Tag: top-stories
Hope | Review
M is for Metastasis: Sødahl Returns with Emotional Portrait of Terminal Illness
Portraits of terminal illness have created a cinematic subgenre staple unto itself, and...
Vanquish [Video Review]
Not Without My Daughter: Gallo Blunders with Absurd Thriller
The appeal of beholding a train wreck is assuredly a vibe based upon the morbid yet...
Stowaway [Video Review]
Every Breath You Take: Penna Ponders Morality in Jittery Space Odyssey
“In space, no one can hear you scream,” a foreboding tagline of another sci-fi...
Interview: Anthony Chen & Yann Yann Yeo – Wet Season
Hot news from PYIFF, Singapore’s Wet Season takes home a whopping three awards, including the Cinephilia Critics’ Award, and two Fei Mu Awards for...
Jakob’s Wife [Video Review]
The Pastor and the Master: Stevens Enjoyably Re-Vamps Domestic Distress in Grisly Black Comedy
Behind every man is a diminished woman, or so goes the...
Monday [Video Review]
Wish It Were Sunday: Papadimitropoulos Peddles Bad Romance in Ex-Pat Whirligig
Toxic relationships and fair-weather romances are abundantly attenuated in the cinematic realm, the various...
Honeydew [Video Review]
When Life Gives You Melons: Millburn Sows Agricultural Horror in Creepy Debut
We are what we eat, alas. And we’ve come to reap the tainted...
The Banishing | Review
The Vicar Man: Smith Returns to Period with Bustling Slow Burn
If you’re familiar with the filmography of British filmmaker Christopher Smith, you know you’re...
Moffie [Video Review]
Call Me by Your Shame: Hermanus Mines Historical Trauma in Coming-of-Age Drama
It’s difficult to reconcile the messiness of the past with potential issues of...
Gunda | Review
That’ll Do, Pig: Animal Farm IRL
Viktor Kossakovsky brings us an astonishing triptych of pigs, cows and chickens in Gunda, his poignant evocation of life...
In the Earth | Review
Middling Earth: Wheatley Explores Favored Motifs in Pensive Pandemic Exercise
If we’ve gleaned anything about circumventing Mother Nature, perhaps those 1970s Chiffon margarine commercials featuring...
The Power | Review
Night Nurse: Faith Finds the Night the Lights Went Out on the Patriarchy in Moody Debt
Director Corinna Faith makes fine use of period and...
Voyagers [Video Review]
It’s the Journey, Not the Destination: Burger Hurtles into Space for Humanity’s Last Stand
Perhaps it’s not what Emerson envisioned, but the sentiment remains the...
Thunder Force | Review
May the Force Dismiss You: Falcone & McCarthy Amuse Themselves in Latest Improv Heavy Exercise
Comedy is harder than it looks, especially if one is...
Giants Being Lonely | Review
Two Heads Are Better Than One: Patterson Paints a Teenage Wasteland in Striking Debut
In the realm of arthouse cinema, the coming-of-age melodrama is but...
Slalom | Review
Slippery Slopes: Favier Blends Coming-of-Age and Sexual Assault Narrative in Chilly Debut
There’s an immediate discomfort apparent in the opening act of Charlène Favier’s debut...
Every Breath You Take [Video Review]
Don’t Hold Your Breath: Stein Strains Plausibility in B Thriller
Unfolding with all the believability of a science fiction film set in a parallel universe,...
Godzilla vs. Kong | Review
Gorilla in a Lizard’s Skin: Wingard Writhes in Franchise Fashion
As far as franchise cinema goes, we’ve long surpassed the need to apply any but...
The Salt of Tears | Review
Love Means Never Having to Say: Garrel Continues Exploration of Love and Lust
“Love ain’t nothin’ but sex misspelled,” Harlon Ellison astutely wrote, for too...
Malmkrog | Review
Ollie Ollie Oligarchy: Puiu Weighs the World That Was in Long Form
For what stands as his sixth narrative feature, Malmkrog, Romanian New Wave auteur...
Shoplifters of the World | Review
In the Mood for Morrissey: Kijak Languishes in Eighties Angst
Documentarian Stephen Kijak returns to narrative filmmaking for the first time since his 1996 debut...
Interview: Midi Z – Nina Wu
Under the guise of a topical film detailing a #Metoo experience, Myanmar-born Taiwanese director Midi Z investigates the broader point of view of an...
Violation [Video Review]
Crime & Punishment: Sims-Fewer & Mancinelli Serve a Cold Dish
Neither redemption nor revenge are at the complete behest of the individual, at least not...
Video Interview: Lissette Feliciano (Women is Losers) – 2021 SXSW Film Festival
Writer/director Lissette Feliciano’s debut feature, Women is Losers —named after the Janis Joplin song—is an exuberant seminar on feminist history that challenges both gender...
