Reviews

Written by the world’s top critics, reviews in The Film Verdict are an authoritative guide to the most important new movies appearing on the international scene. In this section you can search for and find more than one thousand reviews that have appeared in The Film Verdict since it began in September 2021. The reviewers are a diverse group based all over the globe: Deborah Young and Jay Weissberg (Rome), Stephen Dalton and Ben Nicholson (London), Boyd Van Hoeij (Luxembourg), Jordan Mintzer (Paris), Clarence Tsui (Hong Kong), Oris Aigbokhaevbolo (Lagos), Patricia Boero (Punta del Este), Lucy Virgen (Guadalajara), Carmen Gray (Berlin), Kevin Jagernauth (Montreal), and Alonso Duralde (Los Angeles).

Black Bag

Black Bag

by | Mar 12, 2025 |

Steven Soderbergh’s thrilling marital spy caper plays like an airport novel ghost-written by Edward Albee.

The Brutalist

The Brutalist

by | Mar 11, 2025 | , ,

Writer-director Brady Corbet’s monumental period drama about a tortured genius of modernist architecture, ‘The Brutalist’ is ponderous and bloated, but visually stunning and superbly acted.

Novocaine

Novocaine

by | Mar 8, 2025 |

Jack Quaid’s hero can’t feel pain, and the energy-deficient movie can’t quite commit to its high concept.

Anora

Anora

by | Mar 3, 2025 | , ,

A Brooklyn lapdancer falls for a super-rich Russian playboy in ‘Tangerine’ and ‘Red Rocket’ director Sean Baker’s latest walk on the wild side, ‘Anora’.

No Other Land

No Other Land

by | Mar 3, 2025 | , ,

Beginning in 2019, a quartet of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers in the Occupied Territories start documenting Israel’s appropriation of the land and its escalation until just after the start of the current juggernaut in Gaza.

The Settlement

The Settlement

by | Feb 24, 2025 | ,

Director Mohamed Rashad’s working-class drama ‘The Settlement’, a visually impressive folk tale portraying a young man’s desperate attempts at social integration, is a milestone for the Egyptian film industry at the Berlinale.

Kontinental ’25

Kontinental ’25

by | Feb 24, 2025 | ,

Punky Romanian auteur Radu Jude softens his usual bitingly satirical approach with his latest Berlinale prize-winner ‘Kontinental ’25’, a serious-minded but minor-key social drama about gentrification and bourgeois liberal guilt.

Late Shift

Late Shift

by | Feb 20, 2025 | ,

You can’t look away from nurse Floria as she races around an understaffed hospital to check on 25 seriously ill patients in Petra Volpe’s breathless, high-stress salute to the nursing profession.

Dreams (Sex, Love)

Dreams (Sex, Love)

by | Feb 20, 2025 | , ,

Norway won the Golden Bear this year in Berlin with the endearingly awkward ‘Dreams’ (‘Drømmer’), the final installment in Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy about contemporary relationships.

All I Had Was Nothingness

All I Had Was Nothingness

by | Feb 19, 2025 | ,

Guillaume Ribot powerfully evokes the Holocaust in an astutely edited collection of outtakes from Claude Lanzmann’s 9½ hour documentary ‘Shoah’ (1985), both playing in the Berlin Film Festival at a crucial point in history.

Mickey 17

Mickey 17

by | Feb 16, 2025 | , ,

Multiple Robert Pattinsons share a risky deep-space mission in ‘Parasite’ director Bong Joon-ho’s visually dazzling but muddled dystopian sci-fi comedy thriller ‘Mickey 17’.

The Ice Tower

The Ice Tower

by | Feb 16, 2025 | , ,

Marion Cotillard channels her inner Bette Davis to maximum effect in “The Ice Tower”, French auteur Lucile Hadžihalilovic’s relentlessly dark, glacially paced and emotionally forbidding adaptation of the Snow Queen fairytale.

The Blue Trail

The Blue Trail

by | Feb 16, 2025 | ,

Engrossing actors and an Amazon river setting lighten the heavy-handed social commentary about how the elderly are scandalously mistreated, in Gabriel Mascaro’s likable but narratively slight future dystopia, ‘The Blue Trail’.

Paddington in Peru

Paddington in Peru

by | Feb 15, 2025 |

Might not reach the heights of its predecessor, but this latest adventure of the globe-trotting naif has all the heart, wit, musicality, and meaning that the Paddington franchise brings to bear.

Köln 75

Köln 75

by | Feb 15, 2025 | , ,

Director Ido Fluk’s playful period biopic ‘Köln 75’ celebrates the remarkable true story of the teenage German girl who made a landmark jazz concert happen against impossible odds.

Living the Land

Living the Land

by | Feb 14, 2025 | ,

Set in 1991, Huo Meng’s sober and respectful ‘Living the Land’ is a bittersweet reflection on Chinese farmers, capturing the shared experiences of multiple generations who are threatened by mechanization and the urban siren song.

The Light

The Light

by | Feb 13, 2025 | , ,

German writer-director Tom Tykwer returns to the big screen with ‘The Light’, a stylish and ambitious but ultimately shallow family psychodrama set in contemporary Berlin.

Love Hurts

Love Hurts

by | Feb 6, 2025 |

This mediocre and thoroughly forgettable action-comedy will, one hopes, be but a bump on the road of Ke Huy Quan’s big-screen resurgence.

Acts of Love

Acts of Love

by | Feb 6, 2025 | ,

Jeppe Rønde’s psychologically complex yet tender drama delves into the world of trauma healing and cults without sensationalism, preferring to raise questions rather than supply answers.

The Tree of Authenticity

The Tree of Authenticity

by | Feb 5, 2025 | ,

The only African film in this year’s IFFR Tiger Competition, Sammy Baloji’s ‘The Tree of Authenticity’ offers a much-needed disruption to Belgian colonial archives, which dominate historical narratives in Congo.

Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra

Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra

by | Feb 3, 2025 | , ,

Indonesian filmmaker Harung Bramatyo makes his first foray at a top-ranked international festival with “Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra’, a visually arresting cross-generational melodrama charting an appre’tice sex tutor’s entangled emotions about love and emancipation.

Fiume o morte!

Fiume o morte!

by | Feb 2, 2025 | , ,

Igor Bezinovic engages citizens of his Croatian hometown in a rigorously researched, irreverently punk re-enactment of its brief occupation by Italian poet and self-styled dictator Gabriele D’Annunzio.

Merckx

Merckx

by | Feb 2, 2025 | ,

The exploits of the legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx are captured in this appreciative archival documentary about his all-conquering career.

Idyllic

Idyllic

by | Feb 1, 2025 | ,

Dutch writer-director Aaron Rookus explores the funny side of death, depression and existential despair in his witty, well-crafted tragicomedy ‘Idyllic’.

Rains Over Babel

Rains Over Babel

by | Jan 31, 2025 | ,

Colombian writer-director Gala del Sol’s stylish debut feature ‘Rains Over Babel’ is an audacious, ambitious, kaleidoscopic carnival of queerness loosely based on Dante’s ‘Inferno’.

Orenda

Orenda

by | Jan 31, 2025 | ,

Pirjo Honkasalo deals with grief, music and faith in her new feature film ‘Orenda’, premiering in Rotterdam’s Big Screen Competition.

Balentes

Balentes

by | Jan 29, 2025 | ,

Drawing on memories from his own family history, Sardinian director Giovanni Columbu combines ancient and modern animation techniques in his strikingly beautiful period drama ‘Balentes’.

Dog Man

Dog Man

by | Jan 29, 2025 |

This adaptation of the popular children’s-book series offers up hilarious gags and absurdist plotting, but a story this silly deserves more energetic pacing.

All That’s Left of You

All That’s Left of You

by | Jan 28, 2025 |

This week, in the midst of a fragile ceasefire, 300,000 Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza. Even as their former homes have largely been reduced to rubble, the persistence of the people to remain on their land is both admirable and heartbreaking. But that...

Sauna

Sauna

by | Jan 28, 2025 | ,

Mathias Broe deals with love and discrimination in the queer community with his feature debut ‘Sauna’, premiering at Sundance.

Jo Mühlberger talks to TFV

Jo Mühlberger talks to TFV

by | Jan 25, 2025 | ,

Jo Mühlberger, European Film Promotion Deputy Managing Director, takes the time to chat with The Film Verdict on his way to Sundance from Hamburg. A familiar face in the international film industry, Jo has been one of the pillars of European Film Promotion for the...

GEN_

GEN_

by | Jan 25, 2025 | ,

In the run-up to her election in 2022, right-wing Italian Prime Minster Giorgia Meloni declared, "Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology.” It’s an odious promise she’s upheld, as last autumn, her government...

The Things You Kill

The Things You Kill

by | Jan 25, 2025 | ,

More a psychological study than a thriller, ‘The Things You Kill’ explores the corruption and internalized violence of a patriarchal society, spiced with some bold narrative tricks from Alireza Khatami, co-director of the Iranian festival hit ‘Terrestrial Verses’.

Presence

Presence

by | Jan 24, 2025 |

Steven Soderbergh’s effectively low-key chiller puts an already-dysfunctional family into a haunted house.

Wolf Man

Wolf Man

by | Jan 17, 2025 |

Leigh Whannell’s moody monster movie features gripping performances and effective jolts before running out of steam without fully pursuing its own ideas and metaphors.

The Illusion

The Illusion

by | Jan 14, 2025 |

Filmmaker Roberto Andò combines a wary humanism with expert storytelling to expose the anti-heroic truth about Garibaldi’s 1860 invasion of Sicily to overthrow the Bourbon monarchy and unite Italy, though the comic subplots running through the film tend to be distracting and hard to digest.

I’m Not a Robot

I’m Not a Robot

by | Jan 14, 2025 |

A woman repeatedly fails a Captcha test and starts to wonder whether she is, in fact, a robot in the high concept identity crisis drama, I’m Not a Robot.

Mufasa: The Lion King

Mufasa: The Lion King

by | Dec 17, 2024 |

Better than a CG-animated prequel to a remake has any right to be, but director Barry Jenkins’ time and effort could surely be better applied elsewhere.

Kraven the Hunter

Kraven the Hunter

by | Dec 11, 2024 |

This absurd (and violent) Spider-Man spinoff plays it so straight that it’s quite frequently hilarious, whether or not that was the intent.

Y2K

Y2K

by | Dec 7, 2024 |

Kyle Mooney’s teen disaster comedy ‘Y2K’ starts out promisingly enough before blowing 2000 opportunities for thrills, laughs, or insight.

Nosferatu

Nosferatu

by | Dec 5, 2024 |

Exquisite filmcraft and committed performances, yet Robert Eggers’ take on the silent-horror classic feels more like an adoring tribute than a rethinking or reimagining.

Crocodile Tears

Crocodile Tears

by | Dec 4, 2024 | ,

Marissa Anita and Yusuf Mahardika deliver biting performances as a possessive mother and a confused mamma’s boy in Indonesian filmmaker Tumpal Tampubolon’s powerful if predictable suspense thriller, ‘Crocodile Tears’.

The House of Janus

The House of Janus

by | Dec 3, 2024 | ,

Singaporean playwright Keng Sen Ong juxtaposes his queer take on a 17th century opera with a documentary about Dutch curator and academic Adriaan van der Staay’s summer retreat in the beautiful yet bewildering ‘The House of Janus’.

Moana 2

Moana 2

by | Nov 26, 2024 |

Shares most of the strengths and weaknesses of its predecessor, although at this point, novelty has sailed off to the seven seas. Kids who know the first movie by heart will delight in a second helping.

Imprinting

Imprinting

by | Nov 24, 2024 | ,

A man goes on a psychological and emotional journey into his subconscious in this lavishly mounted but somewhat perplexing short from Andrea Ciavatta, Imprinting.

Anywhere Anytime

Anywhere Anytime

by | Nov 23, 2024 | , ,

Director Milad Tshangir’s impressive debut feature ‘Anywhere Anytime’ puts a contemporary illegal-immigrant spin on Vittorio De Sica’s beloved Italian neorealist classic ‘Bicycle Thieves’.

Spring Came Laughing

Spring Came Laughing

by | Nov 22, 2024 | ,

The topic is marriage and the four compulsively watchable stories that make up Noha Adel’s ‘Spring Came Laughing’ nail the shallowness, hypocrisy and suffering of Egyptian middle-class women, caught in a web outdated traditions.

Ayse

Ayse

by | Nov 20, 2024 | ,

Drawn from his own family background, Turkish director Necmi Sancak’s prize-winning debut feature ‘Ayse’ is a bleak but powerful portrait of a highly stressed woman caring for her disabled brother,

Writing Hawa

Writing Hawa

by | Nov 19, 2024 | ,

The unpredictable nature of conflict robs ‘Writing Hawa’ of much of its compelling titular character, but Najiba Noori’s pro-feminist and anti-Taliban project emerges unscathed in ideological terms.

On The Border

On The Border

by | Nov 19, 2024 | ,

Gerald Igor Hauzenberger and Gabriela Schild have made a quietly spectacular documentary on the migration-related troubles of the Nigerien city Agadez through a trio of knowledgeable and remarkably telegenic mediators.

The Guest

The Guest

by | Nov 19, 2024 | ,

Zvika Gregory Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz’s documentary ‘The Guest’ showcases the best side of humanity in troubled times, with unforced intimacy and unavoidable staidness.

The Witness

The Witness

by | Nov 19, 2024 | , ,

Made in collaboration with feted dissident director Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar’s ‘The Witness’ is a muted but quietly furious protest drama about murder and misogyny in contemporary Iran,

A Want in Her

A Want in Her

by | Nov 19, 2024 | , ,

Drawing on her own troubled family background, Irish visual artist and first-time feature director Myrid Carten paints a slightly muddled but emotionally powerful portrait of addiction and depression, shame and blame with ‘A Want in Her’.

The Blue Lake

The Blue Lake

by | Nov 18, 2024 | ,

A captivating story, at once simple and profound, describes the relationship between a blind boy and his loving grandfather as they travel through the desert in Daoud Aoulad-Syad’s layered road movie, ‘The Blue Lake’.

Abo Zaabal 89

Abo Zaabal 89

by | Nov 17, 2024 | ,

Bassam Mortada’s ‘Abo Zaabal 89’ is a personal odyssey about the scars of political activism in contemporary Egypt, and a big win for Arab documentary filmmaking.

Gazan Tales

Gazan Tales

by | Nov 16, 2024 | ,

Shot over a year ago by students in a filmmaking workshop in Gaza, ‘Gazan Tales’ is a disarming snapshot of four men’s everyday lives, as they pass their days unaware of the disaster about to befall them

The World of Yousry Nasrallah

The World of Yousry Nasrallah

by | Nov 16, 2024 | ,

Yousry Nasrallah’s willingness to address social taboos, his commitment to depicting female protagonists, and his insight into the political and cultural struggles of Egyptian society have earned him popularity and the respect of Arab filmmakers and audiences.

Being John Smith

Being John Smith

by | Nov 16, 2024 | ,

Delivered in his typically playful style, John Smith’s latest film, Being John Smith, is a wry reflection on the conventionality of his name dotted with radical flourishes.

Undercover: Exposing the Far Right

Undercover: Exposing the Far Right

by | Nov 15, 2024 | ,

Controversially dropped from the London Film Festival, director Havana Marking’s timely documentary thriller about the work of anti-racist campaign group Hope Not Hate ‘Undercover: Exposing the Far Right’ is making its international debut in IDFA.

About a Hero

About a Hero

by | Nov 15, 2024 | ,

Based on an AI screenplay drawn from the works of legendary director Werner Herzog, Polish film-maker Piotr Winiewicz’s docu-fiction debut feature ‘About a Hero’ is a compellingly weird trip into the digital deepfake Twilight Zone.

Decoded

Decoded

by | Nov 15, 2024 | ,

 Popular director Chen Sicheng  brings Mai Jia’s bestseller ‘Decoded’ to the screen in a wildly imaginative if often confusing genre-buster that co-stars John Cusack as a brilliant mathematician pitted against his even more brilliant Chinese pupil.

Meet the Barbarians

Meet the Barbarians

by | Nov 14, 2024 | ,

Julie Delpy’s dark refugee comedy ‘Meet the Barbarians’ is a stark reminder of the absurd cruelty of ranking human suffering, and the resilience required to rebuild a life amid indifference and prejudice.

Passing Dreams

Passing Dreams

by | Nov 14, 2024 | , ,

 A stubborn boy searches all over Palestine for a lost pigeon in ‘Passing Dreams’, Rashid Masharawi’s unexpectedly gentle, non-confrontational allegory about the state of the country.

Gladiator II

Gladiator II

by | Nov 11, 2024 |

Ridley Scott displays his prodigious gifts for violence and camp in this Roman sequel, but there’s a lot of filler.

Red One

Red One

by | Nov 6, 2024 |

This search-and-rescue tale of a kidnapped Santa Claus doesn’t reinvent the action-movie wheel, but it’s a fun spin on holiday tropes.

DOK Leipzig: The Awards

DOK Leipzig: The Awards

by | Nov 3, 2024 | ,

Dominique Cabrera’s feature documentary ‘La jetée: the Fifth Shot’ triumphed in the feature documentary category at Dok Leipzig, while László Csáki’s ‘Pelikan Blue’ swept the animation strand.

The Battle for Laikipia

The Battle for Laikipia

by | Nov 1, 2024 | ,

Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi’s essential documentary ‘The Battle for Laikipia’ describes global warming and the brutal impact of colonial land ownership in Kenya, showing the overlap of environmental and social issues without oversimplifying.

La Jetée, the Fifth Shot

La Jetée, the Fifth Shot

by | Oct 31, 2024 | ,

Director Dominique Cabrera’s investigation of her family connections to Chris Marker’s landmark sci-fi film ‘La Jetée’ takes a messy but sporadically magical mystery tour though history, memory, cinema and politics.

Morichales

Morichales

by | Oct 30, 2024 | ,

Chris Gude’s vivid doc on the ravages and inequalities of ages-long gold mining in Venezuela is startling in its poetry and meticulous in its contextualisation.

Balomania

Balomania

by | Oct 29, 2024 | ,

In her fascinating and visually dazzling debut feature ‘Balomania’, documentary maker Sissel Morell Dargis embeds herself in Brazil’s secretive underground subculture of illegal hot air balloon gangs.

Marching in the Dark

Marching in the Dark

by | Oct 28, 2024 | ,

A quietly angry film about suicidal Indian farmers and the women they leave behind, documentary director Kinshuk Surjan’s feature debut ‘Marching in the Dark’ is moving, lyrical and surprisingly uplifting.

Cairo Film Connection reveals line up

Cairo Film Connection reveals line up

by | Oct 26, 2024 |

Cairo Film Connection (CFC) has announced the selected projects for its 10th edition, which will take place during the 45th Cairo International Film Festival. The selected works include six from Egypt, two each from Tunisia, Iraq, and Lebanon, and one each from...

Here

Here

by | Oct 26, 2024 | ,

Robert Zemeckis’ fixed-camera observation of the passage of time is a slick and profoundly shallow movie aching for depth.

Venom: The Last Dance

Venom: The Last Dance

by | Oct 23, 2024 |

Nothing means anything in the conclusion of Tom Hardy’s comic-book trilogy, which makes it either a complete waste of time or a superhero movie in its purest form.

Meet the DOK Leipzig 2024 Jury

Meet the DOK Leipzig 2024 Jury

by | Oct 14, 2024 |

At the 67th edition of DOK Leipzig, juries of acclaimed filmmakers, arts professionals, and an audience jury will award short and feature-length animated and documentary films in competition. International Competition Documentary Film The five jury members will...

Busan 2024: The Awards

Busan 2024: The Awards

by | Oct 11, 2024 | ,

Park Ri-woong’s South Korean tale of racism and inequality ‘The Land of Morning Calm’ and The Maw Naing’s stirring tale of exploitation in Myanmar, ‘MA – Cry of Silence’, took top honors in the New Currents section.

