Tag: World Cinema review
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...
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...
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...
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,...
Harvest | Review
Sheep, Sheep, Sheep: Tsangari’s Monotonous Treatise on Modernization
Adapted from a novel by Jim Croce, Harvest is Greek auteur Athina Rachel Tsangari's third feature narrative,...
Shosana | Review
Winterbottom Cranks Yet Out Another One, This Time A Forgettable Thriller With No Bite
Michael Winterbottom never stops. For over three decades, the filmmaker has...
Drowning Dry | Review
Dry Spell: Bareiša Explores Trauma in the Abstract
Repetitive patterns once again provide the narrative parameters reinforcing oblique happenings for Lithuanian director Laurynas Bareiša in...
Wild Diamond (Diamant Brut) | Review
Teenage Wasteland: Riedinger’s Debut a Familiar Coming-of-Age Parade
All that glitters isn’t gold, but social media success can break the mould. At least that’s the...
Kill the Jockey | Review
They Kill Horse Riders, Don’t They?: Ortega Puzzles with Deadpan Metaphors
Nothing is what it appears to be in Argentinean Luis Ortega’s latest film Kill...
Hot Milk | Review
The Eternal Daughter: Lenkiewicz Ladles the Milk of Sorrows
Screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz makes her directorial debut with Hot Milk, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s comically...
Ghost Trail | Review
The Executioner's Song: Millet’s Stabbing Debut Looks at How Control Moves Beyond Borders
If a Syrian doesn’t find himself in Syria does he still make...
Woman and Child | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
All the Regime Allows: Roustaee Finds a Woman Scorned
If there were ever an equivalent to the Hollywood ‘woman’s film’ genre in Iranian cinema it...
Caravan | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
All About My Martyr: Kirchnerová’s Debut Finds the Journey is the Destination
For her directorial debut, “Caravan,” Czech director Zuzana Kirchnerová weaves autobiographical elements into...
YES | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Break My Soul: Lapid Explores Compromised Artistry During Wartime
Essentially, YES, the latest film from Israeli auteur Nadav Lapid, is a portrait of an artist...
Romería | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Blood Relatives: Simon Treads Familiar Water with Continued Autofiction
After winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for her 2022 sophomore film Alcarras,...
Fuori | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Hoosegow Girls: Martone Pays Delicate Tribute to Goliarda Sapienza
“Never refuse to see the unpleasant aspects of life,” wrote Goliarda Sapienza in her widely...
Aisha Can’t Fly Away | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Buliana Simon Shines In Gritty Immigrant Story That Struggles To Take Flight
As the opening credits reveal, Aisha Can’t Fly was developed with the support...
Eagles of the Republic | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
One Flew Over the Coup’s Nest: Saleh Muddles Through Propaganda Politics
“Propaganda, to be effective, must be believed. To be believed, it must be credible....
Dites-lui que je l’aime (Tell Her I Love Her) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Family Tree Grows Tangled Roots In Romane Bohringer’s Metafictional Feature
Family can make you and family can break you apart. The ties that bind...