Enforcement [Video Review]
Cop(s) Out: Hviid & Olholm Provide Neutral Portrait Prizing Familiar Perspectives
Cinema can certainly successfully exist as both a statement and a sentiment, and...
Slaxx [Video Review]
You Fit Me Better Than My Favorite Sweater: Kephart Gets Hemmed in by Killer Jeans
Who doesn’t like a pair of perfectly fitted blue jeans?...
City of Lies [Video Review]
L.A. Controversial: Furman Revisits the Wallace Murder in Mediocre Adaptation
Whatever the likely combination of reasons for the three-year delay in its US theatrical release,...
Video Interview: Martin Edralin (Islands) – 2021 SXSW Film Festival
Filmmaker Martin Edralin’s tender debut feature Islands introduces us to Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas): a taciturn, 49-year-old Filipino immigrant who still lives with his elderly...
The Courier [Video Review]
You’ve Got Mail: Cooke Leaves the Cold War on Ice in Sluggish Spy Thriller
Director Dominic Cooke, revered for his stage work before commencing on...
Come True [Video Review]
The Science of Sleep: Burns Roars into Your REM Cycle with Broody Thriller
“To sleep, perchance to scream” might be a takeaway impression from Come...
The Inheritance | Review
Activism Fission: Asili Gets Godardian in Expressive Personal/Political Homage
A unique marriage of the vintage and modern, topical and archaic, personal and political, pretentious and...
Boogie | Review
More Love & Basketball: Huang’s Debut Goes Through the Motions
Eddie Huang, producer of “Fresh Off the Boat,” makes his directorial debut with Boogie, a...
Albatros (Drift Away) | 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Bye Bye Birdie: Beauvois Bears Burdens in Old-Fashioned Melodrama
The albatross, a large white seabird with a significant wingspan, has been a symbol of a...
Petite Maman | 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Going Home Again: Sciamma Delivers a Slight, Eloquent Slice of Novel Sci-fi
Céline Sciamma has built a formidable filmography on tenuous stages of women’s developmental...
Quo Vadis, Aïda? | Review
And Who Shall Be Able to Stand?: Žbanić Returns to Srebrenica in Harrowing Account of Bosniak Genocide
If cinema has any responsibility as an artform,...
My Salinger Year | Review
Raise High the Roofbeams, Cinema: Falardeau’s Warm Homage Clangs Carpe Diem
“I think that one of these days…you’re going to find out where you want...
The Human Voice | Review
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?: Almodovar Finds a Talking Cure in Lavish Short
In more ways than one, Pedro Almodóvar tackling an adaptation...
Next Door | 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Neighbor Labor: Brühl Gruels Through Interesting Scenario, Banal Characters in Debut
Gentrification is supposedly the thrust of Next Door, Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut which showcases...
Introduction | 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Prelude Mood: Sangsoo Explores Familiar Themes with Droll Snippets
What might one make of Hong Sang-soo if Introduction was their first experience with the perennial...
I’m Your Man | 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Review
The Girl and the Robot: Schrader Wows with Exceptional Exploration of Love, or Something Like It
Harlan Ellison memorably titled a collection of short stories,...
Natural Light | 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Review
In the Fog: No Light at the End of the War Tunnel in Nagy’s Grim Debut
Following in the well-grooved footsteps of many notable Euro...
Memory Box | 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Analogue Chronicles: The Past is Present in the Latest Memory Exercise from Hadjithomas & Joreige
A veritable remembrance of things past catalyzes the semi-autobiographical narrative...
Night of the Kings | Review
The Grift of Gab: Lacote Walks the Line of Escapism vs. Survival in Magical Sophomore Film
“You look like someone who should be condemned,” remarks...
The Father | Review
Bend It Like Beckett: Zellers Adapts His Masterful Play into Exploratory Film
In Paradise Lost, John Milton remarked “The mind is its own place, and...
Sin | Review
A Judgment in Stone: Konchalovsky Mines Michelangelo in Period Portrait
The mental state, rather than the persona of Michelangelo Buonarroti as he struggled to satisfy...
I Care A Lot | Review
Battle of the Bilk: Blakeson Returns with Topical Con Comedy
“There’s no such thing as good people,” croons the dulcet Rosamund Pike over the opening...
Joe Bell | Review
Walking & Talking: Green Dons Didactic in Heartfelt, Sentimental Social Issue Drama
Representation of thought processes and progressive epiphanies are the necessary conjunction with diversity,...
Jumbo | Review
Do Introverts Dream of Electric Carousels?: Wittock Waxes Fatuous in Debut
A finely wrought tradition of European cinema includes a bounty of infamous depictions of...