Saturday Night

Saturday Night

by | Oct 11, 2024 |

Jason Reitman’s print-the-legend look behind the scenes of the birth of a legendary comedy TV fixture succeeds on its breathless “let’s put on a show” energy.

Tale of the Land

Tale of the Land

by | Oct 7, 2024 | ,

Indonesian filmmaker Loeloe Hendra’s feature debut in Busan, ‘Tale of the Land’, is a melancholic, beautifully mounted Borneo-set story about a young indigenous woman who has lived her life in a floating house in the middle of the sea.

For Rana

For Rana

by | Oct 7, 2024 | ,

Iranian director Iman Yazdi offers predictable melodrama with his first feature ‘For Rana’, which is in the running for Busan’s New Currents award.

Gingerbread for her Dad

Gingerbread for her Dad

by | Oct 6, 2024 | ,

Reflective, heartwarming and funny, ‘Gingerbread for her Dad’ is Kazakh filmmaker Alina Mustafina first feature, in which she embarks on a transcontinental journey to search for her great-grandfather’s remains.

Village Rockstars 2

Village Rockstars 2

by | Oct 5, 2024 | ,

With ‘Village Rockstars 2’, Assamese director Rima Das reunites with the cast of her highly-acclaimed 2017 festival hit in a mesmerizing portrait of a teenage girl guitarist’s struggles with nature and culture in northeast India.

MA – Cry of Silence

MA – Cry of Silence

by | Oct 4, 2024 | , ,

The Maw Naing’s second fiction feature, ‘MA – Cry of Silence’, is a riveting cri du coeur about life under authoritarian rule in Myanmar, seen through the struggle of aggrieved factory workers against their abusive employers.

Yen and Ai-lee

Yen and Ai-lee

by | Oct 4, 2024 | ,

Powerful performances from Taiwanese actors Kimi Hsia and Yang Kue-mei anchor Taiwanese filmmaker Tom Lin Shu-yu’s beautifully filmed black-and-white family drama ‘Yen and Ai-lee’.

Kaneko’s Commissary

Kaneko’s Commissary

by | Oct 3, 2024 | ,

Bowing in Busan’s New Currents competition, Japanese filmmaker Go Furukawa’s feature-length debut, ‘Kaneko’s Commissary’, offers a delicate, humane and relentlessly life-affirming tale about an ex-con.

Uprising

Uprising

by | Oct 2, 2024 | ,

Park Chan-wook produces and pens Kim Sang-man’s ‘Uprising’, a visually and politically-stirring period-drama-meets-action-thriller set during the Japanese invasion of Korea at the end of the 16th century.

2024 DOK Exchange XR Expands to Two Days

2024 DOK Exchange XR Expands to Two Days

by | Oct 1, 2024 |

The 2024 DOK Neuland program features eleven works in VR, AR, 360° film, gaming, installation, and participatory film. The exhibition takes place from October 29 to November 3 and is spread across four locations.in Leipzig: in the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK), at the...

San Sebastian Industry Awards Announced

San Sebastian Industry Awards Announced

by | Sep 26, 2024 |

WIP LATAM INDUSTRY AWARD UN CABO SUELTO / A LOOSE END DANIEL HENDLER (URUGUAY) Best Digital / Deluxe Content Services Spain / Dolby Iberia / Laserfilm Cine y Video / Nephilim producciones / No Problem Sonido / Sherlock Films EGEDA PLATINO INDUSTRIA AWARD FOR THE BEST...

Hard Truths

Hard Truths

by | Sep 26, 2024 | , ,

Mike Leigh returns from a lengthy excursion shooting period films to the kind of chamber piece he excels in, in ‘Hard Truths’, a small story about family dysfunction magnified into high drama by Mariane Jean-Baptiste’s formidable lead performance as a wife and mother going over the edge.

Turn Me On

Turn Me On

by | Sep 25, 2024 | ,

Director Michael Tyburski’s charmingly offbeat dystopian sci-fi rom-com ‘Turn Me On’ takes place in a cult-like community where sex and love, joy and anger have been chemically erased.

Cuando las nubes esconden las sombras

Cuando las nubes esconden las sombras

by | Sep 25, 2024 | , ,

Usando los impactantes paisajes del lugar, su compleja historia e intrigante aislamiento, el director José Luis Torres Leiva lentamente desenreda las emociones largamente reprimidas de una citadina angustiada a través de inspiradores encuentros con un grupo de locales en Cuando las nubes cubren las sombras de José Luis Torres Leiva.

Bagger Drama

Bagger Drama

by | Sep 25, 2024 | ,

Piet Baumgartner excavates the unspoken truths of a dysfunctional family with his first fiction feature film ‘Bagger Drama’, screened in San Sebastián’s New Directors section.

La virgen roja

La virgen roja

by | Sep 24, 2024 | , , ,

Un ensayo imaginativo y fascinante sobre el feminismo y la maternidad, ‘La virgen roja’ de Paula Ortiz presenta a una inolvidable Najwa Nimri como una madre infernal y dominante que ve a su brillante hija de 16 años como una escultura que ha creado para cambiar el mundo en la España de los años 30.

My Eternal Summer

My Eternal Summer

by | Sep 23, 2024 | ,

Danish director Sylvia Le Fanu makes a powerful debut in feature filmmaking with the loss-centric drama ‘My Eternal Summer’, screened in San Sebastián’s New Directors section.

Soy Nevenka

Soy Nevenka

by | Sep 23, 2024 | , , ,

Veinticuatro años después de la primera denuncia por acoso sexual a un político en España, Iciar Bollaín cuenta la historia en Soy Nevenka con sensibilidad y urgencia. Sir Isaac Newton dijo que su perspectiva era mejor que la de sus antecesores porque estaba parado en...

Zafari

Zafari

by | Sep 23, 2024 | , ,

When the cupboard is bare, a middle-class family in an unnamed Latin American country first goes hungry and then feral in ‘Zafari’, Mariana Rondon’s chilling dystopian fable that will put audiences off their dinner.

The Red Virgin

The Red Virgin

by | Sep 22, 2024 | , , ,

An imaginatively engrossing essay on feminism and motherhood, Paula Ortiz’s taken-from-history ‘The Red Virgin’ features an unforgettable Najwa Nimri as a stage mother out of hell, who sees her brilliant 16-year-old daughter as a sculpture she has created to change the world in 1930’s Spain.

The End

The End

by | Sep 22, 2024 | , ,

Acclaimed documentary director Joshua Oppenheimer makes his fiction feature debut with ‘The End’, an ungainly but wildly ambitious post-apocalypse musical co-starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay and Moses Ingram.

San Sebastian 2024 Is Big on French Cinema

San Sebastian 2024 Is Big on French Cinema

by | Sep 22, 2024 |

By Liza Foreman San Sebastian loves French films, and this year is no exception. Speaking with The Film Verdict on the eve of this year’s festival, UniFrance’s Executive Director Daniela Elstner talked up the plethora of films screening at SSIFF, and plans to expand...

Emmanuelle

Emmanuelle

by | Sep 20, 2024 | ,

French director Audrey Diwan’s excruciatingly dull remake of Just Jaeckin’s 1970s soft-porn classic ‘Emmanuelle’ delivers fifty shades of joyless, witless, pointless, mostly sexless tedium.

On Falling

On Falling

by | Sep 19, 2024 | ,

Backed by Ken Loach’s production company, writer-director Laura Carreira’s debut feature ‘On Falling’ is a well crafted but grindingly glum depiction of poverty, alienation and soul-crushing low-wage work.

San Sebastian 2024: Meet the Juries

San Sebastian 2024: Meet the Juries

by | Sep 17, 2024 |

The Jury of the Official Selection of the 72nd edition of the San Sebastian Festival will be chaired by Jaione Camborda, whose film 'Rye Horn' won last year’s Golden Shell. In the 2023 review of ‘Rye Horn’, TFV Critic Deborah Young states “Jaione Camborda displays her...

Saint Clare

Saint Clare

by | Sep 13, 2024 | ,

Mitzi Peirone’s sophomore feature, Saint Clare, about a college student on a mission from God to rid the world of predatory men is stylish, weird, sometimes overdone – and a blast.

Swing Bout

Swing Bout

by | Sep 13, 2024 | ,

Maurice O’Carroll’s propulsive boxing-cum-crime drama, Swing Bout, bristles with the energy of the ring in this tale of young hopefuls waiting for their chance.

Transformers One

Transformers One

by | Sep 12, 2024 |

Lore-crazed fans will devour this animated prequel that is, at the very least, slightly more intentionally funny than the Michael Bay live-action franchise.

Traumnovelle

Traumnovelle

by | Sep 12, 2024 | ,

A doctor goes on a dreamlike odyssey into sexual temptation in Traumnovelle, a new adaption of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella, which has an archness fitting its absurdity.

Mi Bestia

Mi Bestia

by | Sep 11, 2024 | ,

Religious rumours combine with a blood moon eclipse and a girl’s journey to womanhood in Mi Bestia, a beguiling coming-of-ager with fantasy elements from Camila Beltran.

Electra

Electra

by | Sep 11, 2024 | ,

Secrets and lies combine with an air of surrealism in Electra, Hala Matar’s fresh and funny riff on Greek myth, Hitchcock and Highsmith, all dripping with Italian style.

Diva Futura

Diva Futura

by | Sep 9, 2024 | ,

The birth of Italian porn films in the 1980’s is told as a sentimental, gently humorous biopic about porn entrepreneur Riccardo Schicchi in ‘Diva Futura’, a well-written romp made to cash in on its airbrushed sketches of adult film stars Moana Pozzi, Cicciolina and Eva Henger.

Venice 2024: The Awards

Venice 2024: The Awards

by | Sep 7, 2024 | ,

Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature ‘The Room Next Door’ was a dignified winner of the Golden Lion: a quietly profound meditation on love and death, pain and glory, buoyed by knockout performances from TIlda Swinton and Julianne Moore.

Love

Love

by | Sep 7, 2024 | ,

Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy about relationships in present day Oslo continues with the cleverly moving ‘Love’, screened in Venice’s main competition.

Stranger Eyes

Stranger Eyes

by | Sep 6, 2024 | , ,

A kidnap thriller rooted in surveillance, voyeurism and the unkindness of strangers, Yeo Siew Hua’s third feature ‘Stranger Eyes’ is the first ever Singaporean film to compete for the Golden Lion in Venice

Peacock

Peacock

by | Sep 5, 2024 | ,

A professional friend-for-hire wakes up to the horrors of his soul-destroying job and hollow lifestyle in Austrian writer-director Bernhard Wenger’s sharp-witted, superbly acted black comedy ‘Peacock’.

April

April

by | Sep 5, 2024 | , ,

Choosing a narrative style as austere and unforgiving as her OB-GYN heroine, rising Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili (‘Beginning’) plumbs the depths of female suffering and self-sacrifice in ‘April’, a festival film which, like its protag, is destined to be admired more than loved.

Ten Awards go to “CineGouna Funding” Alumni

Ten Awards go to “CineGouna Funding” Alumni

by | Sep 4, 2024 |

“In This Darkness I See You”, a work-in-progress film project by Lebanese director Nadim Tabet won El Gouna Film Festival Award in the Final Cut program at the Venice International Film Festival. Final Cut is a program dedicated to supporting Arab and African film...

The Quiet Son

The Quiet Son

by | Sep 4, 2024 | ,

Delphine and Muriel Coulin deliver a compelling family drama with their third feature ‘The Quiet Son’, screened in Venice’s main competition.

Queer

Queer

by | Sep 3, 2024 | ,

Daniel Craig stars in Luca Guadagnino’s sumptuous adaptation of the cult William Burroughs novel ‘Queer’, a trippy erotic fever dream that mostly hits the target, despite some narrative flaws.

Harvest

Harvest

by | Sep 3, 2024 | ,

Strewn with beauty, sadness and food for thought, Rachel Tsangari’s gripping adaptation of Jim Crace’s novel ‘Harvest’ is an allegory on how modernity has rapidly destroyed our natural relationship with the world.

Phantosmia

Phantosmia

by | Sep 2, 2024 | , ,

A retired military sniper tries to atone for his murderous past in ‘Phantosmia’, Philippine auteur Lav Diaz’s poetic, reflective, modest yet visually captivating study of guilt and redemption.

The Order

The Order

by | Aug 31, 2024 | ,

White-supremacist violence in the US is an evergreen subject, but this docudrama about an FBI takedown of a racist cell plays like countless other feds-versus-terrorists thrillers.

Battleground

Battleground

by | Aug 31, 2024 | , ,

Three doctors of different political views struggle to treat soldiers returning from the front during WWI and combat a new menace, the Spanish flu, in director Gianni Amelio’s grimly shocking film about war’s after-effects, ‘Battleground’.

Trois amies

Trois amies

by | Aug 30, 2024 | ,

A trio of French couples exchange partners while they search for love in Emmanuel Mouret’s professionally crafted but unsurprising salute to a great French film genre, ‘Trois amies.’

An ‘accidental’ film enthusiast

An ‘accidental’ film enthusiast

by | Aug 30, 2024 |

Jo Mühlberger began working for European Film Promotion (EFP) in 1998 after working for the Berlinale, the European Film Market and Filmfest Hamburg. As EFP’s Deputy Director he is part of the strategic team within EFP, developing activities to promote the spirit of...

One to One: John & Yoko

One to One: John & Yoko

by | Aug 30, 2024 | , ,

The life, politics, music and relationship of cultural idols and revolutionary artists John Lennon and Yoko Ono are brilliantly blasted onscreen amid exploding shards of 1970’s Americana in Kevin Macdonald’s and Sam Rice-Edwards’ irresistibly original and high-energy documentary, ‘One to One: John & Yoko’.

Chain Reactions

Chain Reactions

by | Aug 29, 2024 | ,

Alexandre O. Philippe pays tribute to a classic on its 50th anniversary with the heartfelt documentary ‘Chain Reactions’, screened in Venice’s Classics sidebar.

Maria

Maria

by | Aug 29, 2024 | ,

Pablo Larraín’s third portrait of the private pain of a public woman exists most effectively as a platform for Angelina Jolie’s diva-as-diva performance.

Riefenstahl

Riefenstahl

by | Aug 29, 2024 | ,

 The film auteur of Nazi Germany par excellence, Leni Riefenstahl and her controversial legacy are examined in fascinating depth in the new German doc ‘Riefenstahl’ by Andres Veiel.

Feeling Better

Feeling Better

by | Aug 28, 2024 | ,

Valerio Mastandrea makes good use of his gruff persona in his second directorial feature ‘Feeling Better’, screened in Venice’s Orizzonti competition.

EFP supports outstanding European films

EFP supports outstanding European films

by | Aug 27, 2024 |

European Film Promotion (EFP) is highlighting 17 European titles from a long list of outstanding European films that will be part of this years‘ line-up at the Toronto International Film Festival. Some 17 national film promotion institutes plus five world sales...

Venice Film Festival 2024 Masterclass Schedule

Venice Film Festival 2024 Masterclass Schedule

by | Aug 26, 2024 |

La Biennale 2024 Masterclass series will unfold 29 August - 6 September. The classes and conversations will take place at the Match Point Arena, set up at the Tennis Club Venezia on the Lido (Lungomare Marconi, corner via Emo, in front of the Hotel Excelsior, free...

Mother Mara

Mother Mara

by | Aug 23, 2024 | ,

Mirjana Karanovic shines as both creator and star of Mother Mara, a nuanced drama about a middle-aged woman navigating loss, adapted from elements of a Tanja Sljivar play.

Blink Twice

Blink Twice

by | Aug 22, 2024 |

Zoë Kravitz makes an impressive directorial debut with a twisty, topical thriller in the Jordan Peele/Ira Levin vein.

Cent’anni

Cent’anni

by | Aug 22, 2024 | ,

Documentarist Maja Prelog follows her partner on an arduous post-leukemia cycling trip in Cent’anni, a deeply personal reflection on the emotional effects of serious illness.

Avant-Drag!

Avant-Drag!

by | Aug 18, 2024 | , ,

A lively documentary from Greek director Fil Ieropoulos, ‘Avant-Drag!’ salutes the radical roots and ongoing bravery of queer performers who defy gender norms, especially in more conservative societies.

Timestalker

Timestalker

by | Aug 16, 2024 | ,

Alice Lowe returns behind the camera with her second feature ‘Timestalker’, a century-spanning rom-com screened in Locarno’s Piazza Grande.

Agora

Agora

by | Aug 14, 2024 | ,

In a quasi-political thriller, Ala Eddine Slim translates a nightmare of two sleeping animals into a mysterious multilayered investigative story referring to a morally and environmentally corrupt Tunisian village.

Locarno Open Doors Announces Winners

Locarno Open Doors Announces Winners

by | Aug 13, 2024 |

Open Doors, Locarno Pro’s co-production and talent development program for artists from underrepresented communities around the world, has announced its 2024 winners. Eight projects in development were selected for its coproduction platform, the Projects Hub, and were...

Moon

Moon

by | Aug 13, 2024 | , ,

Kurdwin Ayub’s sophomore feature about a mixed martial arts trainer on peculiar assignment to housebound sisters in Jordan offers sensationalist suspense but few layers of depth.

OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS NATURAL PLAYGROUND

OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS NATURAL PLAYGROUND

by | Aug 10, 2024 | ,

Ascona-Locarno is a real paradise for outdoor enthusiasts, thanks to its lake, rivers, mountains, breathtaking hills and wide plains. With over 2,300 hours of sunshine a year and a mild climate, the region is ideal for outdoor adventures, offering a wide range of...

Red Path

Red Path

by | Aug 9, 2024 | ,

Lotfi Achour’s engrossing psychodrama ‘Red Path’ (‘Les enfants rouges’) is a powerful investigation into the traumatized mind of a young shepherd who witnessed the beheading of his cousin by an extremist group. 

The Flood

The Flood

by | Aug 7, 2024 | , ,

Gianluca Jodice’s Locarno opener is a handsome but airless portrait of obsolescence, as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette sit out their last months imprisoned in a Paris chateau.

Too Hot to Handle, Beat the Heat

Too Hot to Handle, Beat the Heat

by | Aug 6, 2024 | ,

The special feature of Lake Maggiore is that it is accessible practically everywhere. There are an incredible number of beaches, lidos and bathing spots along the lakeshore. Some are accessible free of charge; others require a fee - but all are beautiful. Lake...

Trap

Trap

by | Aug 2, 2024 |

Too few surprises and too many endings makes for a tension-free thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, despite Josh Hartnett’s best efforts.

Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine

by | Jul 26, 2024 |

Ryan Reynolds fires off quips and bullets with equal precision, but both the meta-comedy and the exaggerated violence wear thin before the film’s denouement.

Twisters

Twisters

by | Jul 16, 2024 |

This 28-years-later sequel delivers the weather-porn thrills of its predecessor, while managing to be the tiniest bit less silly when the actors open their mouths.

Locarno 77 Festival Selection Announced

Locarno 77 Festival Selection Announced

by | Jul 10, 2024 |

The official selection of the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival has been announced. For eight decades, Locarno has been at the forefront of the international festival circuit, premiering films by both established auteurs and rapidly rising talents. Among the...

Karlovy Vary 2024: The Awards

Karlovy Vary 2024: The Awards

by | Jul 7, 2024 | ,

Karlovy Vary’s two big standouts when awards were handed out Saturday night were ‘A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things’ directed by prolific Irish documentarian Mark Cousins and Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s Norwegian drama ‘Loveable’ (Elskling).

Fly Me to the Moon

Fly Me to the Moon

by | Jul 7, 2024 |

The space race is back in the peppy, bouncy ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, but a sparky face-off between NASA launch director Channing Tatum and marketing wizard Scarlett Johansson can’t disguise an outdated feeling.

Cabo Negro

Cabo Negro

by | Jul 5, 2024 | ,

In writer-director Abdellah Taïa’s ode to youthful rebellion ‘Cabo Negro’, two heartbroken queer Moroccans take refuge in a luxury villa to confront old traumas and share solidarity.

