Tag: World Cinema review
Alex Wheatle | Review
Odds Against Tomorrow: McQueen’s Anthology Explores Tribulations of Famed Novelist
For the fourth installment of his five-title Small Axe anthology series, director Steve McQueen recuperates...
Red, White and Blue | Review
A Bridge Too Far: McQueen Explores the Inherent Sacrifice of Community Service in Straightforward Drama
With Red, White and Blue, the third film in Steve...
The Life Ahead [Video Review]
In the Mood for Loren: Ponti Resurrects an Icon in Reticent Remake
It’s been over a decade since iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren appeared...
Stardust [Video Review]
Stars Are Blind: Range Paints a Portrait of the Bowie as a Young Man
The risk with creating a project about a major cultural icon...
Lovers Rock | Review
Joyful Noise: McQueen Makes the People Come Together in First “Small Axe” Segment
Director Steve McQueen surprises with Lovers Rock, the second leg of his...
Malina (1991) | Review
You Can’t Handle the Fugue: Schroeter Burns Bright with Infamous Bachmann Adaptation
What is it about Werner Schroeter’s Malina so seemingly repellant it resulted in...
Monsoon [Video Review]
Weathering Heights: Khaou Searches for Solace in Stodgy Travelogue
The adage born from Thomas Wolfe’s sentiment notwithstanding, the act of revisiting one’s origins through a...
Wolfwalkers | Review
The Call of the Wild: Moore Crafts Exceptional Animated Odyssey in Third Outing
Another example of how rich cultural subtexts can be reformatted for profound...
Mangrove | Review
All for Notting Hill: McQueen Paints the Power of Resistance in Period Courtroom Drama
The first of five installments from Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology,...
Sleepless Beauty [Video Review]
To Sleep, Perchance to Scream: Khvaleev Gets Re-creative with Mind Control
Mind control is the name of the game in Sleepless Beauty, the fourth feature...
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...
