Tag: World Cinema review
BlackBerry | Review
Hold the Phone: Johnson Delivers the Ballad of the BlackBerry
Exposing the accidental alchemy which generated the titular BlackBerry, the world’s first Smartphone (and as...
Monica | Review
Portrait of a Lady: Pallaoro Quietly Searches for Grace in Profound Reconciliation
There’s a relentless, nearly crushing sense of heartache girding Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica, his...
R.M.N. | Review
On a Racist Day You Can See Forever: Mungiu Confronts Nationalism in Fractious Drama
On the surface, R.M.N., the latest feature from Romanian New Wave...
Winter Boy (Le Lycéen) | Review
Hazy Shade of Winter: Honore Deals with a Death in the Family in Sincere Coming-of-Age
Christophe Honoré has built an intricate filmography on the backs...
Les Enfants des Autres (Other People’s Children) | Review
Sex and Longing: Efira Shines in Zlotowski’s Portrait of Missed Opportunities
In a celebrated tradition of quietly personal characterizations French cinema is known for, Rebecca...
Plan 75 | Review
Aging Disgracefully: Hayakawa Questions Institutional & Internalized Ageism
If a septuagenarian falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it...
Smoking Causes Coughing | Review
Vigilante Shanty: Kooky Becomes Dupieux in Latest Whimsy
Quentin Dupieux’s penchant for absurdity shows no signs of abating, with Smoking Causes Coughing, the latest offering...
Tori et Lokita | Review
Suffer the Children: The Dardenne Bros. Trend of Neorealism Continues in Dismal Portrait of Migrant Children
The Dardenne Bros. have built a significant filmography showcasing...
Petite Solange | Review
Bonjour Tristesse: Ropert Explores Rude Awakenings in Tender Coming-of-Age Portrait
“What am I doing in this world?” wrote Paul Verlaine in his classic poem “The...
Les Cinq diables (The Five Devils) | Review
Devil May Care: Mysius Delivers Intriguing but Disappointing Romantic Genre Mishmash
For her sophomore feature debut, director/screenwriter Léa Mysius aims high and falls hard with...
Rimini | Review
Bravo New World: Seidl Returns with Desolate Portrait of Fallen Hustler
There’s always a healthy thread of humor lurking under the despair of Ulrich Seidl’s...
Rodéo | Review
All Gas No Brakes: Quivoron’s Debut Fails to Hit Pay Dirt
Further exploring the dirt-bike sub-culture she first examined in her short Dreaming of Baltimore...
Are You Lonesome Tonight? | Review
Unhappy Together: Shipei Concocts Romantic Neo-noir
Director Wen Shipei strikes an oddly satisfying balance between broody Neo-noir and simmering romance with his debut Are You...
Till the End of the Night | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
Night Boos: Hochhäusler Bungles Black Market Crime Thriller
Blending fatal romanticism and B-movie genre tropes, it’s not difficult to see where a certain Fassbinder sensibility...
The Survival of Kindness | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
Lady in a Cage: de Heer’s Dystopia Explores the Enduring Echoes of Colonialism
Dutch-born director Rolf de Heer has been a mainstay of Australian cinema...
Living Bad (Viver Mal) | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
The Mirror Has Two Faces: Canijo’s Customers Are Always Blight with Inverse Melodrama
“Happiness consumes itself like a flame. It cannot burn for ever, it...
Bad Living | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
The Best Exotic Portugal Hotel: Canijo Examines Motherhood as Misanthropy in Masterful Familial Miasma
The women handling the specialty boutique hotel in Joao Canijo’s Mal...
Le grand chariot (The Plough) | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
Father Knows Best: Garrel’s Family Affair Flounders in Banality
Although co-credited to the late, great Jean-Claude Carrière and starring a whole gaggle of the Garrel...
Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
Road to Nowhere: Von Trotta Presents the Basics on Bachmann
Throughout her career, Margarethe Von Trotta, a key figure from the New German Wave of...
The Teachers’ Lounge | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
Dangerous Finds: Catak Mines the Impossibility of Idealism in Departmental Dilemma
Sometimes maintaining the semblance of a ‘safe space’ means sublimating self-righteousness, a lesson learned...
The Beast in the Jungle | 2023 Berlin Film Festival Review
Waiting for the Stars to Align: Chiha Finds Fruit Rotting on the Vine
“Good things come to those who wait” might be a commonly bastardized...
Return to Seoul | Review
Do You Know Where You’re Going To?: Chou Explores Identity & Adoption Through Complex Character Portrait
Davy Chou returns with an intimate, unpredictable portrait of...
Pacifiction (Tourment sur les îles) | Review
Tropical Malady: Control is an Illusion in Serra’s Colonialist Quagmire
Literally and figuratively, Pacifiction (Tourment sur les îles), the latest from the cerebral Spanish director Albert...
A Radiant Girl (Une jeune fille qui va bien) | Review
Games of Hate & Chance: Kiberlain Curates Characterization with Tragic Wartime Portrait
In the eye of a swiftly gathering storm in the summer of 1942,...