Tropicana

Tropicana

by | Jul 5, 2024 | ,

Director Omer Tobi’s debut feature ‘Tropicana’ is a relentlessly dark but grimly compelling portrait of repressed lives and sexual outlaws in a small Israeli desert town.

Xoftex

Xoftex

by | Jul 3, 2024 | ,

Writer-director Noaz Deshe’s ambitious horror-tinged drama about the surreal absurdism of life in a refugee camp, ‘Xoftex’ is messy and muddled but commendably orginal.

WINNERS OF KVIFF EASTERN PROMISES

WINNERS OF KVIFF EASTERN PROMISES

by | Jul 2, 2024 |

KVIFF Eastern Promises, the festival's Industry section and film market’s mission is bridging the gap between talented filmmakers and their potential co-production partners, festivals, and audiences. “This year has once again brought a diverse selection of strong...

Celebration

Celebration

by | Jul 1, 2024 | ,

Full of atmospheric gloom, Bruno Ankovic’s powerful, decades-spanning feature debut shows how wartime violence and desperation seep through a Croatian village like a contagion.

Windless

Windless

by | Jul 1, 2024 | ,

A son returns to Bulgaria from abroad to settle the affairs of his estranged father in Windless, a confined drama about confronting the past and the act of memorial.

Lapilli

Lapilli

by | Jun 30, 2024 | ,

Overcome with grief at the sudden loss of her grandparents, filmmaker Paula Durinova’s expressive documentary Lapilli finds solace in the geological formations of the Aral Sea.

Real

Real

by | Jun 30, 2024 | ,

Former political prisoner turned army commander Oleh Sentsov captures a raw slice of Ukraine frontline combat in his accidental “found footage” war documentary ‘Real’.

Panopticon

Panopticon

by | Jun 30, 2024 | ,

George Sikharulidze’s debut on masculinity and identity in today’s Georgia is an unusual coming-of-age drama alive with ideas and a bold political imagination.

Banzo

Banzo

by | Jun 28, 2024 | ,

In the setting of a Portuguese plantation on Principe in the early 20th century, Margarida Cardoso crafts a haunting and unsettling portrait of colonial destruction in the form of Banzo.

The Strangers’ Case

The Strangers’ Case

by | Jun 28, 2024 | ,

Confronting the world refugee crisis head-on in highly dramatic scenes that refuse to let go, Brandt Andersen’s etched-with-an-axe ‘The Strangers’ Case’ is a human disaster movie that passionately describes a chain reaction of real-life horror.

Palazzina Laf

Palazzina Laf

by | Jun 27, 2024 | ,

Italian actor-director Michele Riondino transforms a notorious real-life case of mass workplace bullying into a boisterous social satire in his lively debut feature ‘Palazzina Laf’.

A Quiet Place: Day One

A Quiet Place: Day One

by | Jun 27, 2024 |

Not much here that the earlier two films didn’t already establish more effectively; its only depth comes from Lupita Nyong’o’s intuitive lead performance.

My Way

My Way

by | Jun 26, 2024 | ,

The colourful back story behind Frank Sinatra’s signature song ‘My Way’ gets the all-star biopic treatment in this slight but engaging French documentary.

Location Flashback: Munich (2005)

Location Flashback: Munich (2005)

by | Jun 25, 2024 |

In this scene, having stayed behind to collect the shell casing from the first killing, Clara (Claran Hinds) arrives at the rendezvous point at an outdoor café in Rome where he meets Avner (Eric Bana) and the rest of the team. Munich was released by Universal Pictures...

Negu Hurbilak

Negu Hurbilak

by | Jun 25, 2024 | ,

At the end of the Basque armed conflict, a young woman waits to flee across the border in ‘Negu Hurbilak’, an atmospheric and rigorously shot but mystifying tale that leaves too much to the viewer’s imagination.

Location Flashback: Gladiator (2000)

Location Flashback: Gladiator (2000)

by | Jun 24, 2024 |

In this scene, Praetorian guards, sent by Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), surround Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) after his excape in an attempt to reunite with his former servant Cicero (Tommy Flanagan) as part of a plot to over Emperor Commodus....

Backstage

Backstage

by | Jun 23, 2024 | ,

Mysterious personal dramas unfold off-stage when a modern dance company has a bus break-down traveling to Marrakech in Tunisian codirectors Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane’s intelligently avant-garde on-the-road drama, ‘Backstage’.

Location Flashback: Midnight Express (1978)

Location Flashback: Midnight Express (1978)

by | Jun 22, 2024 |

In this scene, Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) dressed in a guard’s uniform and after killing the abusive guard Hamidou (Paul Smith) walks out of the Turkish prison after spending five years locked up for dealing drugs. The prison drama was directed by Alan Parker and...

Dear Jassi

Dear Jassi

by | Jun 22, 2024 | , ,

An engaging Romeo and Juliet romance between rich and poor Punjabis slowly reveals its darker side in Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s laid-back but ultimately devastating social critique. ‘Dear Jassi’.

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams

by | Jun 22, 2024 | ,

Dutch-Bosnian director Ena Sendijarevic’s playful, surreal, stylish second feature ‘Sweet Dreams’ finds a rich seam of darkly absurd comedy in Europe’s murky colonial history.

Location Flashback Popeye (1980)

Location Flashback Popeye (1980)

by | Jun 22, 2024 |

In this scene, Popeye (Robin Williams) sends the local Taxman (Donald Moffat) down the shoot of the fishing dock after he tries to get Popeye to pay a tax for moving in after he moved out of Olive Oyl’s (Shelley Long) boarding house, and a baby tax for having Swee’Pea...

Location Flashback: Troy (2004)

Location Flashback: Troy (2004)

by | Jun 20, 2024 |

Filmed in Malta: In this scene, Achilles (Brad Pitt) walks along the coast of ‘Greece’ looking for his mother, the Sea Nymph Thetis (Julie Christie), in order to ask her advice about joining Odysseus (Sean Bean), the King of Ithaca, in the siege on Troy. The epic...

AVP Summit Challenges the Status Quo

AVP Summit Challenges the Status Quo

by | Jun 19, 2024 | ,

The third edition of Italy’s international Audiovisual Producers Summit (June 10-12, 2024) wrapped at the Altafiumara Resort & Spa last week. The AVP Summit is a three-day conference dedicated to the Italian and international entertainment industry with attendees...

Inside Out 2

Inside Out 2

by | Jun 12, 2024 |

This Pixar sequel brings its protagonist into puberty and examines, with humor and poignancy, the complicated process of building an identity.

Norah

Norah

by | May 29, 2024 | ,

Tawfik Alzaidi’s classically narrated, slow-burn drama ‘Norah’ is a tribute to art and artists in socially conservative societies like 1990s Saudi Arabia.

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

by | May 29, 2024 | , ,

Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck (‘I Am Not Your Negro’) once again makes masterful use of the documentary form as a vehicle for social and political commentary in ‘Ernest Cole: Lost and Found’, an intense viewing experience that leaves its mark long after the last photo fades.

The Most Precious of Cargoes

The Most Precious of Cargoes

by | May 25, 2024 | , ,

Michel Hazanavicius’s (‘The Artist’) long-cherished animation project ‘The Most Precious of Cargoes’, bowing in Cannes competition, nimbly combines a classic, grim fairy tale with the horrors of the Holocaust in a well-made but sentimental tale whose audience is unclear.

Sister Midnight

Sister Midnight

by | May 24, 2024 | ,

A newly married Mumbai housewife unleashes her inner monster in writer-director Karan Kandhari’s stylish, punky, compellingly strange comedy thriller ‘Sister Midnight’.

All We Imagine As Light

All We Imagine As Light

by | May 23, 2024 | ,

Featuring nuanced performances from its leads, Payal Kapadia’s tender relationship drama ‘All We Imagine As Light’, about three women working in a Mumbai hospital, is the first Indian film to compete for the Palme d’Or in more than three decades.

Grand Tour

Grand Tour

by | May 22, 2024 | ,

 Another genre-bending fantasy from Portuguese director Miguel Gomes, ‘Grand Tour’ takes the viewer on a dreamy ride through colonial Asia in 1918, though the present day often pushes through the whimsical story of two characters chasing each other across Asia.  

To a Land Unknown

To a Land Unknown

by | May 22, 2024 | ,

Mahdi Fleifel’s masterful feature debut ‘To a Land Unknown’ marks a new chapter in Palestinian cinema with its harsh yet empathetic walk in the brutal world of being an Arab refugee in Greece.

Viet and Nam

Viet and Nam

by | May 22, 2024 | ,

Bowing in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Truong Minh Quy’s third feature ‘Viet and Nam’ leans more on innovative imagery and historical allegory than its underwritten story and characters.

Parthenope

Parthenope

by | May 22, 2024 |

In the lush ‘Parthenope’, which he has called his first “feminine epic”, Paolo Sorrentino captures the passion and decadence, the misery, tragedy and baroque riches of his native Naples.

Location flashback: Ronin (1998)

Location flashback: Ronin (1998)

by | May 21, 2024 |

In this scene: Sam (Robert De Niro) and Deirdre (Natascha McElhone) walk along the waterfront, posing as a touring husband and wife. to get a look at the area around the hotel where they plan to steal the suitcase. Ronin is a 1998 American action thriller directed by...

The Shrouds

The Shrouds

by | May 21, 2024 | , ,

Veteran cult Canadian director David Cronenberg channels personal feelings of grief, loss and enduring love into his latest underpowered but absorbingly weird techno-gothic thriller, ‘The Shrouds’.

The Apprentice

The Apprentice

by | May 20, 2024 |

Ali Abbasi’s portrait of a young monster, ‘The Apprentice’, wisely chooses a humorous key in which to chronicle Donald Trump’s formative years as a businessman and how lawyer Roy Cohn helped his empire get its crooked start, though well-informed viewers will find nothing much new.

The Substance

The Substance

by | May 20, 2024 | , ,

Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley co-star in French director Coralie Fargeat’s wild Cannes contender ‘The Substance’, a gloriously tasteless but finely crafted feminist body-horror fairy tale.

Limonov: The Ballad

Limonov: The Ballad

by | May 19, 2024 | ,

In ‘Limonov: The Ballad’, director Kirill Serebrennikov turns up the volume on his already explosive style (Petrov’s Flu), which is really the only way to recount the mad, violence-tinged rise of Russian poet and political extremist Eduard Limonov.

Caught by the Tides

Caught by the Tides

by | May 18, 2024 | ,

Re-shuffling footage from films he has shot over the last 23 years, Jia Zhang-ke places his awe-inspiring cinematic mastery on full display in ‘Caught by the Tides’, though its ravishing poetic beauty tends to obscure the story.

The Brink of Dreams

The Brink of Dreams

by | May 18, 2024 | ,

In ‘The Brink of Dreams’, Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir deliver a fierce, against-all-odds documentary about a group of young women artists in southern Egypt out to prove their independence as theater performers and independent women in a male-dominated society.

Location flashback: Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007)

Location flashback: Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007)

by | May 18, 2024 |

In this scene, after winning a raffle, Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) finally reaches the beach in Cannes, fulfilling his dream after a long and roundabout journey to the south of France. Mr. Bean’s Holiday is a comedy movie released in 2007. It was directed by Steve...

Oh, Canada

Oh, Canada

by | May 17, 2024 |

The Richard Gere-Cannes starrer ‘Oh, Canada’ gives us good and bad Paul Schrader in its dry tautness and weirdly unsatisfactory ending.

Desert of Namibia

Desert of Namibia

by | May 17, 2024 | ,

Yuumi Kawai delivers a storm of a performance as a young bipolar woman struggling with Japan’s unspoken social norms in “Desert of Namibia”, Japanese filmmaker Yoko Yamanaka’s stunning sophomore effort.

The Invasion

The Invasion

by | May 17, 2024 | ,

Sergei Loznitsa follows up his landmark 2014 doc ‘Maidan’ with a more recent portrait showing the impact of Russian aggression on his country in ‘The Invasion’.

IF

IF

by | May 17, 2024 |

John Krasinski’s sledgehammer whimsy kills whatever charm this celebration of childhood imagination might have possessed.

Bird

Bird

by | May 16, 2024 | , ,

In ‘Bird’ Andrea Arnold once again shows she has the magic keys – in this case Franz Rogowski’s piercingly tender bird-man, and Barry Keoghan’s manically affectionate drug-dealer dad — to extract drama, fantasy and authentic emotion from characters living on the lowest rungs of English society.

Furiosa

Furiosa

by | May 16, 2024 | ,

Fails to meet the impossible task of matching, let alone surpassing, its legendary predecessor, but George Miller’s action sequences still pack a punch, even when they reek of déjà vu.

The Second Act

The Second Act

by | May 15, 2024 | ,

Profilic French prankster Quentin Dupieux finds the funny side of cancel culture, AI and actorly vanity in his meta-comic Cannes film festival curtain-raiser ‘The Second Act’.

Location flashback: Rocketman (2019)

Location flashback: Rocketman (2019)

by | May 14, 2024 |

In this scene, Elton John (played by Taron Egerton), marks his continued efforts to gain control over his struggles with physical and mental health, performing on the beach in the music video for for his hit song “Im Still Standing". The video serves as a tribute to...

Microsoft Café launches at Majestic Beach

Microsoft Café launches at Majestic Beach

by | May 13, 2024 |

Microsoft, in partnership with the Marché du Film & Festival de Cannes, is launching a new, vibrant hub at the Majestic Beach, inviting festival and market attendees to immerse themselves in the the world of AI and the potential it holds for the film industry. During...

Location Flashback: Paris Can Wait (2016)

Location Flashback: Paris Can Wait (2016)

by | May 13, 2024 |

In this scene, Anne Lockwood (Diane Lane), takes a last glance at the scenic French Riviera before heading to the Cannes Film Festival with her husband, a film producer (Alec Baldwin). Unfortunately, her husband is too absorbed in business matters to appreciate the...

Cannes Launches Immersive Competition

Cannes Launches Immersive Competition

by | May 12, 2024 |

The Festival de Cannes is introducing a new Immersive Competition, aimed at highlighting the next generation of international artists who are redefining storytelling through new narrative-driven experiences that transcend the traditional two-dimensional cinema screen....

Location Flashback: To Catch a Thief (1955)

Location Flashback: To Catch a Thief (1955)

by | May 12, 2024 |

In this scene: John Robie/Conrad Burns (played by Cary Grant) and Francie Stevens(played by Grace Kelly) stroll through the gardens of the Sanford Villa pretending to look for a property to buy. However, Francie is more interested in discussing John’s choice of women,...

Cinéma de la Plage 2024 Schedule

Cinéma de la Plage 2024 Schedule

by | May 12, 2024 |

Cinéma de la Plage 2024 Schedule: This year’s schedule includes films by Jackie Chan, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Rachid Bouchareb, Tony Gatlif, Danny Boyle, and continuation of the tribute to Studio Ghibli. Tuesday May 14 TRAINSPOTTING (4K Restoration) Danny...

I Bambini di Gaza

I Bambini di Gaza

by | May 12, 2024 |

A Palestinian and an Israeli boy bond over surfing in a vivid if familiar story from the Second Intifada that today feels more than slightly unread.

Time To Be Strong

Time To Be Strong

by | May 8, 2024 | ,

Scooping three awards at the Jeonju International Film Festival, Namkoong Sun’s ‘Time To Be Strong’ is a winning drama about three traumatized losers in the brutal K-pop rat race.

eoFlix to partner with médiaClub

eoFlix to partner with médiaClub

by | May 2, 2024 |

Entertainment Oxygen, also known as eoFlix, a digital networking and self-distribution platform for the entertainment industry has recently announced a strategic partnership with médiaClub, the largest association of media professionals in France. This partnership is...

The Fall Guy

The Fall Guy

by | May 1, 2024 |

This valentine to action-packed moviemaking works best when it ignores the plot and focuses on stunt craft and the explosive rom-com banter between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.

SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL MOVING TO LOS ANGELES

SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL MOVING TO LOS ANGELES

by | Apr 30, 2024 |

Slamdance Organization announced that its annual film festival will move to Los Angeles. The festival will run February 20-26, 2025 at venues in Hollywood, and the surrounding area. Theatres include the Landmark Theatres and the DGA Theater Complex, with more...

Adam Ghobiral launches Edgy Media

Adam Ghobiral launches Edgy Media

by | Apr 26, 2024 |

Edgy Media is a new film distribution and sales company, aiming to make its mark with a fresh and ambitious approach. The company is founded by Adam Ghobrial, an industry veteran with 20 years of experience. The company's goal is to link groundbreaking storytelling...

Studio Ghibli to receive Honorary Palme d’Or

Studio Ghibli to receive Honorary Palme d’Or

by | Apr 17, 2024 |

The Cannes Film Festival is presenting its Honorary Palme d'Or award to Studio Ghibli. This studio, led by storytellers Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, has introduced a breath of fresh air in the world of animated films over the last forty years, creating a host of...

Challengers

Challengers

by | Apr 12, 2024 |

Luca Guadagnino’s twisty, sexy, adult tennis saga entwines three players who understand each other (and themselves) on the court but have a harder time working outside the lines.

Civil War

Civil War

by | Apr 12, 2024 |

Alex Garland can mount a battle sequence as well as any filmmaker working today, but the lack of political context and specificity undermines this ambitious film.

Cannes 2024 Line Up Announced

Cannes 2024 Line Up Announced

by | Apr 11, 2024 |

The 77th edition of the Festival de Cannes announced. Opening film THE SECOND ACT (LE DEUXIÈME ACTE) by Quentin DUPIEUX – Out of Competition In Competition THE APPRENTICE by Ali ABBASI MOTEL DESTINO by Karim AÏNOUZ BIRD by Andrea ARNOLD EMILIA PEREZ by Jacques AUDIARD...

Monkey Man

Monkey Man

by | Apr 5, 2024 |

Dev Patel makes a dazzling directorial debut that mixes stylish ultra-violence with a provocative political point of view.

The Podcast Becomes an Industry Powercast

The Podcast Becomes an Industry Powercast

by | Apr 3, 2024 |

TFVN is a trailblazing podcast platform focusing on the global film industry, delivering dynamic audio content tailored for professionals, creatives, enthusiasts and students, revolutionizing the way industry insights are accessed and fostering valuable connections within the international film community.

Stockfish Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Stockfish Celebrates 10th Anniversary

by | Mar 27, 2024 |

Stockfish Film and Industry Festival announces its 10th anniversary celebration. To mark the occasion, Stockfish is offering free admission to this year's festivities. The festival offers a diverse program for professionals in the industry. Emphasis is placed on...

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

by | Mar 20, 2024 |

A franchise once built on comedy with some creepy ghosts on the side now feels more committed to nostalgic brand-building, sprinkled with forgettable scares and half-hearted attempts at humor.

Kung Fu Panda 4

Kung Fu Panda 4

by | Mar 6, 2024 |

Brisk, exciting and genuinely funny, ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ is the highlight of this
long-running franchise, furthering the hero’s journey to enlightenment, working wonders
with its ensemble cast, and embracing the philosophical spirit of kung fu.

All Shall Be Well

All Shall Be Well

by | Feb 27, 2024 | ,

When her lover of forty years suddenly dies, Angie discovers she has no rights even to her own apartment in Ray Yeung’s Teddy Award-winning ‘All Shall Be Well’, a heartfelt though unexceptional drama revealing Hong Kong’s unjust inheritance laws for same-sex couples.

Berlin 2024: The Awards

Berlin 2024: The Awards

by | Feb 25, 2024 | ,

The Berlinale awards celebrated cultural differences, with the Golden Bear going to Mati Diop’s poetic and thoughtful documentary on colonialism ‘Dahomey’, which follows the return of looted cultural artefacts to Benin.

