Tag: World Cinema review
Little Trouble Girls | Review
Circles of Perfection: Djukić Surveys the Compromises of Sexual Awakening
Taking its title from the 1995 Sonic Youth track Little Trouble Girls (Kaj ti je...
La grazia | Review
The Long Goodbye: Sorrentino Returns to Familiar Remembrances of Things Past
Paolo Sorrentino reunites with his onscreen alter ego Toni Servillo in La Grazia for...
The Secret Agent | Review
Mischief, Thou Art Afoot: Filho Captivates with Seductive, Furtive Period Thriller
Pregnant with dread and jam-packed with homage to the tone and time of sweaty,...
Reflection in a Dead Diamond | Review
Feed My Fetish, Please: Cattet & Forzani Pay Homage to the Eurospy in Dazzling Pastiche
Whether giallo gore or Western shaped, their films don’t lose...
Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) | Review
Ripe Fruits: Kanawade Taps the Bittersweet Rind of Going Home Again
While there’s been an uptick in contemporary LGBTQ+ films from India over the past...
Sauna | Review
Love Me If You Dare: Broe Explores Love in a Hopeless Place
Harlan Ellison’s publication Love Ain’t Nothing But Sex Misspelled might be a more...
Sirat | Review
A Bridge Too Far: Laxe Enters the Zone
“The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish.” Aleksandr Kayadonvsky’s line from Tarkovsky’s existential sci-fi...
Sound of Falling | Review
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: Schilinksi Paints a Microcosm of Misogyny
The original title of Mascha Schilinski’s sophomore feature was The Doctor...
The Things You Kill | Review
A Poison Tree: Khatami Deconstructs the Psychoses of Patriarchy
For his third feature, Iranian American director Alireza Khatami formulates a powerful psychodrama unspooling through the...
Sentimental Value | Review
Life as a House: Trier Turns Broken Hearts Into Art
In Woody Allen’s Interiors (1978), an unhappy tale of three sisters contending with their parents’...
Pillion | Review
Sit & Deliver: Lighton Assumes Positions in Titillating Debut
There’s a melancholic seductiveness to Pillion, the directorial debut of Harry Lighton, based on the 2020...
Nouvelle Vague | Review
Make Me Lose My Breath: Linklater Meddles in Manicured Homage
It’s unclear what the exact purpose of Nouvelle Vague is meant to serve, other than...
Bugonia | Review
When Will They Ever Learn?: Lanthimos Turns to Eco-Horror
Yorgos Lanthimos embarks on his first remake with Bugonia, a loose adaptation of the 2003 Korean...
Alpha | Review
Turn to Stone: Ducournau Hits a Wall with Disease Allegory
“Death is the cure for all illness,” wrote English writer Thomas Browne, which is a...
It Was Just an Accident | Review
Phantom Limb: Panahi Treads Ripples of Retribution
Jafar Panahi continues to poke the bear with It Was Just an Accident, his latest being another film...
Ballad of a Small Player | Review
Out Of Luck: Colin Farrell Can’t Save This Tale Of A Gambler Gone Bust
Is Edward Berger hard of hearing? That might be the first...
The Hyperboreans | Review
From the Land of Ice and Snow: Cocina & Leon Pursue Hermetical Cinematic Spell
To say the latest feature from the experimentally inclined Chilean directing...
The Ice Tower (La Tour de Glace) | Review
Hearts of Glass: Hadžihalilović Casts a Wintry Spell
A chilly scene of winter unfolds in La Tour de Glace (The Ice Tower) at a glacial...
Another End | Review
The Power of Goodbye: Messina Gets Maudlin with Future Grief
The devil’s unfortunately absent in the details of Another End, a conceptual science fiction melodrama...
The History of Sound | Review
One Sings, the Other Doesn’t: Hermanus Plays a Tune for the Broken Hearted
“Happiness doesn’t tell stories,” is a sage observation uttered in The History...
The Fence (Le Cri des Gardes) | 2025 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Cri du cœur: Denis Delivers A Boiling Colonial Drama Dripping With Sexual Tension
A border is simply a line on a map. A fence is...
Dreams (Sex Love) | Review
Love on the Brain: Haugerud Caps Trilogy with Teenage Wasteland
With his latest film Dreams (Sex Love) (aka Drømmer), the final installment in his thematic...
The Sun Rises On Us All | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Karma Police: Misery Loves Company in Shangjun’s Dreary Love Story
If love means never having to say you’re sorry, they never experienced the magnitude of...
Silent Friend | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Allegory of the Tree: Enyedi’s Masterful Meditation on Human Progress
The metaphorical subtexts germinating to fruition through Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend are formidable, even as,...
Elisa | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Memories of Murder: Di Costanzo Treads Criminal Motives
The impetus behind Elisa, the latest from Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo is pregnant with intrigue, examining...
