Tag: Foreign Film Review
Without Air | 2023 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
A Teacher Fights For Her Job In Katalin Moldovai’s Simmering Indictment of Hungary’s Culture Wars
Agnieszka Holland’s largely forgotten (and quite awful) 1995 biopic Total...
Hors-saison | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Lover Come Back: Romance Rekindles in Brizé’s Elegant Exploration of Regret
The universal dilemma of romantic regret is wondering ‘what could have been’ based on...
Woman Of… | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Pieces of a Woman: Szumowska & Englert Compose Compassionate Portrait of Trans Woman
“Testosterone is power,” confirms one physician advising Andrzej, the protagonist of Malgorzata...
Lubo | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Children of a Lesser God: Diritti Highlights Swiss War Crimes in Prolonged Drama
The actual history being explored in Giorgio Diritti’s three-hour drama Lubo is...
Holly | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
The Girl with All the Gifts: Torch Tiptoes into Genre with Aloof Drama
Belgian director Fien Troch has built a steadfast filmography on quietly painful...
The Summer With Carmen | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
The Write Stuff: Life Becomes Art in Mavroeidis Sun Dappled Debut
Hindsight is 20/20, especially when it comes to using romantic liaisons as creative fodder...
Following the Sound | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Not in the Script: Sugita’s New Form of Companionship Takes on Heartaches and Heartbreaks
Rewriting the notion of what it truly means to follow someone...
Enea | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Deal or No Deal: Castellitto Distracted by Design in Drug Pusher Drama
Director Pietro Castellitto embarks on a familial affair with sophomore film Enea, in...
The Palace | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
It’s Only the End of the World: Polanski Checks Out with Broad Satire
As many are likely to avoid The Palace, the latest film from persona...
Making Of | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
The Working Class Goes to the Back Lot: Kahn Prosaically Processes a Director’s Strife
What should cinema be and who should it be made for?...
Love Is a Gun | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Lucky Number Seven: The Grabbing Hands Grab All They Can in Lee Hong-Chi’s Debut
Working as both a crime film (non-gangster former life) and drama-soaked...
Vermines | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
The Spider’s Stratagem: Vanicek Weaves Familiar Web with Debut Creature Feature
Creature features have an odd way of satisfying a variety of our escapist desires,...
Adagio | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Rome, Smoking City: Sollima Languorous Thriller Tiresomely Tests Narrative Cliches
The most apropos element of Stefano Sollima’s Adagio is the title itself, as it’s two-hour-plus...
Sobre todo la noche (Foremost the Night) | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Other Mothers: Iriarte’s Debut a Murky Mix of Neo Noir and Melodrama
For his film debut Foremost the Night, Víctor Iriarte frames his peculiarly staged...
Finalmente L’Alba (Finally Dawn) | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Cruel Intentions: Costanzo Pays Homage to the Demi-Monde of the Italian Film Industry
After adapting Elena Ferrante’s "My Brilliant Friend" for television, Saverio Costanzo returns...
Sidonie au Japon | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Second Chance Romance: Girard Haunts Huppert in Erstwhile Ghost Story
Isabelle Huppert conjoins two of her most recent recurring cinematic themes with Sidonie in Japan,...
Bastarden (The Promised Land) | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
The Good Earth: Arcel Inherits the Wind with Romanticized Historical Recuperation
After making his English language debut with the imperiled Stephen King adaptation The Dark...
L’ordine del tempo | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Time After Time: Cavani Commits Time Crimes in Overwrought Farce
What does time mean when we’re all out of it? Thus is the quagmire...
Comandante | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
And the Sea Will Tell: De Angelis Sells the Soft Side of Fascism
Napolitano director Edoardo De Angelis embarks on his most lavish offering to...
Piaffe | Review
Horse Girl: Oren Gets Hot to Trot in Strange, Alluring Debut
What is it about horses, exactly, and their tacit parallels with subterranean conduits of...
Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation | Review
Death in the Garden: Chebbi Debuts Eerie, Nuanced Murder Mystery
In a supremely frightening sense, the events transpiring in Ashkal (which means ‘shapes’ in Arabic) recalls...
Love Life | Review
Love the One You’re With: Fukada Explores Love and Death as Unhappy Accidents
The instability of romance is the only real given in the intimate...
Stepne | 2023 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Land That Time Forgot: Vroda Mines Eroding Memories in Speculative Debut
Thomas Wolfe meant You Can’t Go Home Again metaphorically, but such might literally...
Animal | 2023 Locarno Film Festival Review
Boogie Nights: Exarchou Doses Summertime Sadness in Achy Melodrama
For anyone who’s ever wondered what life might be like for employees at any tourist trap...
Return to Dust | Review
The Good Earth: Ruijun Crafts Poignant Portrait of Transformative Love
Director Li Ruijun returns to familiar themes in his sixth feature, Return to Dust, a...