Berlin Bear Turns EFM into a Bull Market

Berlin Bear Turns EFM into a Bull Market

by | Feb 23, 2024 | ,

By Liza Foreman This week’s European Film Market in Berlin had buyers buzzing about big projects. Jason Resnick, consultant and former acquisitions exec at Universal said: “There were a lot of commercial projects with big stars which got the buyers excited. Post the...

In the Belly of A Tiger

In the Belly of A Tiger

by | Feb 23, 2024 | ,

Bowing in the Berlinale’s independently curated Forum programme, Indian filmmaker Siddartha Jatla’s second feature, ‘In the Belly of a Tiger’, combines social critique with magical realism to depict the struggles of India’s rural poor.

Creating Gender Parity, Breaking Through the Lens

Creating Gender Parity, Breaking Through the Lens

by | Feb 23, 2024 |

BY Liza FOREMAN The year 2018 was a special Cannes for women filmmakers in several ways. Nina Menkes, the iconic feminist director of films like 'Queen of Diamonds', (restored by Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation), stood on stage at The Members Club to hold court...

Sons

Sons

by | Feb 22, 2024 | ,

Gustav Möller returns to the thriller genre with his second feature ‘Sons’, bolstered by terrific performances.

Above The Dust

Above The Dust

by | Feb 22, 2024 | ,

Wang Xiaoshuai, controversially without an official screening permit, returns to Berlin with another superb picture about Chinese politics (and peasantry) featuring outstanding performances and stellar dialogue.

Who Do I Belong To?

Who Do I Belong To?

by | Feb 22, 2024 | ,

A misguided narrative full of ill-thought-out atmospheric twists spoils the cinematic attractions of Tunisian-American Meryem Joobeur’s debut feature about a family torn apart when two sons join Daesh.

Yanks Pull Rank at EFM

Yanks Pull Rank at EFM

by | Feb 22, 2024 | ,

BY LIZA FOREMAN This year’s European Film Market has been awash in big titles sold by a slew of independent sales companies that are creating momentum going into 2024. At this week’s EFM, buzz titles like 'Oh Canada' from Paul Schrader, Oscar nominee Celine Song’s...

Black Tea

Black Tea

by | Feb 22, 2024 | , ,

The gap between African and Chinese culture proves easier to breach than the perspectives that separate a woman and a man in acclaimed director Abderrahmane Sissako’s ‘Black Tea’, a fascinating love story set in China but one that sadly gets lost in the telling.

Cu Li Never Cries

Cu Li Never Cries

by | Feb 21, 2024 | ,

Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Ngoc Lan’s first feature, ‘Cu Li Never Cries’, is an absorbing, beautiful ode about a pensioner’s nostalgia for her past and a young couple’s uncertainty about their future.

Borgonzoni and Rivkin Meet at Berlinale

Borgonzoni and Rivkin Meet at Berlinale

by | Feb 21, 2024 | ,

The Undersecretary of the Culture Ministry, Lucia Borgonzoni hosted a private meeting Tuesday at The Italian Pavilion between Italian cinema representatives and the US Motion Picture Association. Lucia Borgonzoni in a closed door meeting with Charles Rivkin, President...

Rising Up at Night

Rising Up at Night

by | Feb 21, 2024 | ,

Nelson Makengo’s beautifully shot and observed documentary ‘Rising Up at Night’ captures the darkness of Kinshasa after severe flooding and electricity cuts, along with the resilience of its people.

Intercepted

Intercepted

by | Feb 21, 2024 | , ,

Ukrainian director Oksana Karpovych’s quietly powerful documentary ‘Intercepted’ combines bleakly beautiful, defiantly hopeful images of her war-ravaged homeland with recordings of phone calls made by invading Russian soldiers.

Dune: Part Two

Dune: Part Two

by | Feb 21, 2024 |

The second chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation delivers on the visual grandeur and political intrigue, even if the characters tend to be reduced to their plot function.

Gloria!

Gloria!

by | Feb 21, 2024 | ,

A joyful feminist fantasy set in Venice in 1800, in which music unchains an orphanage full of talented girl musicians, ‘Gloria!’ will split audiences into two distinct camps.

Some Rain Must Fall

Some Rain Must Fall

by | Feb 20, 2024 | , ,

A depressed Chinese woman tired of her unaffectionate family and middle class life heads towards a breakdown in ‘Some Rain Must Fall,’ the first feature by Qiu Yang, whose minimalist storytelling is full of atmosphere and foreboding.

Diaries from Lebanon

Diaries from Lebanon

by | Feb 20, 2024 | ,

Three people in Beirut representing the past, present and future of Lebanon experience the hopes, disappointments and decimated sense of stability in Myriam El Hajj’s sad yet defiant documentary tracing the country’s ups and downs since 2018.

Pepe

Pepe

by | Feb 20, 2024 | ,

Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias’s fanciful exploration of the inner life of one of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos, Pepe, is an idiosyncratic affair as piercing and beguiling as it is confounding.

Langue étrangère

Langue étrangère

by | Feb 19, 2024 | ,

In her first solo directing stint ‘Langue étrangère’, Camera d’Or winner Claire Burger cleverly evokes the fears and anxieties of two middle-class 17-year-old European girls about to inherit a world racked with violently diverging political opinions.

Afterwar

Afterwar

by | Feb 19, 2024 | ,

Shot over 15 years, Birgitte Stærmose’s deeply empathetic documentary, focused on child survivors, is an intimate and diligent depiction of the lingering aftermath of war.

Architecton

Architecton

by | Feb 19, 2024 | , ,

Another stunning documentary from Victor Kossakovsky full of gob-smacking immersive images of the natural world, pitched this time as a call for a harmonious alliance between nature and architecture.

The Italian Connection

The Italian Connection

by | Feb 19, 2024 | ,

The Italian Ministry of Culture, with Cinecitta’, are hosting a series of events in the Gropius Dome at the Italian Pavilion. Organizers of the Italian film industry say the focus-event aims to introduce a new format yet unseen at international festivals that will not...

Arcadia

Arcadia

by | Feb 18, 2024 | ,

The living haunt the dead in Yorgos Zois’s sexy glumfest ‘Arcadia’, an aching, downbeat tale about loss and lingering grief, told from the ghosts’ POV.

Maria’s Silence

Maria’s Silence

by | Feb 18, 2024 | , ,

The true story of Latvian-born German silent film diva Maria Leiko and her fateful journey to Stalin’s USSR in 1937 is retold in Davis Simanis’s ‘Maria’s Silence’ with a tragic depth that is engrossing and emotional.

Dahomey

Dahomey

by | Feb 18, 2024 | , , ,

Mati Diop’s thought-provokingly cerebral-poetic documentary follows the return of 26 looted cultural artefacts and their welcome home to Benin, encompassing the celebrations as well as larger debates around colonialization and how to reintegrate such potently spiritual objects into a society 130 years after they were plundered.

Suspended Time

Suspended Time

by | Feb 17, 2024 | , ,

Olivier Assayas’s semi-autobiographical reverie ‘Suspended Time’ on his stay in the family home during lockdown, is likely his weakest work, playing like a parody of an intellectualized director’s banal ruminations.

Another End

Another End

by | Feb 17, 2024 | , ,

Corporate scientists use memory technology to bring back the dead for a brief reunion with their loved ones (played by Gael Garcia Bernal and Bérénice Bejo), in Piero Messina’s clever but often perplexing ‘Another End’, whose futuristic love story beyond the grave is a mighty challenge to unravel.

Demba

Demba

by | Feb 17, 2024 | ,

Although a bit too dry for a wide audience, Mamadou Dia’s ‘Demba’ has moments of visual grace, a great central performance, and a compelling subject at its core.

La cocina

La cocina

by | Feb 16, 2024 | , ,

A disappointing, maddeningly self-indulgent plunge into the tensions and inequities in the kitchen of a Times Square eatery, designed as an anti-capitalist diatribe messily juggling personal and choral storytelling but saved to some degree by excellent chiaroscuro camerawork and a strong cast.

The Editorial Office

The Editorial Office

by | Feb 16, 2024 | ,

In the week between the Grammys and the Super Bowl, Human Rights Watch announced that Vladimir Putin and other military officials should be investigated for war crimes following Russia’s assault on Mariupol. On Valentine’s Day it was reported that UNESCO calculated...

Every You Every Me

Every You Every Me

by | Feb 16, 2024 | ,

Michael Fetter Nathansky, with assistance from lead actress Aenne Schwarz, inspects a shaky relationship in the shadow of work pressures in this adequately sensitive, surreal, and discomfiting look at marriage and its dissatisfactions.

Market Voices

Market Voices

by | Feb 16, 2024 | ,

by Liza Foreman For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned. Pedro Peira,...

Crossing

Crossing

by | Feb 16, 2024 | ,

Jennie Livingston’s seminal Paris is Burning was probably the first hit film to show what LGBTQ+ people have always known: we make our own families. They’re often not biological but they are carefully chosen, proving that genetics is no determinant of unconditional...

My Favourite Cake

My Favourite Cake

by | Feb 16, 2024 | ,

A small jewel of an Iranian romantic comedy, ‘My Favourite Cake’ pits an older woman determined to find a measure of happiness against the restrictions of the Islamic regime and the loneliness of aging, while the film’s creators Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha have been banned from traveling to Berlin.

Small Things Like These

Small Things Like These

by | Feb 15, 2024 | ,

Cillian Murphy follows his huge ‘Oppenheimer’ success with glum but powerful personal project ‘Small Things Like These’, a soulful literary psychodrama about mercy, empathy, complicity and dark misdeeds in 1980s Ireland.

Unifrance’s Game Changer, Daniela Elstner

Unifrance’s Game Changer, Daniela Elstner

by | Feb 15, 2024 |

By Liza Foreman PARIS - The Hôtel du Collectionneur is awash with French cinema talent and journalists buzzing between interview rooms at the tail end of the annual UniFrance Meetings in Paris a few weeks ago. But Daniela Elstner, the Executive Director of the French...

Madame Web

Madame Web

by | Feb 13, 2024 |

Despite a tangled narrative web, this arachnid superhero saga makes a far better would-be tentpole in Sony’s Spider-verse than ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ or ‘Morbius,’ thanks mainly to Dakota Johnson.

ITALIA IN FOCUS AT BERLIN

ITALIA IN FOCUS AT BERLIN

by | Feb 12, 2024 |

The Berlinale European Film Market (EFM) this year spotlights the artistry of Italian filmmakers and will offer industry participants opportunities to network with a variety of Italian producers, distributors, investors and experts. The 2024 EFM kicks off February 15...

 20 Days in Mariupol

 20 Days in Mariupol

by | Feb 10, 2024 |

The start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is captured with total professionality by AP correspondent Mstyslav Chernov and his team in ’20 Days in Mariupol’, in iconic images that strike the heart forcefully in a classic, masterful documentary on war.

EUFCN Location Award Finalists

EUFCN Location Award Finalists

by | Feb 5, 2024 | ,

European Film Commissions Network (EUFCN) member film commissions had the opportunity to submit one location from a feature film or a TV series shot in their territory and released between Oct. 3rd 2022 and Sept. 11th 2023. The Location Award Jury selected the five...

Location Flashback: The Fault in Our Stars

Location Flashback: The Fault in Our Stars

by | Feb 2, 2024 |

This is an establishing shot of the hotel where Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) and Gus Waters (Angel Elgort) stay while on their trip to Amsterdam. The Fault in Our Stars is an American coming of age romance film directed by Josh Boone, based on the novel of...

Portrait of a Certain Orient

Portrait of a Certain Orient

by | Feb 2, 2024 | ,

Awash in a luxuriant atmosphere of passion and emotional discovery created by exquisite b&w images of seas rivers and jungles, Marcelo Gomes’s three characters struggle to shake off the past and move forward post-WW2 in ‘Portrait of a Certain Orient’.

Grey Bees

Grey Bees

by | Feb 1, 2024 | ,

Dmytro Moiseiev’s laconic portrait of a solitary beekeeper with an evolving political consciousness in the “grey zone” of Donetsk is sage and affecting.

78 Days

78 Days

by | Feb 1, 2024 | ,

Using the aesthetics of home video, with 78 Days Emilija Gasic crafts a poignant coming-of-age drama set amidst the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO.

Locarno Shorts Weeks: 29 films for 29 Days

Locarno Shorts Weeks: 29 films for 29 Days

by | Feb 1, 2024 |

Throughout the month of February, the Locarno Film Festival will showcase 29 dazzling short films as part of the Locarno Shorts Weeks, one of its most highly awaited online spin-off events for audiences around the world, with the leap year bringing one extra day and...

Tenement

Tenement

by | Jan 31, 2024 | ,

The traumas of Cambodia’s past stretch their icy fingers into the present in Tenement, a deeply unsettling psychological horror set in a rundown Khmer-era housing block.

Animalia Paradoxa

Animalia Paradoxa

by | Jan 31, 2024 | ,

Using a blend of stop-motion animation and live-action, Niles Atallah gorgeously crafts a mesmeric, dying world of analogue detritus and vestiges of magical knowledge, in which a half-amphibian being dreams of survival.

Swimming Home

Swimming Home

by | Jan 29, 2024 | ,

A cryptic Deborah Levy novel is stylised for the screen as an elusive and surrealistic dance of the subconscious, as an uninvited guest crashes a poet’s family vacation.

Under a Blue Sun

Under a Blue Sun

by | Jan 28, 2024 | , ,

Set in the Negev Desert where action blockbuster ‘Rambo III’ was shot, ‘Under a Blue Sun’ is an intricately layered doc scrutinising the intersection of war simulation, oppression and entertainment.

Moses

Moses

by | Jan 27, 2024 | ,

Baffling, free-ranging and mesmeric, ‘Moses’ roams through a text on religion by Freud with deadpan Finnish humour that grounds its kooky performance art.

Ama Gloria

Ama Gloria

by | Jan 23, 2024 | ,

An intimate and profound study of a child’s need for maternal love, with outstanding acting from 6-year old Louise Mauroy-Panzani and her nanny, Ilça Moreno Zego.

Ibelin

Ibelin

by | Jan 22, 2024 | , ,

Computer games offer a severely disabled young man an emotionally rich alternative life in Norwegian director Benjamin Ree’s moving, visually impressive documentary ‘Ibelin’.

Meet the IFFR Jury

Meet the IFFR Jury

by | Jan 21, 2024 |

The Tiger Competition Jury consists of Marco Müller, former director of Locarno, Venice, and IFFR (1989–1991); Ena Sendijarevi?, a Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker known for her acclaimed debut Take Me Somewhere Nice (IFFR 2019) and the Netherlands’ Oscars submission Sweet...

Europeans at the Sundance Film Festival 2024

Europeans at the Sundance Film Festival 2024

by | Jan 17, 2024 |

In collaboration with the Sundance Film Festival and with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA of the European Union, EFP provides a meeting space for the European film industry at the DoubleTree Hotel, The Yarrow, to promote and celebrate the diversity of European...

The Film Verdict 2024 Editorial Calendar

The Film Verdict 2024 Editorial Calendar

by | Jan 16, 2024 |

The Film Verdict announces it's 2024 Film Festival coverage. EFP European Films at Sundance Jan 18 – 28 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) Jan 25 - Feb 4 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) FEB 15 – 25 Hong Kong International Film Festival March...

I.S.S.

I.S.S.

by | Jan 15, 2024 |

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Cold-War-in-space thriller benefits from a lean-and-mean B-movie sensibility crossed with seamless effects work and potent performances.

Mean Girls

Mean Girls

by | Jan 10, 2024 |

A pleasant-enough musical reworking of the 2004 comedy, hitting the big screen on its way to becoming a slumber-party staple for decades to come.

Entertainment Oxygen adds 3 new Festivals

Entertainment Oxygen adds 3 new Festivals

by | Jan 9, 2024 |

Entertainment Oxygen (eo), announces three new international festival partners - Soho London Independent Film Festival (January 25-28, 2024), Auroville Film Festival in India (January 22-28, 2024) and Utah International Film Festival (February 12-17, 2024)....

Night Swim

Night Swim

by | Jan 4, 2024 |

This haunted-swimming-pool thriller goes from creepy to ridiculous and back again, but as January-dumped horror films go, it’s a cut above.

El Gouna: The Verdict

El Gouna: The Verdict

by | Dec 25, 2023 | , ,

Taking place just two months after the onset of the horrendous war in Gaza, the El Gouna Film Festival’s ‘Special Edition’ was a sober but not gloomy affair that paid its respects to the Palestinian people and their cinema.

El Gouna 2023: The Awards

El Gouna 2023: The Awards

by | Dec 23, 2023 | , ,

The El Gouna Film Festival awards this year included ’Goodbye, Julia’, a Sudanese film by Mohamed Kordofani about two women divided by their cultures, which won the Cinema for Humanity Audience Award, while Egyptian director Ibrahim Nash’at’s ‘Hollywoodgate’ won as best documentary and Hong Sang-soo’s latest ‘In Our Day’ got the best narrative nod.

Flemish Economy Minister doubles budget

Flemish Economy Minister doubles budget

by | Dec 20, 2023 | ,

Flemish Economy Minister doubles budget; Screen Flanders invests three million in 14 new projects. Due to the high demand and high quality of the submitted dossiers, Flemish Minister of Economy Jo Brouns has doubled the 1.5 million euros budget initially allocated to...

The Wall

The Wall

by | Dec 19, 2023 | , ,

Vicky Krieps gives a striking performance as a racist Arizona border patrol guard in Belgian director Phillippe Van Leeuw’s otherwise underwhelming contemporary frontier western ‘The Wall’.

The Teacher

The Teacher

by | Dec 18, 2023 | , ,

Gaining extra urgency in the light of current events, British-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi’s debut feature ‘The Teacher’ is a well-intentioned but flawed drama set in the occupied West Bank

Q

Q

by | Dec 17, 2023 | ,

An all-female Islamic sect in Lebanon first ensnares, then abandons a deeply spiritual woman, along with her mother and her daughter, in Jude Chehab’s intriguing but unstructured portrait of her unusual family in ‘Q’.

Seven Winters in Tehran

Seven Winters in Tehran

by | Dec 16, 2023 | ,

The cruel and gripping story of Reyhaneh Jabbari, a 19-year-old Iranian woman convicted of murdering a man who attempted to rape her, unfolds like a thriller in Steffi Niederzoll’s documentary recreation, ‘Seven Winters in Tehran’.

From Abdul to Leila

From Abdul to Leila

by | Dec 16, 2023 | ,

French-Iraqi director Leila Albayaty explores her own complex cultural roots, painful family tensions and buried traumatic memories in her emotionally raw docu-musical ‘From Abdul to Leila’.

Dreaming & Dying

Dreaming & Dying

by | Dec 15, 2023 | ,

Magical realism and Far East ghost stories inject a thrilling, if not always crystal clear, element into Nelson Yeo’s fishy tale of an overage and not completely human love triangle, ‘Dreaming & Dying’.

Scrapper

Scrapper

by | Dec 14, 2023 | ,

A charmingly eccentric 12-year-old girl struggles to bond with her estranged father in writer-director Charlotte Regan’s funny, sunny, prize-winning debut feature ‘Scrapper’.

How to Have Sex

How to Have Sex

by | Dec 12, 2023 | ,

A timely coming-of-age drama about young women dealing with the complexities of sexual consent, writer-director Molly Manning Walker’s prize-winning debut feature ‘How to Have Sex’ is impressively nuanced and emotionally rich.

Voy! Voy! Voy!

Voy! Voy! Voy!

by | Dec 9, 2023 |

Omar Hilal’s compelling ‘Voy! Voy! Voy!’, Egypt’s Oscar submission, dissects how far a bunch of Egyptian men will go to immigrate to Europe by impersonating blind soccer players,

The Boy and the Heron

The Boy and the Heron

by | Dec 9, 2023 |

At age 82, Hayao Miyazaki proves once again that he’s our greatest living animator with this haunting tale of a boy on a mystical adventure in WWII-era Japan.

