Family of Straw: Hayakawa Paints Busy Coming-of-Age Portrait
Going in the opposite direction of her 2022 debut Plan 75, a sci-fi meditation on Japan’s aging...
Thrill Crazy. Kill Crazy. God Crazy: Abbasi Tackles Brutal Reality of Women and Islamofascism
“Every man shall meet what he wishes to avoid,” is the...
Delirium Tremens: Serebrennikov Maddens with Post-Soviet Magical Realism
Historically, Russian cinema (and literature) always tends to go for broke. Challenging narratives, endless characters, and opulent...
Kneedful Things: Lapid Highlights Complex Conflicts in Indignant Screech
The entirety of Ahed’s Knee, the fourth film from Israel’s Nadav Lapid, is formatted to aggravate...
Winning the Golden Bear at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival, Nadav Lapid’s third film Synonyms was one of the best theatrical releases of...
Lost in Translation: Lapid Languishes in Enigmatic, Complex Study on Cultural Identities
The rejection of self and the adoption of persona are prominent themes pouring...
The thrill of meeting Marjane Satrapi reminded me of being 6 years old at Disney Land when I met the living, breathing Cinderella. Except Cinderella was an actress with a blond wig and Marjane is the real woman behind her autobiographical graphic novel, turned movie, “Persepolis”. The distinctive mole on her nose and her dark sultry eyes rose off the page and appeared in front of me, smoking and speaking with a French accent.