Tag: Foreign Film Review
Savanna and the Mountain | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Once Upon a Time in Barroso: Carneiro Speaks Truth to Power
Opening with the gusto of a faded fairy tale, Portuguese filmmaker Paulo Carneiro’s Savanna...
Three Kilometres To The End Of The World | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
It Can’t Happen Here: Parvu’s Agonizing Procedural on Small Town Homophobia
For his third feature, Three Kilometers to the End of the World, Romanian director...
Locust | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Code of Silence: KEFF Revisits Time of Turmoil
For his directorial debut, KEFF revisits the pinnacle of turmoil during the 2019 Hong Kong protests as...
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Other People’s Money: Rosselli Finds Being Criminal is Relative
In keeping with a growing tradition of contemporary Argentinian cinema’s unorthodox narrative structures, editor Hernán Rosselli...
When The Light Breaks | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Grieving Rights: Runarsson Explores Interrupted Mourning
For his fourth narrative feature, Iceland’s Rúnar Rúnarsson returns to themes of emotional disruption with When the Light Breaks....
Simon of the Mountain | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Face of An(other): Luis Complicates Identity Politics
Although it’s playing quite purposefully with various ambiguities and motifs, Federico Luis’ directorial debut Simon de...
Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Art of Saying Nothing: Dupieux Deconstructs Cinema
Had Luis Bunuel approached conveying the reality of cinema produced by artificial intelligence, there may have been...
Exclusive Clips: Lorenzo Ferro is Hard to Read in Federico Luis’ “Simon of the Mountain” – 2024 Cannes Film Festival
Among the Croisette items contending for the prestigious Caméra d'Or at Cannes, a fresh voice emerges from Argentina's film scene: Federico Luis, a filmmaker...
Aisha | Review
No Safe Havens: Letitia Wright’s Breathtaking Refugee Turn
Frank Berry’s Aisha is the superbly moving record of a Nigerian refugee’s quiet fight for dignity in...
Jeanne du Barry | Review
Vanity Affair: Maïwenn Tarries with Madame du Barry
For her sixth feature film, Maïwenn tackles her first period piece with Jeanne du Barry, resurrecting a...
La Bête (The Beast) | Review
In the Mood for Love & Death: Bonello Explores the Final Frontier of Emotional Intelligence
Throughout the dizzying centuries-spanning odyssey of an unrequited love in...
The Old Oak | Review
A Tree Grows in England: Loach Loses Steam in Klutzy Refugee Drama
There’s no doubt Ken Loach is one of the most prominent social-realist directors...
Coup de chance | Review
Bad Luck Banging: Luck is a Fickle Mistress in Allen’s Amusing Gallic Debut
For his fiftieth (and rumored to be last) film, Woody Allen’s French...
La Chimera | Review
The Passionate Thief: Rohrwacher Finds Treasures Under the Tuscan Sun
“The sun is following us,” whispers a willowy blonde in the enigmatic opening moments...
DogMan | Review
All Dogs Go to Heaven: Besson Gets Bombastic with Retro Pulp
The suspension of disbelief required to enjoyably settle into Luc Besson’s latest film, DogMan,...
Asphalt City | Review
Angel Heart: Sauvaire Serves Savior Complex in EMS Thriller
“It’s easier with wings than without,” was the tagline for Wim Wenders’ 1987 film Wings of...
Limbo | Review
Desert Fury: Sen Gets Bleak in the Heat of a Cold Case Mystery
Despite it being the title of innumerable films from around the world,...
The Shadowless Tower | Review
The Polite Stuff: Lu Searches for Redemption Through the Walking & Talking Cure
In the strangely alluring The Shadowless Tower, (Bai Ta Zhi Guang)...
Club Zero | Review
The Prime of Miss Jean Foodie: Hausner Satirizes Cult Behavior Through Caloric Deficit
Expanding on the genre sentiments which guided her past titles Hotel (2004)...
Silver Haze | Review
Keeper of the Flame: Polak Reckons with Reconciliation vs. Retribution in Conventional Drama
Dutch director Sacha Polak continues to explore the difficulties of acceptance and...
Shambhala | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Defending Your Life: Bham’s Captivating Quest Follows Its Own Path
The journey is the destination in Nepalese director Min Bahadur Bam’s graceful sophomore film,...
About Dry Grasses | Review
To Sir, With Ego: Ceylan Waltzes with Narcissism in Captivating Character Study
The filmography of Nuri Bilge Ceylan is characterized by complex examinations of human...
Io Capitano | Review
Journey to Italy: Garrone Details Arduous Migrant Odyssey
It might be a rite of passage for contemporary Italian auteurs to examine the grueling adversity faced...
Sons (Vogter) | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
A Poison Tree: Moller Employs Wrathful Mother in Jailhouse Revenge Drama
“A man that studied revenge keeps his own wounds green,” comes to mind in...
The Great Yawn of History | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Rasti Hunts for Spiritual Treasures
There have been countless films about the quest for fortune and glory, but you’ll be hard-pressed...