Close | Review
The Children’s Hour: Dhont Explores Unspoken Realities in Masterful Drama
The essence of Close, the sophomore film from Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, is akin to the...
Un beau matin (One Fine Morning) | Review
All the Mornings in the World: Seydoux Burns Bright in Hansen-Love’s Moving Drama
Hannah Arendt succinctly remarked on the inference between 'doing' and 'understanding' in...
Cairo Conspiracy | Review
You Gotta Have Faith: Saleh Explores Corruption of Institutions in Procedural Thriller
“Power is a double edged sword. Sometimes it cuts the hand that wields...
Nostalgia | Review
You Can’t Go Home Again: Martone’s Latest Asserts the Past is a Dangerous Place
In yet another foray into the teeming possibilities of Naples, Mario...
The Son | Review
The Tragedy of Privilege: Zeller’s Familial Identity Trilogy Continues with Maudlin Chapter
The highly revered and internationally renowned playwright Florian Zeller has a formidable talent...
Infinity Pool | Review
The Dualists: Cronenberg Doubles Down on Class Cliches
“Sorrow is concealed in gilded places, and there’s no escaping it,” wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky in his...
When It Melts | 2023 Sundance Film Festival Review
Vengeance on a Wet Afternoon: Baetens Prepares a Fatal Reckoning in Grim Debut
Home is most certainly not where the heart is in When It...
Saint Omer | Review
Parallel Mothers: Diop Explores Monstrousness and Motherhood in Provocative Courtroom Drama
For her narrative feature debut Saint Omer, Alice Diop builds an agonizing and elegant...
Alcarràs | Review
Peach Be With You: Simon Harvests Bitter Reality in Solid, Steady Family Drama
Returning to the rural experiences which defined her 2017 debut Summer of...
Broker | Review
Be My Little Baby: Kore-eda Gets Weepy with Sentimental Adoption Drama
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan’s esteemed purveyor of domestic melancholy, continues with his bid for...
No Bears | Review
Blow-Out: Twice Told Tales Unfold in Panahi’s Layered Docufiction
Borders and Boundaries and Bears, Oh My! The perpetually hobbled Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi continues to...
Corsage | Review
Waist of Time: Sissi is no Sissy in Kreutzer’s Rebel Biopic
The foreboding restraints of an upper body female garment figuratively represent the repression and...
The Eternal Daughter | Review
I Remember Mama: Hogg Explores Film as Memento Mori in Gloomy Ghost Story
Our own memories are the ghosts haunting us, or at least the...
200 Meters | Review
Faraway, So Close: Nayfeh Showcases Absurdity’s Segue to Tragedy in Meaningful Debut
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine is one of several contemporary global...
Eo | Review
Donkey Skin: Skolimowski Restages Bresson for the Modern Age
Robert Bresson’s 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar is considered a masterpiece, though its reputation took a...
The Wonder | Review
Power Surge: Lelio Ponders power and the profound in his latest which attempts to grapple with the nature of storytelling itself
“This is the beginning...
Un Couple | Review
A Human Voice: Wiseman Explores Catharsis and Suppression in Tranquil Soliloquy
It’s no secret the Tolstoy household was also unhappy in its own unhappy way...
La caja (The Box) | Review
Father Knows Best: Vigas Caps His Father/Son Trilogy with Blunt Brutality
In his long-gestating follow-up to 2014 Golden Lion winner From Afar, Venezuela’s Lorenzo Vigas...
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths | Review
The Unexpected Virtue of Indulgence: Iñárritu Repeats Himself with Repetitive, Soulless Extravaganza
“The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple,” said Oscar...
Holy Spider | Review
Thrill Crazy. Kill Crazy. God Crazy: Abbasi Tackles Brutal Reality of Women and Islamofascism
“Every man shall meet what he wishes to avoid,” is the...
All Quiet On The Western Front (2022) | Review
War is Hell: Germany’s Oscar Entry Delivers Blunt & Brutal Depiction of WWI
The most haunting image in filmmaker Edward Berger’s latest take on All...
Peaceful (De son vivant) | Review
The Big C Minus: Bercot Submerges Maudlin Disease Drama with Sentimentality
Cancer isn’t the only element degrading the lives of those defined by it in...
Kalev | 2022 Warsaw Intl. Film Festival Review
Kalev Scores a 3-Pointer: Musting’s Sports Drama is a Love Letter to Estonia’s Iconic Basketball Team
The Estonian basketball team Kalev might not be a...
The Banshees of Inisherin | Review
When Demon Voices Wake Us: McDonagh Charts a Bad Bromance in Dark, Delightful Drama
The abrupt end to a lifelong relationship provides the basis for...
Sisters | 2022 Warsaw Intl. Film Festival Review
Adult children: Girl Blazes Through Childhood in Olte's Debut
Frantically moving and tweaking, the handheld camera desperately tries not to lose focus of a stone-faced...
Brother’s Keeper | Review
School Ties: Karahan Paints a Chilly Scene of Winter in Boarding School Melodrama
The numbing apathy of poverty chained to tireless bureaucracy is met with...