Final Cut (Coupez!) | Review
Primetime Cut: Hazanavicius Returns to Absurdity with Overdone Zombie Remake
Michel Hazanavicius has certainly established his affection for the nonsensical, making a name for himself...
Afire | Review
Pleasure to Burn: Petzold Stokes the Flames in Diffident Drama
A fragile male ego finds itself dismantled in Afire (Roter Himmel), the second chapter...
Nobody’s Hero (Viens je t’emmène) | Review
We Don’t Need Another Hero: Guiraudie Gets Kooky in Political Comedy of Errors
Alain Guiraudie migrates from rural perversity to urban calamity in the comically...
Scarlet (L’Envol) | Review
Come Sail Away: Marcello Runs Aground in Muddled Adaptation
Pietro Marcello returns to literature for inspiration in his third narrative feature (and French language debut),...
Padre Pio | Review
In the Name of the Father: Ferrara Explore Infamous Saint with Guerrilla Branded Biopic
Like many of Abel Ferrara’s projects hobbled by various production issues,...
Falcon Lake | Review
Baptism by Water: Unrequited Longing & Fear Found in Le Bon's Simmering Debut
In a perfect swirl of the uninitiated and inhibition, in her directorial...
Unclenching the Fists | Review
So Daddy, I’m Finally Through: Kovalenko Explores Familial Dysfunction in Rural Melodrama
The suppression of women by the heteropatriarchy is tale as ancient as civilization,...
Il sol dell’avvenire (A Brighter Tomorrow) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
If You Don’t Die Today: Moretti Can’t Find the Rhythm in Musical Delusion
To say the latest film from Nanni Moretti, Il sol dell'avvenire (A Brighter...
Rien à perdre (All to Play For) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
Other People’s Children: Deloget Butts with Bureaucracy in Familial Drama
Virginie Efira continues to explore the arduous spectrum of contemporary motherhood in her latest film,...
Kidnapped (Rapito) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Soul to Take: Bellocchio Deliriously Dissects a Papal Delictum
Marco Bellocchio has lost none of his flair nor his energetic zest in his latest...
The Buriti Flower (Crowrã) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
Rites of Resistance: Messora & Salaviza Provide Historical Ellipses of the Krahô
Researching a community without causing hindrance or harm has long been a concern...
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
The End of the Affair: Naveriani Finds Love in a Hopeless Place
Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani solidifies her gravitational pull towards examining rural social misfits...
Il pleut dans la maison (It’s Raining in the House) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
Baby the Rain Must Fall: Life Imitates Art in Serman-Daï’s Narrative Debut
There’s a literalness in It’s Raining In The House (Il pleut dans la maison)...
Les meutes (Hounds) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
Wash Away Your Sins: The Apple Falls a Bit Further Out From the Tree in Lazraq’s Stunning Debut
Father and son learn the power of...
Le retour | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
Put a Label on It: Corsini’s Corsica is a Lieu for Inter & Intra-personal Growth
Napoleon Bonaparte’s birthplace is certainly a site rich in history...
Ama Gloria | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
Cléo Entre 5 et 7: Everyone Shares the Same Song in Amachoukeli’s Sophisticated Sophomore Feature
Letting go is never easy but what happens when it’s...
The Night of the 12th | Review
Hero Complex: Moll Refreshes Detective Procedural with Cat's Paw Narrative
With his early naughts (With a Friend Like Harry..., Lemming) and grisly disappearance thriller Only...
Butterfly Vision | Review
Coming Home: Nakonechnyi Explores Collateral Damage in Prescient Drama
While the near decade long conflict between Russian and Ukraine has spilled into full-blown war, a...
BlackBerry | Review
Hold the Phone: Johnson Delivers the Ballad of the BlackBerry
Exposing the accidental alchemy which generated the titular BlackBerry, the world’s first Smartphone (and as...
Monica | Review
Portrait of a Lady: Pallaoro Quietly Searches for Grace in Profound Reconciliation
There’s a relentless, nearly crushing sense of heartache girding Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica, his...
R.M.N. | Review
On a Racist Day You Can See Forever: Mungiu Confronts Nationalism in Fractious Drama
On the surface, R.M.N., the latest feature from Romanian New Wave...
Winter Boy (Le Lycéen) | Review
Hazy Shade of Winter: Honore Deals with a Death in the Family in Sincere Coming-of-Age
Christophe Honoré has built an intricate filmography on the backs...
Les Enfants des Autres (Other People’s Children) | Review
Sex and Longing: Efira Shines in Zlotowski’s Portrait of Missed Opportunities
In a celebrated tradition of quietly personal characterizations French cinema is known for, Rebecca...
Plan 75 | Review
Aging Disgracefully: Hayakawa Questions Institutional & Internalized Ageism
If a septuagenarian falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it...
Smoking Causes Coughing | Review
Vigilante Shanty: Kooky Becomes Dupieux in Latest Whimsy
Quentin Dupieux’s penchant for absurdity shows no signs of abating, with Smoking Causes Coughing, the latest offering...
