Tag: World Cinema review
Ammonite | Review
The Shell Seekers: Lee Recuperates a Scientist’s Legacy in Languid Love Story
As its title suggests, Ammonite, the sophomore feature from burgeoning director Francis Lee,...
Divine Love | Review
Mighty Aphrodite: Mascaro’s Second Coming Cloaked in Complex Allegory
The Immaculate Conception remains one of the notorious suspensions of disbelief in Christian folklore, and Brazilian...
Dirty God | Review
A Woman’s Face: Polak’s Tender Melodrama Explores Struggle for Self-Love
With her third narrative feature, Dirty God, which also stands as her English language debut,...
Kindred | Review
Gaslight of My Life: Marcantonio Debuts a Familiar Slice of Maternal Psychodrama
“She giveth life and take it away” could have been a fitting tagline...
Mortal [Video Review]
From the Norse’s Mouth: Ovredal Reclaims a Cultural Asset with Unsatisfactory Results
Reclaiming ownership over a reappropriated cultural facet is no easy task, especially when...
Fire Will Come | Review
Fire Walk with Me: Laxe Anchors an Arsonist in Meditative Portrait
If fire is the regenerative metaphor of the phoenix, the same cannot be said...
Koko-di Koko-da | Review
It’s All About Love: Nyholm Returns with Absurdist Allegory on Relationships
If Groundhog Day (1993), the well-liked Bill Murray title about a weatherman who is...
His House [Video Review]
Death as a House: Weekes Finds Woe in Immigration Horror
It’s a trauma so innately horrific on the surface the thought of collapsing it into...
Fairy | 2020 TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Review
Comrade Christ: Melikyan Muses on the Motherland Through the Eyes of Another Waif
Even through their desperate avatars, the oligarchy overrules the Russian populace, one...
Ghosts | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Panoptic prison: Okyay’s wonderfully dark debut puts Turkey under surveillance
Turkish filmmaker Azra Deniz Okyay's directorial debut uses micro-stories to discuss substantial socio-political issues. Titled Ghosts,...
Martin Eden | Review
The Working Class Goes to Heaven: Marcello Retrofits London’s Ruminations on Superficial Social Status
Pietro Marcello brings his unconventional sensibilities to new heights with Martin...
Havel | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Polarizing Play: Horák’s Questionable Take on the Hero of the Velvet Revolution
Covering the personal timeline of any major politician would be a daunting task...
Unidentified | 2020 Warsaw Intl. Film Festival Review
Lethal Weapon: Apetri’s Intricate & Unpredictable Tale of Revenge Dips into The Swamp
After tackling social realism with genre filmmaking underpinnings in Outbound, Romanian director...
Spiral | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Meandering with the Living and...the Dead: Felméri Offers Absorbing Sunken Lake Drama
In Spiral, the dead don’t come back, but rather, they attempt to haunt...
Eternal Beauty | Review
Unhappy-Go-Lucky: Hawkes Shines in Roberts’ Mental Illness Drama
The depiction of mental illness, particularly something like schizophrenia, a real condition often posed as a catch-all...
Possessor Uncut | Review
The Mind Benders: Cronenberg Returns with Eerie Exercise of Mind/Body Horror
Eight years after his 2012 debut Antiviral, Brandon Cronenberg returns with Possessor Uncut, an...
Misbehavior | Review
Through Beauty, Equality: Lowthorpe Examines Intersections Through Provocative Period Nexus
Sporting material speckled with enough players and perspectives to justify a much longer format, Philippa...
The Nest | Review
Bonfire of the Wannabes: Durkin Returns with Scenes from a Consumerist Marriage
Sean Durkin, at last, returns with sophomore feature The Nest nine years after...
In Between Dying | 2020 Venice Film Festival Review
In the Mood for Love: Baydarov Searches for a Real Love in Enigmatic Road Trip
All you need is love, if you can find it,...
The Best Is Yet to Come | 2020 Venice Film Festival Review
Disease Beat: Jing Revisits the Turn of the Century with Saccharine Debut
Whenever the protégé of a major contemporary auteur branches out into their own...
Cuties | Review
L’amener Sur: Doucouré’s Debut a Winning, Familiar Bildungsroman
French writer/director Maïmouna Doucouré strikes a mostly affable balance between familiar coming-of-age tropes and culturally specific intersections...
The Furnace | 2020 Venice Film Festival Review
Easier for a Camel: MacKay Unearths Troubling History in Revisionist Western Debut
Like Jennifer Kent before him with 2018’s The Nightingale, director Roderick MacKay mines...
Apples | 2020 Venice Film Festival Review
Blight of My Life: Nikou Finds Meaning Through Its Absence in Exceptional Debut
Somewhere along the way, the Greek Weird Wave has seemingly evolved from...
The Personal History of David Copperfield | Review
I am (re) Born: Iannucci Condenses a Dickens Masterpiece with Contemporary Aims
“It’s in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon...
