Tag: World Cinema review
20,000 Species of Bees | Review
The Secret Life of Bees: Solaguren’s Warm Debut Explores the Communal Dictation of Gender Identity
Our relationship to our gender and sexual identities is...
The Vourdalak | Review
Love in the Blood: Beau Resurrects Russian Vampire Clan in Eccentric Genre Throwback
Chuck Palahniuk wrote it best, referencing an ‘old saying’ in his 1996...
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Review
Sentimental Succubus: Louis-Seize Finds Love is All Consuming in Vampire Rom-Com
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry” read the tagline for the quintessential...
Green Border | Review
The Good Pole: Holland’s Humanitarian Drama a Steady Drizzle of Misery Porn
The difference between an exploitation vs. a social issue film can sometimes be...
Firebrand | Review
One Survived: Ainouz Attempts to Give a Queen Her Due
The Tudor era has maintained public fascination for the past five hundred years, a linchpin...
Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything | Review
Goodbye, First Love: Atef Explores Pangs of Passion Amidst Detached Reunification
For her sixth feature film, Germany’s Emily Atef returns to themes of circumstance...
Banel & Adama | Review
A Place in the Sun: Sy’s Fascinating Debut on Ruinous Social Obligations
It takes a village…to put you in your place, or so it...
The Most Precious Of Cargoes | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Zone of Disinterest: Hazanavicius Reanimates the Holocaust in Moral Fable
What’s most interesting about director Michel Hazanavicius are his valiant attempts at dabbling in...
L’amour Ouf (Beating Hearts) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Thief of Hearts: Lellouche’s Sprawling Romance Has Arrhythmia
A common occurrence for actors moonlighting as directors is not knowing how to hone a focus, crafting...
Motel Destino | 2024 Cannes Film Festival 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...
Animale | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Toro Toro Toro: Amamra Grabs the Bull By the Horns in Transformative Role
For those who champion the bull in Spain's electrifying yet antiquated tradition...
East of Noon | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Noon Gloom: Elkoussy Mounts Shadowy, Allegorical Fantasy
An industrial wasteland outside of a specific time or place provides the backdrop for Hala Elkoussy’s ingenious, but...
Limonov: The Ballad | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Wild at Heart: Serebrennikov Oversimplifies Odyssey of Soviet Dissident
If one were to dilute a Molotov cocktail enough to make its destructive capabilities null and...
Miséricorde | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Kiss Me or Kill Me: Guiraudie Stirs a Sinister Solace in the Backwoods
Alain Guiraudie returns to the ruinous climes of rural malcontentedness with his...
Block Pass (La Pampa) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Will You Be My Ride or Die?: Chevrollier Ramps Up the Chaos in Portrait of Sons & Missing Fathers
Exploring themes of rebellion, shame, and...
The Other Way Around | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Breaking Up is Hard To Do: Trueba Reinvents Couple Goals
Gloriously reminding us that we are doomed to repeat the same existential mundane experiences, in...
Sister Midnight | 2024 Cannes Film Festival 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 Story of Souleymane | 2024 Cannes Film Festival 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...
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...
In Retreat | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Man of Constant Sorrow: Ali Explores the Network of Disconnection
There’s an inescapable sense of mournfulness throughout Maisam Ali’s debut In Retreat, in which...
Savanna and the Mountain | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Once Upon a Time in Barroso: Carneiro Speaks Truth to Power
Opening with the gusto of a faded fairy tale, Portuguese filmmaker Paulo Carneiro’s Savanna...
Three Kilometres To The End Of The World | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
It Can’t Happen Here: Parvu’s Agonizing Procedural on Small Town Homophobia
For his third feature, Three Kilometers to the End of the World, Romanian director...
Les Fantômes (Ghost Trail) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival 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...
The Hyperboreans | 2024 Cannes Film Festival 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 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...
Locust | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Code of Silence: KEFF Revisits Time of Turmoil
For his directorial debut, KEFF revisits the pinnacle of turmoil during the 2019 Hong Kong protests as...
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Other People’s Money: Rosselli Finds Being Criminal is Relative
In keeping with a growing tradition of contemporary Argentinian cinema’s unorthodox narrative structures, editor Hernán Rosselli...