Fabrique du Cinema Awards Finalists Announced

Fabrique du Cinema Awards Finalists Announced

by | Dec 5, 2023 |

FABRIQUE DU CINÉMA AWARDS has been promoting the creativity of young and talented directors, actors and writers. Filmmakers from all over the world are invited to submit their work. With more than 1,300 submissions every year from more than 70 countries, the FABRIQUE...

Wonka

Wonka

by | Dec 4, 2023 |

Musical prequel manages to find the sweet spot between the wicked psychedelia of the original Willy Wonka and the feel-good delights of the director’s Paddington movies.

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé

by | Dec 2, 2023 |

More a retrospective documentary than a traditional concert film, this souvenir of Beyoncé’s recent smash tour will delight fans who want a peek behind the scenes even as those peeks occasionally distract from the artist’s extraordinary stagecraft.

The Last Ashes

The Last Ashes

by | Dec 2, 2023 | ,

A lone woman rides into famine-ridden 19th century Luxembourg hell-bent on revenge in Loïc Tanson’s enjoyably erudite first feature ‘The Last Ashes’, intriguingly poised between European fairy tale and the American Western.

Wish

Wish

by | Nov 27, 2023 |

What was clearly designed to be a victory lap for Disney’s 100th anniversary will be mostly forgotten by the time the studio turns 101.

IDFA: The Awards

IDFA: The Awards

by | Nov 20, 2023 | ,

Shoghakat Vardanyan’s ‘1489’ wins Best Film at IDFA for its humor and humanity in what the jury called “a vivid evocation of 100 years of history in less than 100 minutes of cinema.”

The Night Guardian

The Night Guardian

by | Nov 17, 2023 |

 For the fourth time, award-winning director Reza Mirkarimi is repping Iran at the Oscars with ‘The Night Guardian’, handling a predictably downbeat social drama set amid Iran’s swelling underclass with a delicate, sensitive touch, illuminated by young actor Touraj Alvand.

The Burden

The Burden

by | Nov 15, 2023 | ,

Elvis Sabin Ngaibino’s IDFA 2023 documentary, ‘The Burden’, walks a familiar path of African misery, but his compelling subjects lends this sophomore feature documentary a deserved poignancy.

IDFA Forum Awards Announced

IDFA Forum Awards Announced

by | Nov 15, 2023 |

Mohammed Almughanni’s project Son of the Streets won the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch, Amber Fares’ Coexistence, My Ass! took home the Forum Award for Best Rough Cut, and the DocLab Forum Award went to Turbulence by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts. Each award...

Napoleon

Napoleon

by | Nov 15, 2023 |

While this sumptuously mounted production delivers as a sweeping war epic, one hopes Ridley Scott’s promised director’s cut will fill in the emotional and historical blanks.

Hot Docs Welcomes Hussain Currimbhoy

Hot Docs Welcomes Hussain Currimbhoy

by | Nov 14, 2023 |

Hussain Currimbhoy, whose film industry career and passion for championing works by marginalized filmmakers, is set to bring a new vision to Hot Docs, overseeing programming for Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto’s Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema...

Tehachapi

Tehachapi

by | Nov 13, 2023 | , ,

French visual artist and film-maker JR chronicles his grand-scale collaboration with the inmates of a maximum-security prison in his didactic but uplifting documentary ‘Tehachapi’.

Limitation

Limitation

by | Nov 13, 2023 | ,

A raw and immediate found-footage assemblage, ‘Limitation’ traces Russia’s hand in the coup that overthrew Georgia’s first post-Soviet president Zviad Gamsakhurdia.

Alreadymade

Alreadymade

by | Nov 12, 2023 | , ,

Director Barbara Visser explores the controversial links between pioneering Dadaist artists Marcel Duchamp and Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven in her lively, adventurous, unconventional documentary ‘Alreadymade’.

In Wolf Country

In Wolf Country

by | Nov 12, 2023 | ,

Fear-stoking myths around wolves, back in Germany after a century, are dismantled in Ralf Bücheler’s doc ‘In Wolf Country’, appealing to nature management via science.

Magic Mountain

Magic Mountain

by | Nov 9, 2023 | ,

A haunting, poetic doc with political undercurrents, ‘Magic Mountain’ examines a once-grand sanitorium in the Georgian mountains lost to the vultures of capitalism.

A Picture to Remember

A Picture to Remember

by | Nov 8, 2023 | ,

Olga Chernykh’s poetic, vividly sensorial essay-doc debut ‘A Picture to Remember’ reconstitutes Donetsk as a cinematic site of memories for three family generations of women.

The Marvels

The Marvels

by | Nov 8, 2023 |

This admirable attempt at subverting superhero-movie formula and tone should have soared beyond where MCU movies typically go.

Göteborg Film Festival Brings on Pia Lundberg

Göteborg Film Festival Brings on Pia Lundberg

by | Nov 7, 2023 |

Pia Lundberg has been appointed as the new Artistic Director of Göteborg Film Festival. Lundberg, who most recently served as Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Sweden in London, has broad and varied experience in the film industry. She is a trained...

Dance Still

Dance Still

by | Oct 18, 2023 | , ,

Awarded by both the main and youth juries at Pingyao, ‘Dance Still’ is directing duo Qin Muqiu and Zhan Hanqi’s triumph of a slacker comedy, trading in jet-black absurdist humour aimed at China’s bewildered millennials.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

by | Oct 14, 2023 |

Nearly three hours of Taylor Swift in concert might be too much of a good thing for newcomers, but devotees will wish this beautifully shot and edited performance doc had been even longer.

Play Dead!

Play Dead!

by | Oct 14, 2023 | , ,

Documentary director Matthew Lancit addresses his existential health fears through horror movie tropes in ‘Play Dead!’. a compelling hybrid blend of non-fiction and playful fakery.

One Hundred Four

One Hundred Four

by | Oct 13, 2023 | ,

‘One Hundred Four’ is the number of refugees stranded on one of the world’s deadly smuggling routes, the Mediterranean, in Jonathan Schörnig’s real-time documentary.

Location Flashback: Uncharted (2022)

Location Flashback: Uncharted (2022)

by | Oct 11, 2023 |

In this scene, Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) wipes down a table at a New York City bar as he makes small talk with a patron before stealing a diamond bracelet off her wrist. "Uncharted", originally set to be released on December 18, 2020, faced delays due to the COVID-19...

DOK Industry Awards 2023 Announced

DOK Industry Awards 2023 Announced

by | Oct 11, 2023 |

At the DOK Co-Pro Market, a total of three awards have been presented. Belarusian director Daria Yurkevich and her project “GENESIS" (Belarus, Germany) received the Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director. The prize is endowed with 5,000...

Location Flashback: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Location Flashback: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

by | Oct 10, 2023 |

In this scene, Deputy Kovacs (Jeff Goldblum) weaves his way through the Kunst Museum in an effort to elude J.G. Jopling (Willem Dafoe), a henchman, and also the man who killed his cat - sent by Madame D’s (Tilda Swinton) evil son and heir, Dmitri (Adrian Brody). The...

The Last Relic

The Last Relic

by | Oct 8, 2023 | ,

Masses seduced by past imperialistic might and activists seeking change present clashing public spectacles in Marianna Kaat’s punchy, broad-strokes doc on modern Russia.

Meet the Juries of Dok Leipzig

Meet the Juries of Dok Leipzig

by | Oct 7, 2023 | ,

Three juries comprised of distinguished filmmakers and arts professionals, as well as a jury of audience members, will be presenting awards for short and feature-length animated and documentary films in competition at the 66th edition of DOK Leipzig. The jury members...

Knit’s Island

Knit’s Island

by | Oct 7, 2023 | ,

A trio of documentarians traverse the forbidding digital landscapes of an online survivalist video game to explore the communities that have emerged there in this verité machinima, Knit’s Island.

Toll

Toll

by | Sep 29, 2023 | ,

Lively characters get involved in a farcical church course designed to rewire gays in the otherwise staid ‘Toll’ (‘Pedagio’), a story about coping with poverty and ignorance in remote Brazil.

Red Island

Red Island

by | Sep 28, 2023 | ,

In equal parts fiercely amusing and roundly desolating, Robin Campillo’s ‘Red Island’, an offbeat look at the end of French colonialism in Madagascar, is a crowd-pleaser in San Sebastian’s Official Selection.

German Films Travel

German Films Travel

by | Sep 28, 2023 | ,

BY LIZA FOREMAN SAN SEBASTIAN - It wasn't long ago that German directors making the festival rounds typically were Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlondorff. But a slew of newer directors has come up through the ranks in the past two...

Ex-Husbands

Ex-Husbands

by | Sep 28, 2023 | , ,

Griffin Dunne, James Norton and Miles Heizer co-star in Noah Pritzker’s underpowered but charming ensemble drama ‘Ex-Husbands’. which pays fond homage to a lost analogue era of bittersweet New York comedies.

The Rye Horn

The Rye Horn

by | Sep 27, 2023 | ,

Celebrating the natural cycles of life in women’s ever-changing bodies, Jaione Camborda’s second feature ‘The Rye Horn’ is a moving period drama that touches on abortion laws in 1971 Spain.

The Creator

The Creator

by | Sep 26, 2023 |

While lovely to look at, Gareth Edwards’ latest doesn’t make the case for why we should stop worrying and learn to love AI.

SURPRISE MOVIE AT SAN SEBASTIAN

SURPRISE MOVIE AT SAN SEBASTIAN

by | Sep 26, 2023 |

David Fincher’s eagerly awaited new movie, "The Killer," is the surprise film at the 71st San Sebastian Festival. From the director of Se7en, Zodiac and The Social Network, and based on the homonymous novel by Alexis Nolent (Matz) and illustrated by Luc Jacamon, The...

Kalak

Kalak

by | Sep 25, 2023 | , ,

A deeply damaged Danish man relocates to Greenland in a bid to escape childhood sexual trauma in Swedish director Isabella Eklöf’s bleakly compelling drama ‘Kalak’, which is based on real events.

Last Shadow at First Light

Last Shadow at First Light

by | Sep 24, 2023 | ,

The 2012 Tohoku tsunami still holds an anguished Japanese-Singapore family in its clutches in ‘Last Shadow at First Light’, a complex, if at times overwritten, examination of survivors’ guilt  in a first feature from Nicole Midori Woodford.

3 Film Clinic movies head to the Oscars

3 Film Clinic movies head to the Oscars

by | Sep 21, 2023 |

Three films produced and distributed by Film Clinic will represent Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon at the 2022 Oscars® in the International Feature Film category. In Jordan, an independent committee of professional experts selected Amira to represent Jordan at the Oscars....

CineVerdict: Memoria

CineVerdict: Memoria

by | Sep 20, 2023 | , ,

CINE VERDICT: Después de su inquietante pero bien recibido thriller `Sundown`, el director mexicano Michel Franco , continúa  con `Memoria` un drama familiar-romance dibujado con plantilla , actuado por Jessica Chastain en el papel de una trabajadora social emocionalmente afectada, en Brooklyn.

The Belgian Wave

The Belgian Wave

by | Sep 16, 2023 | , ,

Cult director Jérôme Vandewattyne uses a spate of real UFO sightings as the launchpad for ‘The Belgian Wave’, an incoherent but highly entertaining acid-punk sci-fi road movie about close encounters of the surreal kind.

Oldenburg at 30: Impressions and Memories

Oldenburg at 30: Impressions and Memories

by | Sep 16, 2023 |

Oldenburg Film Festival has evolved over the past 30 years, while preserving its intimate atmosphere and founding purpose: to celebrate and support the diverse voices and visions of independent filmmakers, to honor the creativity of the artists upon which the Festival...

Frames of Alicia

Frames of Alicia

by | Sep 15, 2023 | ,

A troubled young Swedish woman finds Copenhagen to be a town without pity in Danish director Adam Benjamin Mikkelsen’s slight, disjointed but emotionally powerful debut ‘Frames of Alicia’.

Maestra

Maestra

by | Sep 14, 2023 | ,

Maggie Contreras reveals workplace realities for female orchestra conductors as global candidates vie for a Paris contest title, in a warm, glossy doc with surprising political bite.

CineVerdict: La sociedad de la nieve

CineVerdict: La sociedad de la nieve

by | Sep 9, 2023 | ,

La caída del avión uruguayo en 1972 en los Andes es recreada respetuosamente y en gran detalle en “La sociedad de la nieve,” una película infartante sobre el desastre, que cierra el festival de cine de Venecia número 80, y es dirigida por J.A. Bayona, que ganó fama con “Lo imposible.”

Memory

Memory

by | Sep 9, 2023 | , ,

Mexican director Michel Franco follows up his unsettling but well-liked Tim Roth thriller ‘Sundown’ with ‘Memory’, a paint-by-numbers romance/family drama starring Jessica Chastain as an emotionally damaged social worker in Brooklyn

Coup!

Coup!

by | Sep 8, 2023 | , ,

Writer-director duo Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman blend historical pandemic echoes with timeless political tensions in their old-fashioned but engaging class-war drama ‘Coup!’

Out of Season

Out of Season

by | Sep 8, 2023 | , ,

An unexpected story of loneliness and yearning from Stéphane Brizé in which two former lovers come face-to-face with the disappointments of life, beautiful in its understatement and cinematic restraint yet still generating tremendous poignancy.

Woman Of…

Woman Of…

by | Sep 8, 2023 | ,

In ‘Woman of…’, the passive heroism of a Polish working class father of two who identifies as a woman is affectingly portrayed in the inimitable style of Malgorzata Szumowska and her co-director and D.P. Michal Englert (‘Never Gonna Snow Again’).

Holly

Holly

by | Sep 7, 2023 | ,

A high school girl demonstrates a special gift for empathy and healing others in Belgian director Fien Troch’s mysterious, multi-layered parable about the price of doing good.

Lubo

Lubo

by | Sep 7, 2023 | , ,

Part survival-revenge drama, part love story, Giorgio Diritti’s ‘Lubo’ addresses the Swiss state’s forcible removal of Jenisch children from their families beginning in the 1930s, and while Franz Rogowski’s magnetism keeps his morally complex character sympathetic, the film feels too much like a miniseries cut down to a very long feature length.

Malqueridas

Malqueridas

by | Sep 7, 2023 | ,

Women in Chilean prisons record motherhood and the raw pain of separation in Tana Gilbert’s empathetic and impressionistic, mobile-shot doc of solidarity.

Origin

Origin

by | Sep 6, 2023 | , ,

Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” is a highly ambitious attempt to fictionalize Isabel Wilkerson’s theory on the centrality of caste rather than race in determining discriminatory hierarchies, playing to the director’s strengths in terms of depicting personal relationships but also her weaknesses in several overly didactic sequences that treat characters and audiences like ignoramuses.

Following the Sound

Following the Sound

by | Sep 6, 2023 | ,

Kyoshi Sugita’s “Following the Sound” ticks all the boxes for nipponophiles seeking some extremely austere storytelling and swathes of slow-moving, soothing imagery set in a small, serene town in Japan.

Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard

by | Sep 6, 2023 | , , ,

Rural herders, urbanite journalists and a young monk consider the fate of a captured, livestock-ravaging wild animal in “Snow Leopard”, an affective, nuanced and multilayered film bowing out of competition at Venice four months after the death of its Tibetan director Pema Tseden.

Enea

Enea

by | Sep 5, 2023 | , ,

A withering take-down of Rome’s vapid middle class, Pietro Castellitto’s (‘The Predators’) exuberant second feature ‘Enea’ is an amusing, fast-paced game that winks at gangster movies and bows in Venice competition.

Sky Peals

Sky Peals

by | Sep 5, 2023 | , ,

An alienated young man becomes fixated on his late father’s extra-terrestrial origins in debutant director Moin Hussein’s underpowered but appealingly strange inner-space odyssey ‘Sky Peals’.

Pet Shop Days

Pet Shop Days

by | Sep 3, 2023 |

Olmo Schabel’s directorial debut succeeds as a delivery system for ’90s-indie vibes, but it fails to elicit empathy for its spoiled, obnoxious lead characters.

The Killer

The Killer

by | Sep 3, 2023 | ,

David Fincher brings his considerable style and craft to this procedural about a professional assassin, but not even Michael Fassbender can make the character distinguishable from a thousand other cinematic hired guns.

The Beast

The Beast

by | Sep 3, 2023 | , , , ,

The inability to open oneself to love is the main beast of Bertrand Bonello’s striking and cerebral film that follows a stalled relationship over three time periods, though the message in the central portion doesn’t have the same resonance as the other two.

Arni

Arni

by | Sep 3, 2023 | ,

Hungarian director Dorka Vermes’ feature debut ‘Arni’ is a slow-burn slice-of-life drama with an exceptional lead performance from newcomer Peter Turi.

Maestro

Maestro

by | Sep 2, 2023 | ,

Bradley Cooper’s ambitious sophomore directorial effort, about Leonard Bernstein’s married life, soars and sweeps in some passages while falling flat in others.

Adagio

Adagio

by | Sep 2, 2023 | ,

Stefano Sollima delivers the kind of gritty, testosterone-driven underworld drama we’ve come to expect, boasting exceptional performances and location work, but a highly problematic undercurrent of homophobia can’t be brushed under the soiled carpet.

Finally Dawn

Finally Dawn

by | Sep 1, 2023 | ,

Saverio Costanzo’s use of “La Dolce Vita” for a 1950s loss-of-innocence story set in Rome’s film world feels locked in its period charms, and despite excellent performances fails to resonate beyond the surface.

Stolen

Stolen

by | Sep 1, 2023 | ,

The rich/poor divide in India is staggeringly vivid in Karan Tejpal’s first feature ‘Stolen’, the desperate search for a stolen baby that is powered by exciting chases and the constant threat of violence.

Guillermo Arriaga Opens Up to TFV

Guillermo Arriaga Opens Up to TFV

by | Sep 1, 2023 |

by Liza Foreman Oscar-winning writer Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams, Amores Perros, Babel) wasn't even 30 when he was asleep in a car which fell off a cliff. But instead of ending his life, the near-fatal accident inspired the Mexican multihyphenate’s first screenplay...

Dogman

Dogman

by | Aug 31, 2023 | , ,

In a multi-faceted role, Caleb Landry Jones dazzles as the survivor of an inhuman childhood who believes only dogs can love him, in Luc Besson’s calculated, over-the-top yet poignant shaggy-dog story.

European Film Awards Documentary Selection

European Film Awards Documentary Selection

by | Aug 31, 2023 |

With 14 feature-length documentary films, the European Film Academy is presenting a strong Documentary Film Selection for the European Film Awards 2023. A committee consisting of a diverse range of invited European experts has chosen these 14 productions that have...

Ferrari

Ferrari

by | Aug 31, 2023 | ,

In his first feature film in eight years, director Michael Mann passionately captures a life where the drive for success and the threat of disaster were intricately intertwined.

El Conde

El Conde

by | Aug 31, 2023 | ,

In El conde, Pablo Larraín’s darkly comic horror-satire reveals that turning a real-life monster into the protagonist of his own monster movie is an effective way to process historical tragedy.

God is a Woman

God is a Woman

by | Aug 31, 2023 | , ,

God is a Woman, nearly fifty years after a film documenting Panama’s Kuna community was lost, Swiss-Panamanian director Andrés Peyrot tracks it down and screens it before an emotionally engaged crowd in this fascinating though flawed documentary.

Hollywoodgate

Hollywoodgate

by | Aug 31, 2023 | ,

A sobering observational documentary shot at an air force base in Afghanistan, where director Ibrahim Nash’at embedded himself in order to bear witness to the Taliban mindset.

Comandante

Comandante

by | Aug 30, 2023 | , ,

The true story of an Italian submarine commander in World War II who sank enemy ships yet saved defenseless men is told with old-fashioned gusto and retro sentimentality in ‘Comandante’, with star Pierfrancesco Favino injecting life into the film.

3 Questions for Roberto Cicutto

3 Questions for Roberto Cicutto

by | Aug 30, 2023 | ,

THE FILM VERDICT:  You have often underlined the uniqueness of the Biennale di Venezia, which encompasses art, architecture, dance, music and theater as well as cinema. You stress that it “has never been just a showcase for talents and films, it has also been a mirror...

