Tag: World Cinema review
Portrait of a Lady on Fire | Review
Paint it Bright: Sciamma Dazzles with Career-Best, Ardent Period Drama
You only need a few seconds to fall in line with Céline Sciamma’s commanding directorial...
In Fabric | Review
Dress to Kill: Strickland Strikes Again in Luscious Homage to 70s Cinema
“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the...
Little Joe | Review
Stamen Alive: Hausner Examines the Pursuit of Happiness in Cerebral Sci-Fi
It was “the nightmare that threatened the world” and something that came from “deep...
The Kindness of Strangers | Review
Strife Itself: Scherfig Delivers Major Misfire with Manhattan Set Melodrama
Lest we forget, it was Blanche Dubois, the broken seductress of Tennessee Williams’ classic A...
Wisdom Tooth | 2019 PYIFF Review
A seductive debut film, Liang Ming’s Wisdom Tooth is a bildungsroman, both understated and immersive. Vividly rendered characters, organic humor plus a splash of...
Queen of Hearts | Review
The Sorrows of Milf: Dyrholm Puts the Extra in Extra-Marital as the Star of el-Toukhy’s Uncomfortable Drama
Danish director May el-Toukhy crafts a compelling melodrama...
Frankie | Review
A Death in the Family: Sachs Sacks Huppert in Sun Dappled Soap Opera
The latest film from American director Ira Sachs is set in the...
The Day Shall Come | Review
Fooling the Children of the Revolution: Morris Returns with Dark, Political Satire
Stakes are perhaps too high for writer-director Christopher Morris’s sophomore film following the...
The Nightingale | Review
Bloody White People: Kent Hits Hard with Brutal Revenge Trip
Jennifer Kent follows up her formidable debut The Babadook with a less inventive, but decidedly...
Our Time | Review
Love Like Poison: Reygadas Returns with Frustrating but Forthright Marital Drama
Interminable? Yes. Navel-gazing? Perhaps. But furious in its candor? Absolutely. Carlos Reygadas returns for...
Oleg | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Immigrant Song: Kursietis Explores a Modern Slave Trade in Sophomore Film
Latvian cinema seems on the verge of an international breakthrough, with various new directors...
Diamantino | Review
Politicizing Camp: Abrantes & Schmidt Post a Win with Imaginative Soccer Satire
After a decade decade working in the short experimental form, festival faves Gabriel Abrantes...
The Traitor | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Witness for the Prosecution: Bellocchio Delivers Vigorous Portrait of the Man Who Took Down the Cosa Nostra
Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio, on the verge of...
Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Dancing…Yeah: Kechiche Spins Like a Record Round in Vacuous Sequel
The French-Tunisian director who won the 2013 Palme d’Or for Blue is the Warmest Color...
Sick, Sick, Sick | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Lover, Come Back: Furtado Hearts Hemoglobin in Sinister Debut
The heart is a lonely killer in Brazilian director Alice Furtado’s apprehensive narrative debut Sick, Sick,...
Parasite | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Judgement in Stone: Joon ho Tackles Privilege in Black Comedy
Strident class disparities in South Korea provide Bong Joon-ho with a novel approach to...
Heroes Don’t Die | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Crimes of the Heart: Rapin Explores Mediums as Remembrance with Inquisitive Debut
The idea of reincarnation was once a virulent staple of American genre films,...
The Unknown Saint | 2019 Cannes Film Festival Review
Gimme the Loot: Money is the Root of Good and Evil in Aljem’s Debut
Love the sinner and not the sin seems to be the...
Non-Fiction | Review
The French Publisher’s Wife: Assayas Straddles Digital Criminals and Corporate Cannibals in Playful Bon Mot
Hardly a stranger to the back room wheeling and dealing...
Quartet (1981) | Review
Of Human Bondage: Ivory Gets Art Deco Dysfunction in Underrated Rhys Adaptation
Merchant Ivory became the first major company to adapt the work of novelist...
Rafiki | Review
Let’s Be Friends: Kahiu Dares to Question Kenyan Conservatism
Social conventions always require such power and resistance that brave individuals must engage in a continuous...
High Life | Review
An Outpost of Progress: Denis Gets Daring with Esoteric Sci-Fi
Of Claire Denis’ impressive English language debut High Life, perhaps a famous line from Alien...
Boyz In The Wood | 2019 SXSW Film Festival Review Ninian Doff
Ninian Doff Goes Brogue While Delinquents Go Scot-Free
Scottish music video-director Ninian Doff offers an uneven but hilarious debut with Boyz in the Wood: a bonkers action-comedy...
3 Faces | Review
Faces, Places: Panahi Provokes the Patriarchy in Quiet Hybrid Drama
Now nearly half way through his twenty-year ban from filmmaking, (a damning sentence passed down...
Woman at War | Review
Female Misbehavior: Erlingsson Explores Ecofeminism in Entertaining Character Portrait
After exploring the defining social elements between humans and their horses in his homegrown debut Of...
