Timm Kröger’s...
The Babadook | Review
Consequences of Grief: Kent’s Stunning Debut Wades Through Primordial Fears
Satisfying genre films are generally few and far between these days, so it’s with absolute...
Matt and Mara | Review
Friends Forever: Radwanski Reteams With Deragh Campbell For Another Captivating Character Study In Close-Up
The tension between a friendship that’s too close for comfort and...
Hard Truths | 2024 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Take A Chance On Love: Mike Leigh Delivers A Late Career Powerhouse
You can’t help but wonder if Mike Leigh is making a sly joke...
Hoard | Review
M is for the Many Things You Gave Me: Grief Becomes the Remedy in Carmoon’s Debut
“Time heals all old pain, while it creates new...
Sicilian Letters (Iddu) | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Letters to Daddy: Grassadonia & Piazza Continue Their Cosa Nostra Sagas
Italian directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza reimagine the circumstances surrounding yet another mafioso...
Diva Futura | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Erotic Stagnancy: Steigerwalt’s Depthless Approach of a Italian Porn Heyday
There’s a formidably compelling subject matter at the heart of Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s sophomore film...
The Quiet Son (Jouer avec le feu) | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Father Knows Best: The Coulin Sisters Examine the Detrimental Ripples of Fascism
With their third feature, The Quiet Son, French directing duo Delphine and Muriel...
Campo di Battaglia (Battlefield) | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Down with the Sickness: Amelio Probes Wartime Ethical Dilemmas
The tagline for Battlefield, the latest from Italian auteur Gianni Amelio, could very well read “You...
And Their Children After Them | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Teenage Wasteland: Boukherma Bros. Sprawl with Coming-of-Age Melodrama
French directing twins Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma swing hard with their fourth feature, And Their Children After...
Three Friends (Trois amies) | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Lyon Lies Bleeding: Mouret Explores L’amour Fou (Encore)
Even for those unfamiliar with the filmography of Emmanuel Mouret, his latest film, Three Friends will unequivocally...
Quiet Life | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Do You Know Where You’re Going To?: Avranas Analyzes Syndrome of a New Century
For his fifth narrative feature, Quiet Life, Greek Weird Wave alum...
Planète B | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Say My Name Say My Name: Rapin Conquers Hearts, Minds and VR HeadSets in Wonky Digital Dystopia Piece
After exploring themes of rebirth and reincarnation...
The Life Apart | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
Imitation of Life: Giordana Composes an Old-Fashioned Miracle
Music seems to be the language of the heart in The Life Apart (La vita accanto), a bizarre...
New Dawn Fades | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
Through a Glass Darkly: Keltek Finds Divinity Through Insanity
Sanism might be the term best used to define the trials and travails faced by the...
Toxic (Akiplėša) | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Taste of a Poison Paradise: Bliuvaite Explores the Commodification of Women’s Bodies
Lithuanian filmmaker Saulė Bliuvaitė perhaps could not have contrived a more succinct...
Cent mille milliards | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Unhappy Hooker: Vernier Explores Ennui in Monaco
Interconnected drifters aligned with sex work once again provide the backbone for Virgil Vernier’s third feature 100,000,000,000,000...
Agora | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Dead Don’t Die: Slim Sets Adrift in Tedious Metaphors
For his third feature film, Agora, Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim continues in the realm...
Moon | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
Bitter Moon: Ayub Concocts a Taut Domestic Thriller
“It takes time for a bird to escape, even after someone has opened the doors to its...
Fogo do Vento (Fire of Wind) | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Wind Carries On: Mateus Crafts Political Fable Fusing Past & Present
In her debut film, Fogo do Vento (Fire of Wind), which finds a...
Weightless | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Big Empty: Fgaier Crash Lands with Sentimental Drivel
For her directorial debut Weightless (Sulla terra leggeri), film editor Sara Fgaier opens her narrative with a...
Transamazonia | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
Smite Material: Marais Unearths Jungle Cliches
It’s been over a decade since South African director Pia Marais’ last feature, and she’s spent six years working...
Salve Maria | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Good Mother: Coll Examines Motherhood as Psychological Trauma
Seeing as director Mar Coll punctuates her third feature Salve Maria with chapters utilizing quotes from...