Who Do I Belong To | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Return of the Soldier: Joobeur Explores Ghosts of War
Matriarchs confronted by their radicalized children have slowly and painstaking formed a cinematic subgenre of...
Gloria! | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Music of the Heart: Vicario Pays Symphonic Homage to Erased History
Composer Margherita Vicario makes her directorial debut with Gloria!, a period piece recuperating a...
Foreign Tongue (Langue étrangère) | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Tongues Untied: Love Lies Easy in Burger’s Cross Culture Coming of Age Drama
There’s a lot going on in Claire Burger’s third film, Foreign Tongue...
Raíz (Through Rocks and Clouds) | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
A Walk in the Clouds: Becerra Mines Escapism and Innocence in Quiet Drama
A dwindling group of alpaca herders find themselves on the verge...
My New Friends (Les gens d’à côté) | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Your Friends & Neighbors: Téchiné Tries for Ethical Sentiments
Now in his eighties, director André Téchiné continues his steady, perennial output with the humanist melodrama...
Dying (Sterben) | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Family Matters: Glasner’s Sprawling Portrait of Chaotic Dysfunction
Exemplifying Tolstoy’s famous Anna Karenina quote on ‘every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,’ German...
Some Rain Must Fall | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Mistress of Misery: Yang Explores the Turmoil of Transformation
Here comes the rain again, falling on her head like a tragedy. Or so is the...
Reas | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Caged Birds Singing: Arias Re-enacts Prison Experiences
If Orange is the New Black was being workshopped as a community theater musical, it might resemble something...
My Summer with Irène | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Summertime Sadness: Sironi Escapes to Sicily in Oblique Friendship Drama
There’s no running away from the past, no matter how glorious the sun dappled idyll...
Arcadia | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
None of Us Strangers: Zois Probes Unrest of Our Shadows
“It is a defect of God’s humor that he directs our hearts everywhere but to...
From Hilde, With Love | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Germany, Pale Mother: Dresen Locates the Good Germans of WWII
It comes as no surprise an old-fashioned director such Andreas Dresen is adept at making...
My Favorite Cake | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Layer Cake: Moghaddam & Sanaeeha Find Love in a Hopeless Place
If ever there were a film depicting how one cannot have their cake and...
The Editorial Office | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
The Winds of War: Bondarchuk Straddles a World On a Wire
While it should play like an absurdist black comedy, Roman Bondarchuk’s sophomore narrative feature...
Perdidos en la noche (Lost in the Night) | Review
Night Moves: Escalante Cultivates a Moody, Capricious Mystery
Replete with a slew of customary features encountered in a fatalistic film noir, Amat Escalante’s fifth feature,...
Interview: Tran Anh Hung – The Taste of Things
In the Cannes Best Director-winning, The Taste of Things (aka The Pot-au-Feu) the passage of time is measured in teaspoons, tablespoons and table manners....
The Taste of Things | Review
Where’s the Beef?: Tran Anh Hung Activates the Salivary Glands
Gastronomy has never seemed so forlornly romantic as it is in Tran Anh Hung’s sumptuous...
Perfect Days | Review
Road to Nowhere: Wenders Welcomes the Pleasures of a Simple Life in Quiet Drama
In his most successfully realized narrative feature in years, Wim Wenders...
Disco Boy | Review
Mal Travaille: Abbruzzese Finds the Rhythm of the Night in Hypnotic Debut
“E’en hell hath its peculiar laws,” remarked Faust in Goethe’s eternal classic, the...
Grey Bees | 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam Review
Life During Wartime: Dmytro Moiseiev Chronicles Everyday Survival In Donbass Before Russia’s Invasion
How did life go on for people living in the grey zone...
Steppenwolf | 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam Review
Move Over John Wick: Adilkhan Yerzhanov Unleashes A Bloody Tale Of Vengeance In His Latest Feature
Bleak, bloody, and bullet-riddled, the latest from prolific Kazakh...
Flathead | 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam Review
Days And Nights In Bundaberg: Jaydon Martin’s Docu-Fiction Journey Leaves Outsiders Adrift
Falling under an atmospheric shadow of loss and regret, Flathead, the directorial debut...
Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others | 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam Review
Camera Crew: Filmmakers Become Family In Farshad Hashemi’s Quietly Defiant Meta-Movie
The problem with being lonely isn’t being alone, it’s how easy it can be...
Swimming Home | 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam Review
Marriage Story: Justin Anderson Serves Up An Enigmatic Challenge Is His Feature Debut
A marriage in crisis cooks under the summer sun in filmmaker Justin...
Tótem | Review
Life and Death of the Party: Aviles’ Bustling Ensemble Piece Balances Pain & Profundity
Taking place over the course of one frenetic day, Lila...
Under the Fig Trees | Review
Figment of their Imagination: Sehiri’s Baskets Filled with Hope, Humor and Harsh Truths
There is a lot more behind the scenes drama that goes into...