Transit | Review
Those Who Leave: Petzold Collapses Past and Present with Holocaust Redux
Switching things up considerably compared to his previous offerings, German auteur Christian Petzold makes...
Greta | Review
She Will Always Beat You: Huppert Get Homicidal in Jordan’s B-Thriller
There’s more than one way to depend on the kindness of strangers, including using...
Hotel by the River | Review
Heartbreak Hotel: Estrangement and Reunion Synchronize in Latest Sangsoo Slice of Life
It’s a short-lived distinction to be called the latest anything from South Korean...
Acid | 2019 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Melt With You: Gorchilin Tracks the Apathy of Russia’s Youth in Agitated Debut
No one gives a damn about their generation until they begin to...
Daughter of Mine | Review
Miss Mom: Bispuri Challenges Family Symmetry in Captivating Sophomore Pic
With her sensory filled coming-of-age sophomore feature, Laura Bispuri navigates the sweet and sour voyage...
Dolce Fine Giornata | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
Under the Tuscan Sun: Borcuch Presents Compelling Intersection on Art and Political Responsibility
Polish director Jacek Borcuch travels abroad once again for his fifth feature,...
I Am Mother | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
They Call Me Mother: Sputore Examines What It Means to Be Human in Sci-Fi Debut
Australia’s Grant Sputore makes an impressive directorial debut with the...
Monos | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
Monkey See Monkey Do: Landes’ Latest a Moody, Hermetic Portrait of Guerilla Warfare
Brazil’s Alejandro Landes concocts a moody, textured exercise on child soldiers and...
Touch Me Not | Review
Touch All This Skin: Pintilie’s Hybrid Sexcapade Explores the Fleeting, Obscure Nature of Intimacy
With her narrative debut Touch Me Not, Romanian director Adina Pintilie...
The Favourite | Review
Courtship at Court: Lanthimos Delights with 18th-century Royal Love Triangle
At Her Majesty Queen Anne’s palace, its a disheveled state of affairs. There’s an ongoing...
ROMA | Review
Going Home Again: Cuarón Aces Return to Mexico with Autobiographical, Intimate drama
From one woman reaching the shore to another going back to it, from...
At Eternity’s Gate | Review
Pigments of Your Imagination: Inside Van Gogh’s Mind
Julian Schnabel’s aesthetically-spellbinding Vincent Van Gogh biopic, At Eternity’s Gate, places viewers inside the Dutch artist’s eye....
The Third Wife | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Raise the Red Lanterns: Mayfair Falls Short on Accessing Modernity in Ancient Times
A new voice in Vietnamese cinema, Ash Mayfair's female-centric coming-of-age feature debut The...
Her Job | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Scrubbing up: Labôt Debuts with Nuanced, Powerful Greek Drama of a Woman at Work
Her Job, Greek director Nikos Labôt's first feature roots its setting...
Mihkel | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Of Children and Criminals: Magnússon Blends Family & Estonian History into Nordic Crime Drama
An artist and documentary filmmaker for more than two decades, Ari...
Alone at My Wedding | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
A Lonely Flower Dress: Bergman Delivers Raw, Touching Romani Emancipation Drama
Marta Bergman’s feature debut depicts the struggle of Pamela (Alina Șerban), a young Romani...
Thou Shalt Not Kill | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Biblical Activism: Romanian Directors on a Crusade Against Corruption
Gabi Virginia Șarga and Cătălin Rotaru's debut feature can be easily seen as part of the...
The Cacophony of Donbas | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Dissected Symphony: Minaev Deconstructs Soviet Propaganda with a dose of Humanism
Finding the one and the only cause of a big historical event, especially when...
Retrospekt | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Domestic Disturbance: Rots Presents a Puzzle with Portrait of Troubled Woman
Female agency and fractured fellowship form the basis of Dutch director Esther Rots’ sophomore...
Maya | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Maya Love is Your Love: Hansen-Love Stumbles with Sluggish Romantic Drama
Following on the heels of her most widely acclaimed feature to date, 2016’s Things...
Saf | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
This Land is Our Land: Vatansever Presents Caustic Portrait of Urban Gentrification
Politically and economically motivated displacement is at the heart of Turkish director Ali...
Angel (Un Ange) | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Wheels of Desire: Mortier Breaks Silence with Funereal Portrait of Dead Celebrity
It was a major punchline in Mike Nichols’ version of The Birdcage (1996)...
Where Hands Touch | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
I See a Dark Stranger: Asante Examines Obscured Holocaust Perspective in Anglo Period Piece
British director Amma Asante rounds out a thematic trilogy of sorts...
Angelo | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
The Moor the Merrier: Schleinzer Returns with Incendiary Portrait of Indentured Servitude
Austrian director Markus Schleinzer returns with his long-awaited sophomore film Angelo, a follow-up...
Sew the Winter to My Skin | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Or Else It Gets the Hose Again: Qubeka Recuperates a Rebel from Apartheid South Africa
South Africa’s film industry remains somewhat on the fringe of...