Mexico 86 | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
Coup de Madre: Díaz Revisits Violent Turmoils with Intimate Familial Drama
Director César Díaz continues his cinematic exploration of Guatemala’s brutal civil war, considered the...
Death Will Come (La Mort viendra) | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
And Bear Your Eyes: Hochhäusler’s Grim Sketch of a Tangled Underworld
Death, it seems, does not quite become Christoph Hochhäusler, the Berlin School alum making...
The Nature of Love | Review
Heart in the Right Place: Chokri Lets the Body & the Camera Do the Talking in Rom Dramedy
French Canadian filmmaker Monia Chokri adds another...
Music | Review
Oedipus Shrugged: Schanelec Finds Tragedy is the Song That Doesn’t End
There’s little use clinging to the description of Angela Schanelec’s latest film Music as...
Last Summer (L’Été dernier) | Review
One Deadly Summer: Breillat Agitates Another Sexual Taboo
Suddenly, last summer, a successful lawyer who has it all risks throwing her life away with an...
20,000 Species of Bees | Review
The Secret Life of Bees: Solaguren’s Warm Debut Explores the Communal Dictation of Gender Identity
Our relationship to our gender and sexual identities is...
The Vourdalak | Review
Love in the Blood: Beau Resurrects Russian Vampire Clan in Eccentric Genre Throwback
Chuck Palahniuk wrote it best, referencing an ‘old saying’ in his 1996...
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Review
Sentimental Succubus: Louis-Seize Finds Love is All Consuming in Vampire Rom-Com
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry” read the tagline for the quintessential...
Green Border | Review
The Good Pole: Holland’s Humanitarian Drama a Steady Drizzle of Misery Porn
The difference between an exploitation vs. a social issue film can sometimes be...
Firebrand | Review
One Survived: Ainouz Attempts to Give a Queen Her Due
The Tudor era has maintained public fascination for the past five hundred years, a linchpin...
Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything | Review
Goodbye, First Love: Atef Explores Pangs of Passion Amidst Detached Reunification
For her sixth feature film, Germany’s Emily Atef returns to themes of circumstance...
Banel & Adama | Review
A Place in the Sun: Sy’s Fascinating Debut on Ruinous Social Obligations
It takes a village…to put you in your place, or so it...
The Most Precious Of Cargoes | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Zone of Disinterest: Hazanavicius Reanimates the Holocaust in Moral Fable
What’s most interesting about director Michel Hazanavicius are his valiant attempts at dabbling in...
L’amour Ouf (Beating Hearts) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Thief of Hearts: Lellouche’s Sprawling Romance Has Arrhythmia
A common occurrence for actors moonlighting as directors is not knowing how to hone a focus, crafting...
Animale | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Toro Toro Toro: Amamra Grabs the Bull By the Horns in Transformative Role
For those who champion the bull in Spain's electrifying yet antiquated tradition...
East of Noon | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Noon Gloom: Elkoussy Mounts Shadowy, Allegorical Fantasy
An industrial wasteland outside of a specific time or place provides the backdrop for Hala Elkoussy’s ingenious, but...
Limonov: The Ballad | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Wild at Heart: Serebrennikov Oversimplifies Odyssey of Soviet Dissident
If one were to dilute a Molotov cocktail enough to make its destructive capabilities null and...
Miséricorde | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Kiss Me or Kill Me: Guiraudie Stirs a Sinister Solace in the Backwoods
Alain Guiraudie returns to the ruinous climes of rural malcontentedness with his...
Block Pass (La Pampa) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Will You Be My Ride or Die?: Chevrollier Ramps Up the Chaos in Portrait of Sons & Missing Fathers
Exploring themes of rebellion, shame, and...
The Other Way Around | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Breaking Up is Hard To Do: Trueba Reinvents Couple Goals
Gloriously reminding us that we are doomed to repeat the same existential mundane experiences, in...
In Retreat | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Man of Constant Sorrow: Ali Explores the Network of Disconnection
There’s an inescapable sense of mournfulness throughout Maisam Ali’s debut In Retreat, in which...