On the Road | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Road to Perdition: Pablos Charts a Brutal Journey to Redemption
Solidifying himself as the queer counterpart to Michel Franco, David Pablos' On the Road features...
Girl (Nühai) | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
This Girl’s Life: Qi Outlines Inherited Abuses
For her directorial debut Girl, actress Shu Qi wields a heavy hand in a film which seems to...
Duse | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Distress Becomes Her: Marcello Delivers a Diva’s Final Act
For many, Duse, the latest feature from Italian director Pietro Marcello, will serve as their introduction...
The Voice of Hind Rajab | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
In a Child’s Name: Ben Hania’s Grueling Portrait of Genocide
It’s the responsibility of artists to use their platforms as a mechanism to speak truth...
L’étranger (The Stranger) | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Anatomy of a Mime: Ozon Explores the Seduction of Indifference
Decades before Hannah Arendt introduced her concept of ‘the banality of evil,’ Albert Camus...
Straight Circle | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Circle in the Sand: Hudson Blurs the Borders of the Mind
“Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on its own dunghill,” wrote English writer Richard...
The Testament of Ann Lee | Review
Shake It Up: Fastvold Envisions the Life’s Work of a Religious Leader
There’s a fervor roiling beneath the surface of Mona Fastvold’s third feature, The...
Roqia | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
A Demon in My View: Koussim Unleashes a Djinn
A generation spanning possession is at the heart of Roqia, the directorial debut from Algerian director...
The Wizard of the Kremlin | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
The Russians Are Killing the Russians Are Killing: Assayas Bungles Political Espionage
Of the many significant issues severely hobbling The Wizard of the Kremlin, the...
A Sad and Beautiful World | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
No Man is an Island: Aris Explores Childhood, Couplehood and Parenthood with Flip Book Speeds
Lebanese filmmaker Cyril Aris utilizes the three distinct yet related...
Gorgonà | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
The Female of the Species: Kalogiropoulou Hits the Gas in Brooding Debut
How, exactly, does a powerful woman command the patriarchy? It turns out, only...
Ish | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Closely Watched Strain: Perretta Reflects Traumatic Coming-of-Age
There’s a bleak fatalism apparent in Ish, the directorial debut of visual artist Imran Perretta, named for its...
No Other Choice | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Slay the Competition: Chan-wook Explores the Horrors of Capitalism
In many ways, Donald Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax feels more relevant than ever, which is...
Milk Teeth | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
No Child Left Behind: Mincan Explores a Nation That Stood in Silence
Perhaps more terrifying than the high-seas stowaway trip from hell (2022’s To the North),...
À pied d’oeuvre (At Work) | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Declaration of Poor: Donzelli’s Tone Deaf Survey of a Starving Artist
Despite honorable intentions, it’s difficult not to perceive Valérie Donzelli’s latest feature, At Work...
Orphan | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
I Will Be Your Father Figure: Nemes Paints Period Paternity Thriller
Hungarian director László Nemes essentially rounds out a thematic trilogy with his third film...
Father (Otec) | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
A Penance for Your Thoughts: Nvotová Jumps into Void without Societal Parachutes
For her third feature, Father (Otec), Slovak filmmaker Tereza Nvotová delivers a psychologically immersive portrait...
Stereo Girls (Les Immortelles) | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Death Be Not Loud: Deruas Kills a Teen Dream in Languid Period Piece
With her sophomore directorial feature Stereo Girls, Caroline Deruas Peano continues down...
Mother | 2025 Venice Film Festival Review
Slack Narcissus: Mitevska Conjures the Psyche of a Saint
There are a handful of contemporary historical figures whose accomplishments have superseded cultural critique thanks to...
Stranger Eyes | Review
The Interest of Distance: Yeo Discovers the Masochistic Pleasures of a Surveillance State
“Strange feeling that someone is looking at me. I am clear, then...
Motel Destino | Review
Destiny Indemnity: Ainouz Retrofits a Noir Classic
“Love, when you get fear in it, it’s not love any more, it’s hate,” wrote James M. Cain...
Suspended Time (Hors du Temps) | Review
Time Regained: Assayas Agonizes in Pretentious Pandemic Reflection
In what stands as evidence of a surprising lack of self-awareness, director Olivier Assayas reenacts a composite...
By the Stream | Review
Right Sketch, Wrong Skit: Sangsoo Scans Patterns in Bittersweet Interludes
Perspectives of regret and the uncertain odyssey of retrospection emphasize the undertones of perennial auteur...
Souleymane’s Story | Review
Straightened Story: Lojkine’s Details Delivery App Woes to Application Process Lows
Standing on fertile creative ground, Boris Lojkine once again explores the narratives of individuals...
The Sparrow in the Chimney | Review
There’s a Ghost in Me: Zurcher Explores the Necessity of Destruction
Amidst all the existential dread in Franz Kafka’s body of work, silver linings abound,...