Holding The Euro Umbrella at TIFF

Holding The Euro Umbrella at TIFF

by | Aug 28, 2023 | ,

TFV:A question to you both; how many times or years have you attended TIFF, Toronto for European Film Promotion? SONJA HEINEN: This year, it is EFP’s 25th year at TIFF! We started back then with a small table with a sign on it saying: “The Europeans.” In 2016 we...

Equalizer 3

Equalizer 3

by | Aug 26, 2023 | ,

The third film in Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua’s ultraviolent thriller series is the best one yet. (If only that meant more than it does.)

Bottoms

Bottoms

by | Aug 25, 2023 |

This queer comedy remains uncompromisingly outrageous and hilarious from start to finish, and if it’s too weird to be a box-office smash, then it has the makings of a future cult classic.

Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle

by | Aug 16, 2023 |

‘Blue Beetle’ is a superhero movie with laughs, action, cultural specificity and human-sized stakes — here’s hoping there’s room for this character in the next reboot of the DC Universe.

Medium

Medium

by | Aug 14, 2023 | ,

With ‘Medium’, Greek filmmaker Christina Ioakeimidi adapts Giorgos Sibardis’ novel about a 16-year-old girl coming of age across a scorching Athens summer. Premiered in Sarajevo International Film Festival

ANGELINA JOLIE RETURNS TO HUNGARY

ANGELINA JOLIE RETURNS TO HUNGARY

by | Aug 14, 2023 |

Angelina Jolie is set to return to Hungary 13 years after she directed her Golden Globe nominated debut feature film "In The Land of Blood and Honey." This time she will be in front of the camera, portraying the legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Chilean director...

Libertate

Libertate

by | Aug 13, 2023 | , ,

A chaotic power struggle plays out in 1989 Transylvania, in Tudor Giurgiu’s cynical, directionless drama of civic breakdown and compromise, is showing in Sarajevo International Film Festival

De Facto

De Facto

by | Aug 12, 2023 | , ,

Selma Doborac’s formally audacious, challenging and chilling ‘De Facto’, a doc-fiction hybrid, decontextualises war crimes testimony to plumb the power of language. In Sarajevo International Film Festival

Baan

Baan

by | Aug 8, 2023 | , ,

An undisciplined feature debut burdened by regrettably immature dialogue that knee-caps a potentially interesting impressionistic exploration of what “home” means in a globalized world.

Patagonia

Patagonia

by | Aug 8, 2023 | , ,

A developmentally delayed young man falls under the spell of a pansexual itinerant children’s entertainer in Simone Bozzelli’s well-performed but psychologically ill-judged feature debut.

Touched

Touched

by | Aug 7, 2023 | ,

Claudia Roranius’s ‘Touched’ competently telegraphs a complex intimate relationship with unusual frankness and gorgeous visuals, and yet, it falls short of its own material in true emotional terms.

Stepne

Stepne

by | Aug 7, 2023 | , , ,

Maryna Vroda’s richly lensed feature debut is a melancholic look at a dying part of north-eastern Ukraine that’s seemingly untouched by the present war, and while the narrative holds interest thanks especially to the protagonist, it’s the documentary-like scenes that are the film’s heart.

All the Fires

All the Fires

by | Aug 6, 2023 | ,

With ‘All the Fires’, first-time director Mauricio Calderón Rico rises to the challenge of a sensitive coming-of-ager with LGBTQ+ interest and a personal style.

Location Flashback: Grindelwald Village, Switzerland

Location Flashback: Grindelwald Village, Switzerland

by | Aug 4, 2023 |

Grindelwald, a village in Switzerland’s Bernese Alps, is a popular gateway for the Jungfrau Region, with skiing in winter and hiking in summer. It’s also a base for mountain-climbing up the iconic north face of Eiger Mountain. In this scene, With Anakin Skywalk’s...

Yannick

Yannick

by | Aug 3, 2023 | , ,

Quentin Dupieux’s gentle satirical humor has been put to better use than in “Yannick,” a slight (in every sense) comedy in need of either more intelligence or delirium to make it meaningfully fill its 66-minute running time.

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

by | Jul 25, 2023 |

Actor Lakeith Stanfield brings human heart to Justin Simien’s mediocre corporate horror comedy ‘Haunted Mansion’.

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer

by | Jul 19, 2023 |

In ‘Oppenheimer’, writer-director Christopher Nolan has a stronger handle on the creation of the atomic bomb than on the inner life of the tortured genius behind that creation.

Barbie

Barbie

by | Jul 19, 2023 |

With ‘Barbie’, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach bring an overflowing toybox of ideas to a funny, provocative, meaningful movie that defies its product-placement roots.

76 Locarno Official Selection

76 Locarno Official Selection

by | Jul 8, 2023 |

The 76th Locarno Film Festival offers 11 sections, 3 competitions and 20 awards, highlighting both quality and variety. It is a Festival that explores cinema from every perspective, discovering in-the-present filmmakers and films destined to have a future. Concorso...

The Winners of KVIFF Eastern Promises 2023

The Winners of KVIFF Eastern Promises 2023

by | Jul 5, 2023 |

KVIFF Eastern Promises, the festival's Industry section and film market, has the exciting mission of bridging the gap between talented filmmakers and their potential partners, festivals and audiences. “Just like every year, we’ve tried to curate a nice mix of projects...

Red Rooms

Red Rooms

by | Jul 5, 2023 | ,

A young woman becomes obsessed with a man accused of being a brutal serial killer in Pascal Plante’s slickly constructed and brilliantly unsettling thriller, Red Rooms.

Pure Unknown

Pure Unknown

by | Jul 3, 2023 | ,

A forensic anthropologist works to return names to the unidentified dead that EU states have forsaken in this sensitive yet urgent and persuasive observational documentary.

A Year of European Support

A Year of European Support

by | Jul 1, 2023 |

In the past year, 179 European films received Film Sales Support (FSS) from Hamburg-based EFP (European Film Promotion) accomplishing its core mission to facilitate sales to countries outside of Europe. FSS plays a crucial role in facilitating investment in additional...

Sorcery

Sorcery

by | Jun 28, 2023 | ,

A 13-year-old girl on a Chilean island reckons with colonial brutality in an ominous, supernatural tale of historical oppression and indigenous resistance.

No Hard Feelings

No Hard Feelings

by | Jun 21, 2023 |

Brash comedy gives way to heartfelt sentiment, but Jennifer Lawrence, whose multifaceted talent gets showcased here, carries the story across the finish line.

Elemental

Elemental

by | Jun 16, 2023 |

Visual delights, a sweet love story, and that potent Pixar sentimentality carry this animated feature past a periodic table’s worth of script flaws.

Patricio Plaza

Patricio Plaza

by | Jun 15, 2023 | ,

Léalo en español n animator and film director born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Patricio Plaza studied visual arts and audiovisual communication at the National University of La Plata. He worked as a commercial 2D animator for various studios for over 20 years,...

Marcos Almada

Marcos Almada

by | Jun 15, 2023 | ,

Marcos Almada is a children's book author, illustrator and filmmaker. He has created characters such as Oscar the Possum and Domingo Teporingo, as well as those starring in Dr. Gecko's Show, a TV series developed by CONACYT and INMEGEN. Alongside producer and animator...

Diego Huacuja T

Diego Huacuja T

by | Jun 14, 2023 | ,

Designer and illustrator Diego Huacuja T is the creative director and co-founder of the company Basa, specialized in design and animation. His fusion of different forms of visual expression and his passion for design and animation have led Diego and his company to...

Aria Covamonas

Aria Covamonas

by | Jun 14, 2023 | , ,

Aria Covamonas (he/she), by her own admission, was born in 1979 (Solar Common Era) on Earth, a naturally occurring planet in the solar system. Aria is a self-taught filmmaker, photomonteur, and animator. They are best known for their animated films, which are notably...

Miguel Anaya Borja

Miguel Anaya Borja

by | Jun 14, 2023 | ,

After studying Graphic Communication Design at the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), Miguel Anaya Borja has worked in the areas of art direction, graphic design, advertising, production, and animation. He taught animation courses at the Universidad...

Amanda Woolrich

Amanda Woolrich

by | Jun 14, 2023 | ,

An engraving artist as well as a painter and animator, Amanda Woolrich has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Faculty of Visual Arts of the UNAM. In 2019 and 2021 she was a recipient of a fellowship from the National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA) for young...

Amanda Woolrich

Amanda Woolrich

by | Jun 14, 2023 | , ,

Amanda Woolrich es artista de grabado, pintora y animadora. Es egresada, con licenciatura y maestría de la Facultad de Artes Visuales de la UNAM. Fue beneficiaria del programa de jóvenes creadores del FONCA en 2019  con Aquí y allá y en 2021 con Trasiego ambos con...

The Flash

The Flash

by | Jun 6, 2023 |

The first and last 10 minutes demonstrate the winning superhero saga this might have been, but the middle two hours are devoted to sloppy, shameless fan service.

Hounds

Hounds

by | May 29, 2023 | ,

A taut, failed caper story with film noir elements set during a long night in the underbelly of Casablanca is well-paced and grittily shot.

The Old Oak

The Old Oak

by | May 26, 2023 | , ,

After angry, affecting portraits of northern England’s working class families in his previous two films, in ‘The Old Oak’ director Ken Loach travels to a former mining village where Syrian refugees are being resettled, to tell a moving but more generic, less engaging story than its predecessors.

Salem

Salem

by | May 26, 2023 | ,

A powerful, at times remarkable sophomore feature from Jean-Bernard Marlin that takes the usual “Romeo and Juliet” plot, drops it into the projects of Marseille, and then widens its scope with a story of an apocalyptical plague and magical redemption.

Bread and Roses

Bread and Roses

by | May 25, 2023 | ,

Sahra Mani’s raw documentary about the dire situation for women in Afghanistan, as well as those all but abandoned in so-called safe houses across the border, forces Western audiences to pay attention and stop averting their gaze from the Taliban’s reign of terror.

Levante

Levante

by | May 24, 2023 | , ,

Cine Verdict: La directora brasileña debutante Lillah Halla hace una película llena de entusiasmo y empatía sobre una talentosa jugadora de voleibol que resuena en el panorama actual de los derechos reproductivos.

Kidnapped

Kidnapped

by | May 24, 2023 | , ,

Marco Bellocchio’s tense, edge-of-seat historical thriller, ‘Kidnapped,’ is the devastating true story of a 6-year-old Jewish boy abducted in 1858 to be raised a Catholic.

CineVerdict: Cerrar los ojos

CineVerdict: Cerrar los ojos

by | May 23, 2023 | , ,

“Cerrar los ojos” es una apasionada y atractiva reflexión sobre el arte, la memoria, la identidad y la recuperación del tiempo pasado. Una película del venerado maestro vasco-español Víctor Erice, contada atípicamente, pero que típicamente aborda grandes temas.

The Buriti Flower

The Buriti Flower

by | May 23, 2023 | ,

Portuguese-Brazilian directors João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora return to Cannes with a complex, highly-charged chronicle of how different generations of a Brazilian indigenous community fight back against intruders on their ancestral lands.

The Other Laurens

The Other Laurens

by | May 22, 2023 | , ,

In his feature-length debut, Claude Schmitz aims to simultaneously pay homage to, and blow up, film noir tropes, and while that’s not exactly the result, his film is a handsome, largely enjoyable play on the genre that becomes a bit too shaggy by the end.

Firebrand

Firebrand

by | May 21, 2023 | , ,

Alicia Vikander steps into the robes of Henry VIII’s last queen in a drama more concerned with turning Katherine Parr into feminist icon than is historically believable, yet bold visuals and a fine cast raise the appeal of Brazilian auteur Karim Aïnouz’s first time in Cannes competition.

Banel & Adama

Banel & Adama

by | May 20, 2023 | , ,

French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s strikingly shot, solid debut set in the Senegalese Sahel features a compelling central figure whose monomaniacal love for her husband sets nature itself against their village.

The Rapture

The Rapture

by | May 20, 2023 | ,

In this promising feature debut, French writer-director Iris Kaltenbäck has turned what sounds like a high-concept pitch for a Hollywood comedy — a girl tries to pass off her best friend’s baby as her own — into a thought-provoking, emotionally involving look at both...

Saudi Film Biz Goes Pro

Saudi Film Biz Goes Pro

by | May 20, 2023 | ,

No one could have predicted that just five years after cinemas reopened in Saudi Arabia in 2018, the Kingdom would become a hub for entertainment. In fact, as part of HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud’s Saudi Vision 2030, there will be at least 300 theaters...

A Prince

A Prince

by | May 19, 2023 | ,

French farmer-filmmaker Pierre Creton combines his professional horticultural knowledge and his idiosyncratic cinematic language to produce an enigmatic, enthralling and intensely erotic film about a young gardener’s rite of professional and sexual passage in rural Normandy.

Black Flies

Black Flies

by | May 19, 2023 | , , ,

A punishing, loud plunge into the brutality of EMT work in Brooklyn’s grittiest hoods that banks on Sean Penn’s stardom but is tone-deaf to its problematic treatment of immigrant communities and women.

On the Edge

On the Edge

by | May 18, 2023 | , ,

Nicolas Peduzzi’s doc following a devoted Paris psychiatrist on hospital rounds is as warmly human as it is indignant at the capitalist gutting of public services.

The Nature of Love

The Nature of Love

by | May 18, 2023 | ,

Ever since humans were able to grunt to communicate affection for another person, the world’s greatest minds have grappled with understanding and defining the elusive, unpredictable, and disorienting feeling of desire. If history’s deepest thinkers haven’t been able...

FROM SILK ROAD TO FILM ROAD

FROM SILK ROAD TO FILM ROAD

by | May 17, 2023 | ,

Italy and China, two ancient lands far away from one another, have historic ties going back centuries. It is generally believed that Marco Polo, a Venetian, was the first Westerner to explore China and chronicle his journey. In more recent times, Italian filmmaker...

Monster

Monster

by | May 17, 2023 | ,

A gripping drama — almost a mystery — about ordinary people, ‘Monster’ from Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu connects to viewers.

Fast X

Fast X

by | May 17, 2023 |

This isn’t merely a sprawling, ridiculous summer blockbuster — it’s the Platonic ideal of the sprawling, ridiculous summer blockbuster, a delight for fans of the loony franchise.

Anselm

Anselm

by | May 17, 2023 | ,

Wim Wenders’ new film is a visually arresting study of Anselm Kiefer, evoking the artist’s preoccupations with history and mythology to craft a suitably elegant portrait.

by | May 16, 2023 |

One of the goals of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2023 is to position the Kingdom as a prime location and film hub for the industry worldwide. The two main pillars of this project are AlUla and Neom. AlUla is a historical area near the Hijaz Mountains in the...

The Saudi Film Festival

The Saudi Film Festival

by | May 16, 2023 |

As one drives to opening night of the Saudi Film Festival in a festival-branded, air-conditioned car, the iconic Ithra building rises up out of the encroaching desert of the Eastern Province like a mirage. The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture is a magnificent...

Ahd Kamel

Ahd Kamel

by | May 16, 2023 |

Actress and filmmaker Ahd Hassan Kamel appeared on the festival scene playing Ms. Hussa in the ground-breaking Saudi film Wajdja, followed by roles in the 2018 BBC2/Netflix series Collateral and a turn co-starring in the 2022 Amazon thriller All the Old Knives...

Fatima Al-Banawi

Fatima Al-Banawi

by | May 16, 2023 |

Already a luminous presence on the Saudi film scene, Fatima Al-Banawi is a multi-talented actress and writer who is now completing her first feature film as a director. She was selected for TIME magazine’s Young Generations Leaders List in 2018 for her storytelling...

There Is A Stone

There Is A Stone

by | May 9, 2023 | ,

Tatsunari Ota’s second feature, the winner of Jeonju IFF’s international competition, teases ravishing visuals and taut emotions out of two strangers’ uneventful walkabout in a small town in Japan.

This Is the President

This Is the President

by | May 8, 2023 | ,

Lee Chang-jae’s documentary about former South Korean president Moon Jae-in mixes footage of his current incarnation as a gardening retiree with glowing testimonials from his aides, but lacks context for non-domestic audiences.

From You

From You

by | May 8, 2023 | ,

Shin Dong-min’s monochrome and monotonous three-part drama about a young fashion designer, a rookie actor and a filmmaker came tops at Jeonju International Film Festival’s Korean competition.

Breath

Breath

by | May 7, 2023 | ,

Korean filmmaker Jéro Yun reflects on death and its visceral (dis)contents by tracking the demanding routines and discerning perspectives of an undertaker and a trauma cleaner.

The Padilla Affair

The Padilla Affair

by | May 7, 2023 | ,

Pavel Giroud’s award-winning documentary unearths footage hidden for fifty years in a searing, definitive chronicle of Cuban poet Heberto Padilla’s political suicide.

Where Would You Like To Go?

Where Would You Like To Go?

by | May 6, 2023 | ,

Kim Hee-jung’s modestly scaled but emotionally potent South Korean-Polish co-production assesses the emotional fallout from a high-school drowning accident, with nods aplenty to late Polish auteur Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Love Again

Love Again

by | May 5, 2023 |

The lazy takedown on Love Again is that it’s like a Hallmark Channel movie, but that’s not a fair comparison; I’ve seen Hallmark movies where the romantic leads have better chemistry, where the screenwriters have crafted better banter (and more skillfully summoned the...

Night Falls

Night Falls

by | Apr 12, 2023 | , ,

Young miner-turned-filmmaker Jian Haodong delivers an authentic glimpse of life in China’s rural hinterlands in a semi-autobiographical road movie about a man’s lonely return to his village during the pandemic.

Kissing the Ground You Walked On

Kissing the Ground You Walked On

by | Apr 11, 2023 | , ,

Inspired by the sentiments of Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ and mirroring the aesthetics of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Drive My Car’, Macau filmmaker Hong Heng-fai’s first feature offers sensual and sultry drama about love, art and human existence.

AFCI Week

AFCI Week

by | Apr 4, 2023 | ,

Film commissioners from around the world gathered in Hollywood March 27-30 for AFCI Week 2023 – the premier global conference for film commission professionals. Held at the Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, the conference brought together more than 125 film...

by | Apr 4, 2023 |

The 28th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) was an excellent success for Burkina Faso's capital. Thousands of Burkina Faso residents and international festivalgoers packed the Palais des Sports complex in the Ouaga 2000...

Limbo

Limbo

by | Mar 23, 2023 | , ,

Ruggedly beautiful landscapes and elegant monochrome visuals help make up for a thin plot in Australian director Ivan Sen’s politically charged neo-western crime thriller ‘Limbo’.

Leon

Leon

by | Mar 20, 2023 | , ,

Thierry Mugler’s steadfast love for his partner, the Polish performance artist Krzysztof Leon Dziemaszkiewicz, lies at the heart of “Leon,” a sympathetic look at what it’s like for a deeply insecure exhibitionist to live in the shadow of the world-famous man he adores.

Italy Sets Cultural Agenda With Hollywood

Italy Sets Cultural Agenda With Hollywood

by | Mar 16, 2023 |

Lucia Borgonzoni has been undersecretary of Italy’s Ministry of Culture since 2018, the same year in which she won a seat in the Italian Senate for the Northern League party becoming one of her country’s youngest senators. Although Borgonzoni has been involved in...

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once

by | Mar 13, 2023 | , ,

Michelle Yeoh plays a kick-ass Chinese-American matriarch fighting the forces of darkness across multiple universes in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, a wildly inventive, prize-winning philosophical action comedy from writer-director duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The winner of 7 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Blue Bag Life

Blue Bag Life

by | Mar 11, 2023 | , ,

A riveting cine-memoir that breaks through all the pitfalls of film-as-therapy, accompanying artist Lisa Selby as she tries to come to terms with her largely absent heroin-addicted mother as well as her own struggles with addiction, that of her partner, and her fears of continuing the cycle of maternal dysfunction.