When The Light Breaks | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Grieving Rights: Runarsson Explores Interrupted Mourning
For his fourth narrative feature, Iceland’s Rúnar Rúnarsson returns to themes of emotional disruption with When the Light Breaks....
Diamant Brut (Wild Diamond) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival 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...
Simon of the Mountain | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Face of An(other): Luis Complicates Identity Politics
Although it’s playing quite purposefully with various ambiguities and motifs, Federico Luis’ directorial debut Simon de...
Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act) | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Art of Saying Nothing: Dupieux Deconstructs Cinema
Had Luis Bunuel approached conveying the reality of cinema produced by artificial intelligence, there may have been...
Aisha | Review
No Safe Havens: Letitia Wright’s Breathtaking Refugee Turn
Frank Berry’s Aisha is the superbly moving record of a Nigerian refugee’s quiet fight for dignity in...
Jeanne du Barry | Review
Vanity Affair: Maïwenn Tarries with Madame du Barry
For her sixth feature film, Maïwenn tackles her first period piece with Jeanne du Barry, resurrecting a...
La Bête (The Beast) | Review
In the Mood for Love & Death: Bonello Explores the Final Frontier of Emotional Intelligence
Throughout the dizzying centuries-spanning odyssey of an unrequited love in...
The Old Oak | Review
A Tree Grows in England: Loach Loses Steam in Klutzy Refugee Drama
There’s no doubt Ken Loach is one of the most prominent social-realist directors...
Coup de chance | Review
Bad Luck Banging: Luck is a Fickle Mistress in Allen’s Amusing Gallic Debut
For his fiftieth (and rumored to be last) film, Woody Allen’s French...
La Chimera | Review
The Passionate Thief: Rohrwacher Finds Treasures Under the Tuscan Sun
“The sun is following us,” whispers a willowy blonde in the enigmatic opening moments...
DogMan | Review
All Dogs Go to Heaven: Besson Gets Bombastic with Retro Pulp
The suspension of disbelief required to enjoyably settle into Luc Besson’s latest film, DogMan,...
Asphalt City | Review
Angel Heart: Sauvaire Serves Savior Complex in EMS Thriller
“It’s easier with wings than without,” was the tagline for Wim Wenders’ 1987 film Wings of...
Limbo | Review
Desert Fury: Sen Gets Bleak in the Heat of a Cold Case Mystery
Despite it being the title of innumerable films from around the world,...
The Shadowless Tower | Review
The Polite Stuff: Lu Searches for Redemption Through the Walking & Talking Cure
In the strangely alluring The Shadowless Tower, (Bai Ta Zhi Guang)...
Club Zero | Review
The Prime of Miss Jean Foodie: Hausner Satirizes Cult Behavior Through Caloric Deficit
Expanding on the genre sentiments which guided her past titles Hotel (2004)...
Silver Haze | Review
Keeper of the Flame: Polak Reckons with Reconciliation vs. Retribution in Conventional Drama
Dutch director Sacha Polak continues to explore the difficulties of acceptance and...
Shambhala | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Defending Your Life: Bham’s Captivating Quest Follows Its Own Path
The journey is the destination in Nepalese director Min Bahadur Bam’s graceful sophomore film,...
About Dry Grasses | Review
To Sir, With Ego: Ceylan Waltzes with Narcissism in Captivating Character Study
The filmography of Nuri Bilge Ceylan is characterized by complex examinations of human...
Io Capitano | Review
Journey to Italy: Garrone Details Arduous Migrant Odyssey
It might be a rite of passage for contemporary Italian auteurs to examine the grueling adversity faced...
Sons (Vogter) | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
A Poison Tree: Moller Employs Wrathful Mother in Jailhouse Revenge Drama
“A man that studied revenge keeps his own wounds green,” comes to mind in...
The Great Yawn of History | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Rasti Hunts for Spiritual Treasures
There have been countless films about the quest for fortune and glory, but you’ll be hard-pressed...
Who Do I Belong To | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Return of the Soldier: Joobeur Explores Ghosts of War
Matriarchs confronted by their radicalized children have slowly and painstaking formed a cinematic subgenre of...
Black Tea | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival 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...
