Tag: World Cinema review
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...
Jeunes mères (Young Mothers) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Bonjour Tristesse: The Dardenne Bros. Explore Teenage Pregnancy
In their latest neo-realist exercise on plights of the disenfranchised, the Dardenne Bros. return to gentler themes...
Resurrection | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
In Dreams: Gan Explores a Century of the Cinematic Syndrome
We are such stuff as dreams (and celluloid) are made on, according to the sumptuous...
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...
Meteors | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Male Friendship Comes Apart In Hubert Charuel’s Assured Sophomore Feature
A meteorite enters Earth’s atmosphere moving up to 72 kilometers per second and (usually) burns...
Sleepless City (Ciudad Sin Sueño) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Boy & His Dog: Galoe Sweeps Through Slums in Restrained Debut
Home is where the heart is, but such a sentiment becomes difficult to...
Renoir | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Family of Straw: Hayakawa Paints Busy Coming-of-Age Portrait
Going in the opposite direction of her 2022 debut Plan 75, a sci-fi meditation on Japan’s aging...
Des preuves d’amour (Love Letters) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Evidence of Love: Douard’s Debut Reads Between the Lines of Maternal Affections
While it plays like something of a specific time capsule, Alice Douard’s Love...
I Only Rest In The Storm | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
White Impact: Pinho Explores the Ponderous Progress Through Post-Colonial Perceptions
“We never seem to be where we are,” remarks one of the characters in Pedro...
A Useful Ghost | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Ghost in the Machine: Boonbunchachoke Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost
Spirits, in all their various forms, are an abiding fixture in Thai culture and folklore,...
La Danse des Renards (Wild Foxes) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Fox on the Run: Carnoy Explores Bruised Masculinity
Following the incestuous liaison of Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer (2023), Samuel Kircher (son of Irene Jacob) braces...
La petite dernière (The Little Sister) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Lost Daughter: Herzi Passes Up Potency in Standard Adaptation
“My name is Fatima,” is one of the constant refrains utilized in Fatima Daas’ celebrated...
Kika | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Belle de Jour: Mourning Becomes Sex Work in Poukine’s Debut
There’s arguably a slippery slope at work in Alexe Poukine’s narrative debut Kika, a far...
Dossier 137 | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Investigation of Citizens Above Suspicion: Moll Persists with Police Procedural
Dominik Moll reunites with his usual collaborating scribe Gilles Marchand in Dossier 137, their third...
L’Engloutie (The Girl in the Snow) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Snow Way: Hémon Delivers Unwanted Help in the High Alps
A young, idealistic school teacher almost literally chooses her hill to die on in Louise...
Two Prosecutors | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Ordeal by Innocence: Loznitsa Mines the Terrors of Naïveté
A good man is hard to find, and if one were to be found, he’s likely...
L’intérêt d’Adam | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
No Bandaid Solutions: Wandel’s Suffocating Drama Explores Collective Collateral Damage
Following her remarkable debut Playground (read review), Belgian auteur Laura Wandel moves from a harrowing...
Enzo | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Call Me By Your Pain: Campillo Gently Guides Cantet’s Swan Song
Laurent Cantet was a filmmaker consistently concerned with humans existing on the margins, those...
Leave One Day (Partir un Jour) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Chef’s Kiss: Bonnin Uses Familiar Recipe in Pleasant Debut
For her directorial debut, Partir un Jour (Leave One Day), based on her own 2021 Cesar...
Love (Kjærlighet) | Review
Ain’t Nothin’ But Sex Misspelled: Haugerud Continues Quiet, Earnest Talking Cure Trilogy
Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud continues his sexuality-themed film trilogy (Sex/Dreams/Love) in Love,...
Sister Midnight | Review
Crazy On You: Kandhari’s Strange Fantasy of Madness
It’s been nearly twenty years since director Karan Kandhari’s 2005 debut Bye Bye Miss Goodnight (since then working on...
The Damned | Review
The Damned Do Cry: Minervini Details a Doomed Mission
For his first narrative feature, Roberto Minervini tackles another aspect of the evolving American identity with The...
Caught by the Tides | Review
The Tide is High: Zhangke Splices Thwarted Romance Across Changing Times
Filmmaker Jia Zhangke presents something of an experimental anomaly with his latest feature, Caught...
Black Tea | Review
Spill the Tea: Sissako Flounders with Tepid Brew
The level of ineptitude apparent in every regard of Black Tea, Abderrahmane Sissako’s first narrative feature in...
La cocina | Review
Soap Kitchen: Ruizpalacios Underwhelms & Over Bakes Food Drama
Making his English language debut with fourth feature La Cocina, based on the notable stage play...
Bonjour Tristesse | Review
Lifestyles of the Rich, Conflicted & Coddled: Dull Vacation in the South of France for Debut
Ah, summer in the south of France. The cerulean...
Most People Die on Sundays | Review
A Month of Sundays: Said Squeezes Magic Out of Melancholy
The tagline for Iair Said’s sophomore film More People Die on Sundays (Los domingos mueren...
The Scary House | 2025 Udine Far East Film Festival Review
Watanabe Smarter Than Ghosts, but The Scary House Had Other Plans
Venturing into the horror genre for the first time, Japanese indie filmmaker Watanabe Hirobumi’s...
April | Review
A Vindicated Woman: Kulumbegashvili Constructs Potent, Profound Study in Body Horror
I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves,”...
The Shrouds | Review
Death Be Not Shroud: Cronenberg Hits Dead Ends in Sluggish Mystery
The burial business serves as the battle ground for a complicated conundrum in David...
A Traveler’s Needs | Review
The Traveler Has Come: Huppert Shines in Latest Collaboration with Sang-soo
There are few directors who seem to rightly channel the comic side of Isabelle...
Grand Tour | Review
Runaway Groom: Gomes Charts a Barren Odyssey
In what serves as an extremely taxing personification of cold feet, Miguel Gomes feels as if he’s...
Holy Cow | Review
Smells Like Entrepreneurial Spirit!: Courvoisier Climbs Up the Totone Poll
In her directorial debut, Louise Courvoisier delves into themes of altruism and resilience, navigating a...
Being Maria | Review
Forever Noor: Palud’s Schneider Moves From Being a Passenger to Just Saying Non
Since the advent of cinema, it’s been standard operating procedure for the...
The Assessment | Review
The Parent Trap: Elizabeth Olsen Tries Not to Break In Fleur Fortuné’s Debut The Assessment
The one thing you can count as the world gets...
Honey Bunch | 2025 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Love Like This Before: Sims-Fewer & Mancinelli Examine the Ethics of Love
Canadian filmmaking duo Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli follow up their disturbing 2020...
Who by Fire (Comme le feu) | Review
Into the Woods: Lesage Explores Wounded Masculinities
In Vincent Sherman’s 1943 Bette Davis-led melodrama Old Acquaintance, the complex relationship between a pair of female frenemies...