Italian Screens 2022 Delivers Results

Italian Screens 2022 Delivers Results

by | Feb 24, 2023 |

After years of what can be perceived as an Italian crisis of its films performing internationally, it appears that the crisis is ending and Italian films are on the uptick again, along with coproductions that have been rising after a dip caused by the pandemic....

Love to Love You, Donna Summer

Love to Love You, Donna Summer

by | Feb 24, 2023 | , ,

From early days in Boston to the height of her stardom and sudden crash, this affectionate documentary made with major family involvement doesn’t probe deep enough or contextualize her career, but it reminds us that Donna Summer was a terrific performer whose talents were minimized by the moniker “Queen of Disco.”

Art College 1994

Art College 1994

by | Feb 24, 2023 | , ,

Painter-filmmaker Liu Jian’s third animated feature (his second in Berlin competition) lacks the bite to capture the painful realities faced by Chinese art school students as their country opened up to the West and capitalist ideals.

Suzume

Suzume

by | Feb 23, 2023 | , , ,

The latest YA fantasy adventure from Japanese anime master Makoto Shinkai is a beautifully written and animated work of the imagination that incorporates elements of ‘Your Name’ and ‘Weathering with You’ and often sails beyond them.

ALLENSWORTH

ALLENSWORTH

by | Feb 23, 2023 | , , ,

James Benning’s latest, bowing in the Berlin Forum, offers a powerful comment on racial politics in the U.S. in a static-shot portrait of the first settlement to be founded and governed by African-Americans.

Curti Mirrors Minerva

Curti Mirrors Minerva

by | Feb 22, 2023 |

Gianluca Curti grew up in one of the most important dynasties of Italian cinema. He is the CEO of independent Italian producer and distributor Minerva Pictures, a 2,000-title-strong company founded by his grandfather, Antonio Curti, in 1953, and headed by his father,...

In Water

In Water

by | Feb 22, 2023 | , ,

South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo teases all the humour and melancholy out of his young cast in a comedy of awkward manners, bowing in the Berlin sidebar Encounters.

20,000 Species of Bees

20,000 Species of Bees

by | Feb 22, 2023 | , ,

Extraordinary for its sensitivity and perception, Estibollz Urresolo Sologuren’s story of an 8-year-old girl’s growing discomfort with being perceived as a boy is a landmark in the filmic discussion of gender, sexuality and identity.

Music

Music

by | Feb 21, 2023 | , ,

Angela Schanelec returns to Berlin with another weird, challenging film destined to thrive only in ultra-art houses and academic spaces based on its austere approach to narrative enjoyment.

Infinity Pool

Infinity Pool

by | Feb 21, 2023 | , ,

Canadian writer-director Brandon Cronenberg’s darkly satirical sci-fi horror thriller about sun-seeking tourists on a clone-killing crime spree, ‘Infinity Pool’ is a deliriously debauched joyride into Hell.

In the Blind Spot

In the Blind Spot

by | Feb 21, 2023 | , ,

A bold and chilling political thriller of shifting perspectives in which the weight of state-sanctioned terror begins to crush a security agent in eastern Turkey, where trauma and paranoia rip apart the social fabric.

Letta Defines Leadership

Letta Defines Leadership

by | Feb 20, 2023 | ,

Giampaolo Letta is arguably the most powerful man in Italy’s film industry. He hails from an influential Italian family. His father, Gianni, is a well-known journalist and politician who was undersecretary of state in four Silvio Berlusconi governments. His cousin,...

Between Revolutions

Between Revolutions

by | Feb 19, 2023 | , ,

Vlad Petri’s visually captivating yet structurally slippery found-footage film reflects on the suppression faced by young, idealistic Romanian and Iranian women under self-avowed “revolutionary” regimes.

CAPTAIN ITALIA

CAPTAIN ITALIA

by | Feb 19, 2023 |

by Caren Davidkhianan Roberto Stabile, Head of Special Projects of Directorate General of Cinema and Audiovisual-Ministry of Culture at Cinecittà, is the man behind ANICA’s renewed drive to revive and expand Italy’s international film markets, from bringing new luster...

Past Lives

Past Lives

by | Feb 19, 2023 | , , ,

A remarkably delicate, moving romance destined to be a major indie hit, boasting superb dialogue, terrific performances and an insightful understanding of how the what-ifs of life so often dangle around the perimeters of our lives.

Matria

Matria

by | Feb 18, 2023 | , , ,

Álvaro Gago´s first feature Matria is the moving and humorous portrait of a hardworking  yet almost powerless woman,  in which the myth of matriarchy in Galicia is debunked.

AMBASSADORS OF AN ART FORM

AMBASSADORS OF AN ART FORM

by | Feb 18, 2023 |

HEADLINE: AMBASSADORS OF AN ART FORM Koen Van Bockstal (1961) is a historian of Ghent University by training. After a short period as a history and aesthetics teacher in secondary education and freelance journalist at De Morgen, he worked for over 18 years in the...

Superpower

Superpower

by | Feb 18, 2023 | , ,

Actor and activist Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman codirect a diary-like travelogue through war-torn Ukraine, highlighted by three brief interviews with Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Echo

The Echo

by | Feb 17, 2023 | , , ,

Mexican-Salvadoran director Tatiana Huezo returns with The Echo to her first cinematographic love in this moving and beautifully photographed documentary about teenagers in a Puebla community.

The Beast in the Jungle

The Beast in the Jungle

by | Feb 17, 2023 | ,

Had Henry James been alive and well in the 1980s, it’s unlikely you would have ever seen him getting busy on the dance floor. He probably wouldn’t have even set foot in a nightclub. And yet director Patric Chiha has had the rather novel idea to take one of the...

ATLAS INTERNATIONAL REACHES NEXT GEN

ATLAS INTERNATIONAL REACHES NEXT GEN

by | Feb 17, 2023 |

Born in Belgium, Michel Vandewalle was drawn to the world of entertainment as a very young man. He was part of an international orchestra and participated in theater and dance in school and later as a teenager started working in front of and behind the camera. There...

White Plastic Sky

White Plastic Sky

by | Feb 17, 2023 | , ,

Prize-winning Hungarian director duo Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó foresee a bleak future for humankind in their visually striking debut feature ‘White Plastic Sky’, an animated eco-disaster movie with a lyrical fairy-tale edge.

The Survival of Kindness

The Survival of Kindness

by | Feb 17, 2023 | , , ,

Rolf de Heer’s stripped-down story of a black woman who escapes from a cage and walks through a landscape heavy with racism and pandemic fear aligns with much of his intensely humane films, yet it feels weighed down by the uncertainty of its ultimate message.

The Siren

The Siren

by | Feb 16, 2023 | , ,

Iranian director Sepideh Farsi opens a revelatory and very chilling window on a city under siege by a foreign power in her powerful, animated coming-of-ager, ‘The Siren’.

Iron Butterflies

Iron Butterflies

by | Feb 15, 2023 | , , ,

The downing of Malaysian Airlines’ passenger flight MH17 in 2014 over Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine becomes a prophetic and highly symbolic event portending the current war and its methods in Roman Liubyi’s doc, whose poetry can seem forced but is still capable of shocking.

Natura

Natura

by | Jan 31, 2023 | ,

Matti Harju’s debut feature is a hypnotic slow-burning anti-thriller that is more interested in exploring disillusionment and social imbalance than narrative twists or action spectacle.

Kudos to Hélène Louvart

Kudos to Hélène Louvart

by | Jan 29, 2023 | ,

Established in 2020, the Robby Müller Award honors outstanding lifetime achievements in cinematography. Rotterdam has previously bestowed this prestigious award upon Diego García (Mexico), Kelly Reichardt (USA) and Sayombu Mukdeeprom (Thailand), and is now focusing on...

Munch

Munch

by | Jan 25, 2023 | , ,

Unexpected formal flourishes can only spice up conventional ideas on tormented genius in this take on the life of Norway’s Expressionist painter Edvard Munch.

When It Melts

When It Melts

by | Jan 25, 2023 | ,

For her first stab behind the camera, veteran Belgian actress Veerle Baetens, who’s best known for co-starring in the Oscar-nominated country music tearjerker, The Broken Circle Breakdown, certainly hasn’t taken the easy road. By adapting writer Lize Spit’s 2016...

Animalia

Animalia

by | Jan 24, 2023 | ,

In ‘Animalia’, Sofia Alaoui’s gorgeously shot debut feature, ideas of spirituality mix with commentary on class and religion in a package that refuses to easily yield the keys to its own meaning.

CINE VERDICT: Mamacruz

CINE VERDICT: Mamacruz

by | Jan 21, 2023 | ,

Kiti Manver interpreta a una abuela religiosa que accidentalmente descubre el porno en Internet, dando lugar a una comedia que empodera a las mujeres mayores al tiempo que ironiza sobre la disminución de fieles católicos en España.

Mamacruz

Mamacruz

by | Jan 21, 2023 | , ,

Kiti Manver plays a religious grandmother who accidentally discovers online porn, igniting a comedy that empowers older women while poking fun at Spain’s dwindling Catholic faithful.

Cinema Sabaya

Cinema Sabaya

by | Jan 17, 2023 | , ,

Low-key but engrossing, this study of Jewish and Palestinian women who take a beginners’ filmmaking class together sidesteps the threatened stereotypes, as Orit Fouks Rotem creates an atmosphere of quiet realism in her first feature film.

Cairo Conspiracy

Cairo Conspiracy

by | Dec 22, 2022 | ,

Sweden’s shortlisted International Oscar hopeful, formerly known as ‘Boy from Heaven’, is a solid though cautious, slow-burn loss-of innocence tale wrapped around the struggle between State versus Religion, designed for Western consumption.

Babylon

Babylon

by | Dec 17, 2022 | , ,

Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie lead a starry cast in ‘Babylon’, Damien Chazelle’s huge, ambitious but flawed love letter to Hollywood in the Roaring Twenties.

CINE VERDICT: Eami

CINE VERDICT: Eami

by | Dec 9, 2022 | , ,

La difícil situación de los indígenas ayoreo, la última tribu en evitar el contacto y reclamar sus territorios en la selva del Chaco paraguayo, se plasma de forma minuciosa y poética en este drama que se estrenó en Rotterdam y es candidata al Oscar Internacional 2023 por Paraguay.

CINE VERDICT: La caja

CINE VERDICT: La caja

by | Dec 4, 2022 | ,

Lorenzo Vigas continúa con su visión crítica de las figuras paternas y las implicaciones más amplias de la ausencia paterna en esta sutil historia de madurez anclada en la excepcional presencia de su joven protagonista.

The Box

by | Dec 4, 2022 |

Léalo en español The box in the title that young Mexican teen Hatzin (newcomer Hatzin Navarrete) picks up containing his father’s remains may look like a simple mini-casket, but the emotional baggage that goes with it is far weightier than what’s inside. In the third...

CINE VERDICT: Utama

CINE VERDICT: Utama

by | Nov 30, 2022 |

Sundance estrena un fascinante retrato de la vida en los Andes bolivianos, donde una sequía amenaza el sustento de una pareja de ancianos quechuas y su rebaño de llamas.

Far from the Nile

Far from the Nile

by | Nov 23, 2022 | , ,

Cairo awarded its best documentary prize to this broadly appealing fly-on-the-wall documentary about a group of musicians from countries bordering the Nile who go on a demanding hundred-day-tour of the U.S.

Alam

Alam

by | Nov 22, 2022 | , , ,

Writer-director Firas Khoury refreshingly normalizes the lives of a group of Palestinian teens in Israel and then adds a political overlay in this notable debut that deserves more attention than accorded in Toronto.

Light Upon Light

Light Upon Light

by | Nov 22, 2022 | , ,

Danish director and anthropologist Christian Suhr’s feature documentary offers a respectful yet compelling peek into the surprisingly diverse communities of Sufi worshippers within the Islamic tradition of Egypt.

19B

19B

by | Nov 18, 2022 | ,

Ahmad Abdalla’s latest is a handsomely produced, effective drama about a redundant Cairene house guard, the sole resident of a dilapidated mansion, trying to stave off the encroaching collapse of his world.

Houria

Houria

by | Nov 17, 2022 | , ,

Young actress Lyna Khoudri sparkles as an Algerian dance student forced to reorder her priorities after she is physically assaulted in an emotion-clad feminist drama directed by Mounia Meddour (‘Papicha’).

Stuntwomen

Stuntwomen

by | Nov 13, 2022 | , ,

A fascinating and troubling behind-the-scenes look into the work of female stuntwomen, who must frequently portray victims at the hands of violent men.

Manifesto

Manifesto

by | Nov 12, 2022 | ,

A profoundly disturbing found-footage assemblage portraying a young Russian live-streaming generation brainwashed by militarised education and normalised violence.

Iman

Iman

by | Nov 10, 2022 | ,

A Greek-Cypriot family fall apart against a backdrop of terrorism and racial tension in ‘Iman’, a glossy thriller from writer-director duo Corinna Avraamidou and Kyriacos Tofarides

All You See

All You See

by | Nov 9, 2022 | , ,

A highly stylised, thought-provoking meditation on being stared at without being truly seen, as female immigrants to the Netherlands reflect on their experiences across generations.

Cavewoman

Cavewoman

by | Nov 7, 2022 | ,

Director Spiros Stathoulopoulos reimagines the ancient Greek drama ‘Electra’ as a World War II revenge thriller in ‘Cavewoman’, a boldly experimental mix of close-up acting and rich sound design.

Endangered

Endangered

by | Nov 2, 2022 | , ,

In Endangered documentarists Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady are urgent but never sensationalistic in reporting on the dangers faced by the press in places where there is no official armed conflict.

Home is Somewhere Else

Home is Somewhere Else

by | Oct 26, 2022 | ,

My home is somewhere else, is a bilingual “animentary” uses the voices of Mexican immigrants, both legal and undocumented, to reveal their fears and dreams through imaginative drawings that allow for greater intimacy and understanding.

The Film Verdict launches CINE VERDICT

by | Oct 26, 2022 | ,

The Film Verdict (TFV) is proud to announce the debut of CINE VERDICT, a section featuring Spanish language content written by Spanish language critics for the international marketplace. CINE VERDICT is conceived as a tool for Spanish language professionals who buy,...

One Mother

One Mother

by | Oct 21, 2022 | ,

French director Mickaël Bandela reassembles his broken family history into a multi-media memory mixtape in his messy but stylish bio-documentary ‘One Mother’.

Subtraction

Subtraction

by | Oct 20, 2022 | , , ,

Two of Iran’s biggest actors, Taraneh Alidoosti and Navid Mohammadzadeh, play double roles in Mani Haghighi’s chilling, fast-paced thriller with allegorical overtones about life in contemporary Iran.

A Life Like Any Other

A Life Like Any Other

by | Oct 19, 2022 | ,

A searching and honest recalibration of one family’s narrative, as the director reinterprets her father’s obsessive home movies from her mother’s perspective of domestic unfulfillment.

The Dependents

The Dependents

by | Oct 19, 2022 | ,

Canadian diplomat’s daughter Sofia Brockenshire assembles a rich mosaic of memories from her family’s globe-trotting history in her visually impressive essay-film debut ‘The Dependents’.

The Hamlet Syndrome

The Hamlet Syndrome

by | Oct 17, 2022 | ,

A few months before Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country began, a group of five young Ukrainian men and women, not all of whom were professional actors, collaboratively developed a theatrical production. They examined their experiences of armed conflict and...

Klokkenluider

Klokkenluider

by | Oct 16, 2022 | ,

Featuring a strong ensemble cast including Tom Burke and Jenna Coleman, Neil Maskell’s directing debut ‘Klokkenluider’ is a chilling comedy conspiracy thriller about whistleblowers on the run from mortal danger.

She Said

She Said

by | Oct 15, 2022 | ,

Director Maria Schrader’s timely and gripping newsroom drama ‘She Said’ stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as the campaigning reporters who helped bring Harvey Weinstein to justice.

Pretty Red Dress

Pretty Red Dress

by | Oct 13, 2022 | , ,

In ‘Pretty Red Dress’, the vibrant debut feature from British writer-director Dionne Edwards, a troubled family of black Londoners learn to express their true selves with a little help from Tina Turner and a fabulous frock.

Black Night

Black Night

by | Oct 11, 2022 | , ,

A man’s search for redemption after participating in a group murder neatly exposes a community’s moral rot in Ozcan Alper’s rugged mountain thriller, winner of the best Turkish film award at Antalya.

Marlowe

Marlowe

by | Sep 26, 2022 | , , ,

For the 100th film of his career, Liam Neeson switches from action thriller to classic film noir in a flyweight but generally entertaining post scriptum to Raymond Chandler’s immortal detective series, co-starring Diane Kruger and Jessica Lange.

The Black Guelph

The Black Guelph

by | Sep 17, 2022 | , ,

Actor turned director John Connors makes a powerful statement with his debut dramatic feature ‘The Black Guelph’, a gritty Irish crime thriller about secrets, lies and trauma passed down the generations.

Raw

Raw

by | Sep 17, 2022 |

The atmosphere is thick in this humid Andalusian-set drama in which a teenage boy encounters the first pangs of his burgeoning homosexuality.

Parsley

Parsley

by | Sep 16, 2022 | ,

Jose Maria Cabral’s historical drama about the appalling 1937 ‘Parsley massacre’ in the Dominican Republic is a well-mounted but utterly harrowing picture of atrocity.

Junk Space Berlin

Junk Space Berlin

by | Sep 16, 2022 | ,

Debutant director Juri Padel’s low-budget cyberpunk thriller ‘Junk Space Berlin’ elevates its scrambled plot and fuzzy intentions with dazzling digital glitch-art visuals.

Linoleum

Linoleum

by | Sep 15, 2022 | ,

Director Colin West’s soulful sci-fi comedy drama ‘Linoleum’ balances its sentimental message with sharp jokes, strong performances and deft plot twists.

Still Is

Still Is

by | Sep 15, 2022 |

This ambiguous single-take drama poignantly depicts a mundane morning in a family home, subtly exploring grief and the ways we hold on and move on.

Brasier

Brasier

by | Sep 14, 2022 |

An 11-year-old girl has a sexual awakening when she joins an older girls’ football team, but she struggles to understand and control taboo desires.

Brothers

Brothers

by | Sep 14, 2022 | ,

A gory, suspenseful debut from Kazakhstan’s Darkhan Tulegenov offers a moody, pessimistic take on the crime thriller that interrogates class inequality and hypocrisy.

Way Out Ahead Of Us

Way Out Ahead Of Us

by | Sep 13, 2022 | ,

A vague, dreamlike lyricism is prioritised over socio-political critique in Rob Rice’s collaboratively-minded doc-fiction portrait of a family facing uncertain futures in the Californian desert.

Look at Me

Look at Me

by | Sep 11, 2022 |

Javier Bardem and Chris Rock star in this febrile melodrama, directed by Sally Potter, about an explosive moment in a relationship.

No Bears

No Bears

by | Sep 9, 2022 | , ,

The world premiere of Jafar Panahi’s simple but militantly engrossing ‘No Bears’, which comes to grips with the thin line between art and reality, took place in Venice competition while the director remained in prison in Tehran after his second arrest on July 11.

Tria

Tria

by | Sep 8, 2022 |

A family is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice in this stomach-churning dystopian tragedy about the chilling effects of social control.

Blonde

Blonde

by | Sep 8, 2022 | , ,

Pre-release hype will be the biggest friend to this mess of a pseudo-biopic that reduces Marilyn Monroe to a disturbed child-woman with Daddy issues, never offering a glimpse of the screen magic notwithstanding Ana de Armas’ impressive recreation.

Beyond the Wall

Beyond the Wall

by | Sep 8, 2022 | , ,

A shattering drama that courageously portrays Iran as a violent Big Brother police state, Vahid Jalilvand’s third film is a shrill, breath-taking mind-trip driven by between two exceptional actors, Navid Mohammadzadeh and Diana Habibi.