Matthias and Maxime | Review
Peas & Carrots: Dolan Gets Caught in a Bad Romance
Xavier Dolan devotees will be happy to note his latest feature, the treacly melodrama Matthias...
Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula
Zombie Nation: Sang-ho Widens the Net, Lessens the Scope in Sprawling Sequel
There is no room in the conceit ‘less is more,’ it seems, in...
Stage Mother | Review
Once Upon a Time, There Was Light in My Life: Fitzgerald Soars with Bittersweet Melodrama
A testament for the continual importance of narratives which explore...
The Bare Necessity | Review
I Think I Love You: Le Duc Looks for Love in Absurdist Comedy
“Is the life you’re living truly yours?” asks a whispery Fanny Ardant...
The Silencing | Review
The Quiet Canadian: Pront Returns to the Woods with Canadian Thriller
Belgian director Robin Pront reveals his fixation with rural neo-noir in sophomore film and...
Sputnik | Review
This Time It’s Cold War: Abramenko Revamps a Xenomorph with Effective Potboiler
Just when you think a familiar formula might have run all its potential...
The Bay of Silence | Review
The Hand That Mocks the Cradle: van der Oest Overwhelms in Overstuffed Trauma Drama
Some inherent problems with adapting complex or labyrinthine novels into film...
The Secret Garden | Review
Garden of Earthly Dismay: Munden Makes Burnett Mundane in Lifeless Remake
There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away, and certainly...
Host | Review
Ghost in the Machine: Savage Speaks to the Moment with Creative Horror
In what plays like a logical extension of the found footage subgenre, UK...
The Burnt Orange Heresy | Review
Pleasure to Burn: Capotondi Returns with Entertaining Neo-Noir
Murder really can be turned into art, it seems, in Giuseppe Capotondi’s return to narrative filmmaking with...
The Shadow of Violence | Review
Goodbye Horses: Rowland Riles Allegiances in Familiar Crime Thriller
It’s a tale as old as crime itself, the toppling of empires thanks to the shifting...
Skin Walker | Review
The Skin I Don’t Live In: Neuman Prepares a Fractured Affair in Disjointed Debut
All the technical elements of a creepy genre film are evident...
Summerland | Review
Castles in the Sky: Swale Finds Love During Wartime in Likeable Debut
Although it’s a somewhat simple and ultimately schmaltzy dose of narrative convenience, Jessica...
Radioactive | Review
Particle Decay: Satrapi Explores Curie in Elliptical, Stunted Biopic
The persona of Marie Curie is a no-brainer as far as cinematic importance and appeal goes,...
Lake of Death | Review
Dead Again: Robsahm Remake of Norwegian Classic is DOA
The inherent value of any remake, sequel or reboot is always the attention it funnels back...
Most Wanted | Review
Canada Dry: Roby Runs Circles in Derivative Poliziotteschi
Most Wanted (or as it was released in Canada, Target Number One), the fifth feature from French...
Impetigore | Review
Grim Fairy Tale: Anwar Gets Garish in Excessive, Entertaining Horror Film
While Indonesian cinema has become more prominent on the festival circuit over the past...
Amulet | Review
The Lying Nun: Garai Sways Scary with Stimulating Debut
Indeed, the female of the species is more deadly than the male even in the realm...
The Sunlit Night | Review
Norway Out: Wnendt Paints a Blank Slate in Slight Romantic Drama
Expectations seemed reasonably high for The Sunlit Night, the English language debut from provocative...
Relic | Review
Dementia Seed: James Concocts Brooding Debut of Intergenerational Horror
A growing influx of low-fi genre films, many directed by women, have steadily redefined broad categorizations...
We Are Little Zombies | Review
13 Stages of Grief: Nagahisa’s Game-Changing Debut
Makoto Nagahisa’s We Are Little Zombies is a pure and delightful work of art. Crafted with love and...
The Last Tree | Review
A Tree Grows in London: Amoo Charts Familiar Coming of Age Drama Through Urban Pitfalls
Cycles of violence and heartache in disenfranchised urban communities are...
7500 | Review
Code Known: Gordon-Levitt Shines in Intense Procedural Thriller from Vollrath
We’ve seen plenty of big budget Hollywood films dealing with airplane hijackings, to which sensitivity...
Papicha | Review
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: Meddour Goes Back to Black Decade with Debut
Fashion is certainly far from one’s mind when dealing with...
Bird Talk (2019) | Review
Goodbye to Language: The Final Gasp of Zulawski Presents a Fractured Portrait of Contemporary Poland
Language and culture are prominent motifs in the filmography of...
The Trip to Greece | Review
The Greece-y Strangler: Winterbottom Lays His Culinary Comedy Series to Rest
Michael Winterbottom aims to kill his darlings with the fourth and final segment of...