Vera

Vera

by | Sep 6, 2022 | , ,

Award-winning documentary team Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel plunge deep into the heart of the adult daughter of spaghetti western star Giuliano Gemma in a wonderfully touching film portrait that tips its Stetson at the illusory side of documentaries.

Lord of the Ants

Lord of the Ants

by | Sep 6, 2022 | , ,

Director Gianni Amelio recreates a dismaying but true story from 1960’s Italy, when a brilliant writer who does little to hide his love for young men is persecuted and put on trial by a laughably outmoded justice system.

Call of God

Call of God

by | Sep 6, 2022 | ,

A young woman’s first love turns out to be a bad dream in the final film of South Korean master Kim Ki-duk, a visually striking if (for Kim) restrained relationship film that was posthumously completed by Estonian producer and director Artur Veeber.

When the Waves Are Gone

When the Waves Are Gone

by | Sep 5, 2022 | ,

Philippine auteur Lav Diaz offers a damning and doomed critique of the violent state of his country through the on-screen physical and psychological disintegration of a policeman weighed down by the guilt of his officially-sanctioned murderous past in ‘When the Waves Are Gone’.

In Viaggio

In Viaggio

by | Sep 5, 2022 | ,

Italy’s premier documaker Gianfranco Rosi turns his attention to Pope Francis and his non-stop foreign travels, stressing the ecumenical core of his messaging as he comments on the world’s horrors.

The Whale

The Whale

by | Sep 4, 2022 | , ,

In a career-best performance, Brendan Fraser turns Darren Aronofsky’s apartment-bound drama about an unhappy English teacher crippled by obesity and his daughter’s distance into a classic piece of filmmaking whose emotions are truly immense.

Immensity

Immensity

by | Sep 4, 2022 | , ,

Penélope Cruz is a joy as a 1970s mother whose free spirit is frozen by her husband’s stereotyped insensitivity, yet other elements of Emanuele Crialese’s film, which is equally focused on the daughter’s certainty she was born the wrong gender, are less transcendent.

The Last Queen

The Last Queen

by | Sep 4, 2022 | ,

An old-fashioned historical epic on steroids in which a bloodthirsty corsair makes an alliance with the King of Algiers but then determines to conquer the ruler’s headstrong wife.

August Sky

August Sky

by | Sep 4, 2022 |

This deft and low-key drama uses fires raging in the Amazon to explore how a young woman is drawn to religion in search of some form of stability.

North Pole

North Pole

by | Sep 4, 2022 |

A teenage girl’s sense of isolation is writ large across the screen in this frosty Macedonian coming-of-age short that is warmed by a compelling lead performance.

5pm Seaside

5pm Seaside

by | Sep 4, 2022 |

Two men share in intimate and intense moment on a deserted shoreline in this short drama about violence, emancipation, and the fine lines between the two.

Nezouh

Nezouh

by | Sep 4, 2022 | ,

Touches of magical realism aren’t enough to hold together this well-meaning yet clumsy story of an adolescent girl in war-torn Damascus whose father refuses to accept that changed circumstances make his pose as the family guardian irrelevant.

Master Gardener

Master Gardener

by | Sep 3, 2022 | , ,

A timely occasion to foreground the growing role of American extremists like the Proud Boys is largely manqué in Paul Schrader’s unconvincing story about a marked man trying to redeem himself, starring Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver.

Bones and All

Bones and All

by | Sep 2, 2022 | , ,

Luca Guadagnino again proves his understanding of the yearning for a fellow soul that defines all feelings of difference in this beautifully played road trip movie which uses cannibalism as metaphor.

Padre Pio

Padre Pio

by | Sep 2, 2022 | ,

Abel Ferrara’s total misfire aims to merge the story of a 1920 class-related massacre with the contemporaneous crisis of faith of Italy’s most popular 20th century saint, but the poor script, bad acting and overall lack of cohesion make this just a time-waster.

A Couple

A Couple

by | Sep 2, 2022 | ,

A monologue on love, marriage, devotion and utter deception that will play best to fans of either Leo Tolstoy or Frederick Wiseman — perhaps to both.

Banu

Banu

by | Sep 1, 2022 | ,

War and patriarchy deprive Azerbaijani women of their sons in an intimate, courageous drama that intertwines personal and political plot lines, directed and acted by first-time director Tahmina Rafaella.

White Noise

White Noise

by | Aug 31, 2022 | , ,

Noah Baumbach and an inspired cast headlining Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig enjoyably bring Don DeLillo’s “unfilmable” novel about America in the Eighties to life with retro gusto, while straining to make it relevant.

Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous

Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous

by | Aug 31, 2022 | ,

Paris-based Lebanese filmmaker Wissam Charaf’s second feature takes a delicately droll and deadpan approach in depicting social malaise in Beirut, as seen by a migrant Ethiopian maid and a bomb-surviving Syrian refugee.

Princess

Princess

by | Aug 31, 2022 | , ,

A rare fictionalized look at a Nigerian sex worker in Italy that celebrates its subject, flaws and all, with a spirited central performance and a laudable sensitivity destined to find welcoming arms worldwide.

The March on Rome

The March on Rome

by | Aug 31, 2022 | , ,

Mark Cousins’ thought-provoking examination of the rise of Fascism through a detailed analysis of a 1922 propaganda film that signaled the start of a far-right ideology whose insidious roots continue to find fertile ground.

Love Dog

Love Dog

by | Aug 18, 2022 | ,

This debut feature from Bianca Lucas is an unusual portrait of contemporary America and an incredibly intimate, heart-wrenching depiction of grief.

Ribs

Ribs

by | Aug 18, 2022 | ,

Farah Hasanbegovic uses a beautifully simple hand-drawn animation style to bring to life this meditation on physical limitations and finding acceptance in our own bodies.

Atonal Glow

Atonal Glow

by | Aug 16, 2022 | ,

This portrait of a musical prodigy brims with the same energy as its subject’s piano playing while depicting the boy as well as the talent.

Another Spring

Another Spring

by | Aug 15, 2022 | , ,

Serbian director Mladen Kovacevic finds echoes of the current Covid pandemic in Europe’s last smallpox outbreak in his artful, atmospheric found-footage documentary ‘Another Spring’.

Men of Deeds

Men of Deeds

by | Aug 14, 2022 | , ,

A murder cover-up in a corrupt town is the catalyst for an inept police chief’s crisis of conscience in Paul Negoescu’s downbeat portrait of masculinity in meltdown ‘Men of Deeds’.

Matter Out of Place

Matter Out of Place

by | Aug 10, 2022 | , , ,

Award-winning documentary director Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s latest exquisitely composed opus looks at the global garbage crisis, from Maldive palm groves strewn with plastic to festering landfills, encompassing community rubbish collections and recycling plants in a cinema-essay style whose noninterventionist approach caters to audiences already committed to the cause.

Little Ones

Little Ones

by | Aug 8, 2022 | , ,

Debuting director Julie Lerat-Gersant imbues tremendous sympathy for her 16-year-old pregnant protagonist in this unpretentious, heartfelt drama whose overall predictability doesn’t detract from its modest strengths.

Stone Turtle

Stone Turtle

by | Aug 5, 2022 | , ,

An intriguing though not always well-integrated attempt to engage with different forms of storytelling, including traditional Malaysian folklore, at the service of a feminist revenge tale.

Lola

Lola

by | Aug 5, 2022 | , ,

A pair of eccentric bohemian sisters build a machine that can change the future in Irish director Andrew Legge’s flawed but admirably ambitious lo-fi sci-fi oddity ‘Lola’.

My Neighbor Adolf

My Neighbor Adolf

by | Aug 4, 2022 | , ,

A misfire of perplexing obliviousness, in which we’re meant to believe that Udo Kier’s character once bore a striking resemblance to Hitler. The best that can be said about this limp comedy is that it could have been far more offensive.

Declaration

Declaration

by | Aug 4, 2022 | , ,

Class inequality, corruption and power dynamics between the sexes is the background to this working-class Malayalam drama anchored by the nuanced female lead, played by Divya Prabha, and mesmeric images in a latex glove factory.

Pamfir

Pamfir

by | Jul 10, 2022 | , ,

Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s debut is a propulsive drama employing folkloric elements and mythic overtones in its portrayal of a man trying to navigate a provincial criminal underworld.

Karlovy Vary: The Verdict

Karlovy Vary: The Verdict

by | Jul 9, 2022 | ,

The masks were off and the parties were on at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 1-9) in a 56th edition brimming with street music, audiences hungry for edgy new movies and civilian crowds gaily mixing with festival-goers in what felt like the first...

Karlovy Vary 2022: The Awards

Karlovy Vary 2022: The Awards

by | Jul 9, 2022 | ,

CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION Grand Prix – Crystal Globe SUMMER WITH HOPE Directed by: Sadaf FOROUGHI   Special Jury Prize YOU HAVE TO COME AND SEE IT Directed by: Jonás Trueba   Best Director  Beata PARKANOVA for WORD   Best Actress (jointly awarded) Taki...

Zoo Lock Down

Zoo Lock Down

by | Jul 9, 2022 | ,

Andreas Horvath’s observational documentary offers a different, meditative view of animals in captivity, whose uneventful lives without a human audience inevitably recall our own experience with the pandemic.

Art Talent Show

Art Talent Show

by | Jul 5, 2022 | , ,

A wild documentary ride through the selection process at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where the teaching staff brainstorms to test the hidden talent of young applicants, and future artists do their best to make the undefined grade.

Vesper

Vesper

by | Jul 2, 2022 | , , ,

Engrossing and full of credible Euro SFX, the Lithuanian-French sci fi fantasy featuring Raffiella Chapman as a 13-year-old, self-taught scientist looking for a way out of a socially and environmentally sick world, seems targeted at imaginative YA audiences.

Butterfly Vision

Butterfly Vision

by | Jun 29, 2022 | , ,

Maksym Nakonechnyi’s carefully calibrated drama about a young Ukrainian woman soldier who returns home in a prisoner exchange, tortured and pregnant, projects a more human, less heroic view of the Ukraine-Russia war while it affirms a woman’s right to choice vis-à-vis maternity.

Performer

Performer

by | Jun 29, 2022 | ,

An otherwise solid examination of a young man’s masculinity dircted by newcomer Oliver Grüttner isn’t quite sure if it seeks to praise or condemn.

Carajita

Carajita

by | Jun 27, 2022 | ,

Class and race intersect in a suspenseful drama set in the Dominican Republic, where loyalties get tested when a Black nanny raises the spoilt brat of a wealthy white family.

Paloma

Paloma

by | Jun 26, 2022 | ,

Actress Kika Sena takes director Marcelo Gomes’s story of a young trans woman to another level as Paloma, a romantic mother and farm worker who dreams of a formal church wedding,

Woman on the Roof

Woman on the Roof

by | Jun 26, 2022 | , ,

In writer-director Anna Jadowska’s sensitive whydunit, veteran Polish actress and Tribeca winner Dorota Pomykala plunges the viewer into psychological  depths in her deftly nuanced portrait of a 60-year-old who tries to rob a bank with a kitchen knife.

One Day in Ukraine

One Day in Ukraine

by | Jun 24, 2022 | ,

Ordinary Ukrainians — soldiers, civilians and volunteers — make gripping subjects in Volodymyr Tykhyy’s utterly realistic doc, depicting life in post-apocalyptic Kyiv as the populace braces for a very long war.

Sirens

Sirens

by | Jun 24, 2022 | ,

Director Rita Baghdadi’s engaging, ear-bashing documentary ‘Sirens’ chronicles the emotional and political struggles of Lebanon’s first all-female thrash metal band.

The Taking

The Taking

by | Jun 24, 2022 | , ,

Director Alexandre Philippe’s latest essay-film ‘The Taking’ is a thoughtful, visually ravishing, politically charged rumination on American cinema’s oldest rock stars.

Son of Man

Son of Man

by | Jun 12, 2022 |

A transgender man whose teenage daughter is about to learn his well-kept secret is at the heart of a serviceably shot but deeply felt Iranian drama directed by Sepideh Mir Hosseini.

Cannes 2022: The Verdict

Cannes 2022: The Verdict

by | Jun 4, 2022 | ,

Along with the shiny gold button given to badge-holders celebrating Cannes’ 75th glorious anniversary, this year’s festival can justly be hailed as a return to normality after the Covid-19 pandemic canceled it in 2020 and severely truncated it in 2021. Whether it’s...

Cannes 2022: The Awards

by | Jun 3, 2022 | ,

Palme d'Or TRIANGLE OF SADNESS directed by Ruben ÖSTLUNDGrand Prix (jointly awarded) CLOSE directed by Lukas DHONTSTARS AT NOON directed by Claire DENISBest Director PARK Chan-wook for DECISION TO LEAVE Best Screenplay Tarik SALEH for BOY FROM HEAVEN Jury Prize...

War Pony

War Pony

by | Jun 2, 2022 | ,

WINNER OF THE CAMERA D’OR IN CANNES FOR BEST FIRST FILM.  ‘War Pony’, from first-time directing duo Riley Keough and Gina Gammell, deeply immerses the viewer in the roughshod coming-of-age drama of two teenage boys who live on the fringes of the law on a Native American reservation in South Dakota.

Mariupolis 2

Mariupolis 2

by | Jun 2, 2022 | , ,

Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravi?ius was killed by Russian soldiers after shooting footage for this gritty and unnerving documentary about life in the besieged, bombed-out Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

99 Moons

99 Moons

by | Jun 2, 2022 | , , ,

Sex and love don’t always make for ideal bedmates, and the strain one places on the other is at the heart of Swiss writer-director Jan Gassmann’s latest feature, 99 Moons. Provocative but also thought-provoking, this story of a couple that meets through a Tinder-like...

Harka

Harka

by | Jun 1, 2022 | , ,

Documentary director Lotfy Nathan’s prize-winning dramatic debut ‘Harka’ is a powerful if slightly heavy-handed take on injustice and protest in the Arab world.

The Natural History of Destruction

The Natural History of Destruction

by | May 31, 2022 | ,

Sergei Loznitsa’s latest archival cinema essay, inspired by W.G. Sebald’s book and organized within a quasi-symphonic structure, lays out the brutality of fire bombings in World War II and the ways the war machine refused to acknowledge the human costs.

The Mountain

The Mountain

by | May 30, 2022 | ,

Thomas Salvador’s beguiling second feature innovatively combines a realistic first half with fantasy elements in the second without losing its earlier spirit, achieved through unpretentious storytelling, a superb visual eye and excellent special effects.

Son of Ramses

Son of Ramses

by | May 30, 2022 | , , ,

Clément Cogitore is less known in France as a feature filmmaker than as young and highly coveted visual artist, with shorts like the Siberia-set documentary, Braguino, and the crunk dance battle/opera piece Les Indes galantes — both released in 2017 — sealing his...

Godland

Godland

by | May 29, 2022 | , ,

Magisterial in the manner of 19th century epic novels and visually influenced by that era’s photography, Hlynur Pálmason’s third feature is a stunning, psychologically rich tale set against Iceland’s awe-inspiring landscapes.

Stars at Noon

Stars at Noon

by | May 29, 2022 | ,

CANNES GRAND PRIX – JOINTLY AWARDED, REVIEWED MAY 26 Set in Central America, Claire Denis’ second English-language film is more straightforward than most of her works but is unmistakably hers in the way she suspends her complex characters in the sweaty grasp of a tropical setting.

Close

Close

by | May 29, 2022 | , ,

CANNES GRAND PRIX, JOINTLY AWARDED – REVIEWED MAY 27 Lukas Dhont’s gut-wrenching second feature is a stunning ode to adolescent same-sex friendship and a powerful critique of the ways society normalizes aggression while demonizing physical tenderness.

Showing Up

Showing Up

by | May 27, 2022 | ,

Michelle Williams reunites with feted indie writer-director Kelly Reichardt for ‘Showing Up’, a modest but moving portrait of frustrated artists and dysfunctional families.

The Spiral

The Spiral

by | May 26, 2022 | ,

María Silvia Esteve’s new short is a bombastic and overwhelming voyage of colour and sound that conveys the psychological sensation of spiraling hypochondria.

Broker

Broker

by | May 26, 2022 | ,

Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu’s first film lensed in South Korea, about a well-intentioned gang who sell motherless babies, is a minor work with only distant echoes of his 2018 Palm d’Or winner Shoplifters, but still imbued with the filmmaker’s militant humanism.

The Pass

The Pass

by | May 25, 2022 | ,

Pepi Ginsberg’s riveting drama tackles the combustible nature of repressed sexuality when a spot of wild swimming takes an unexpectedly dangerous turn.

The Dam

The Dam

by | May 25, 2022 | , ,

Lebanese artist-filmmaker Ali Cherri delivers a visually mesmerising and quietly political first feature, set among Sudanese bricklayers working on the biggest hydroelectrical dam in Africa.

The Pack

The Pack

by | May 24, 2022 | , ,

In this first-time feature from Colombia, a group of convicted juvenile criminals are stranded in a remote country estate, where they undergo a bizarre rehabilitation process while providing free labor for a gang of shady correctional officials. It’s an intriguing...

More Than Ever

More Than Ever

by | May 23, 2022 | , , ,

Death hovers over director Emily Atef’s fifth feature, More Than Ever (Plus Que Jamais), in unsettling ways. First, it fuels this solemn and emotionally gripping story about a woman in a relationship who's diagnosed with a rare lung disease and faced with her imminent...

Amo

Amo

by | May 23, 2022 | ,

Emmanuel Gras’ aesthetically minded short is an abstract vision that blends planetary movement and physical intimacy, playfully meditating on where exactly we come from.

Men

Men

by | May 23, 2022 | , ,

Jessie Buckley and multiple versions of Rory Kinnear co-star in writer-director Alex Garland’s impressively weird feminist folk-horror thriller ‘Men’.

R.M.N.

R.M.N.

by | May 22, 2022 | , ,

Cristian Mungiu’s excoriation of xenophobia in multiethnic Transylvania is a classic example of the director’s dedication to naturalism and boasts several superb sequences, but it tries a bit too hard to encompass more topics than it can comfortably handle.

My Imaginary Country

My Imaginary Country

by | May 21, 2022 | ,

Though nothing like Patrizio Guzmán’s fabled ‘The Battle of Chile’ or ‘Nostalgia for the Light’, this energizing doc is still a master class on Chile’s recent nation-wide uprising for democracy and social justice.

Aftersun

Aftersun

by | May 21, 2022 | ,

Writer-director Charlotte Wells combines great performances, poetic visuals and bittersweet personal memories in her dazzling debut feature ‘Aftersun’.

The Stranger

The Stranger

by | May 20, 2022 | ,

Hinging on two compelling performances, this is an absorbing drama that blends the cat-and-mouse tension of a thriller with police procedural to gripping and haunting effect.

Harkis

Harkis

by | May 19, 2022 | ,

A fiery and timely reflection about a dark episode in French history at the risk of being written out of the books with the normalisation of far-right politics in the country.

Rodeo

Rodeo

by | May 19, 2022 | , , ,

Writer-director Lola Quivoron’s debut, Rodeo, belongs to a recent class of French films made by and about young women, with stories that combine the coming-of-age genre — what the French call un film d’initiation — with elements of a Hollywood thriller or horror...

Wake Up Punk

Wake Up Punk

by | Apr 23, 2022 | ,

Fashion icon Vivienne Westwood and her son Joe Corré attempt to reclaim punk’s radical roots in director Nigel Askew’s scrappy but engaging documentary ‘Wake Up Punk’.

Mangrove School

Mangrove School

by | Mar 31, 2022 |

Filipa César and Sónia Vaz Borges explore the decolonising power of education in this tale of rebellious scholarship in the tangle of Guinea-Bissau’s mangrove swamps.

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

by | Mar 30, 2022 | ,

CINANDO AND THE FILM VERDICT REVITALIZE THE FILM REVIEW WITH AN EXCLUSIVE DIRECT ACCESS BUTTON TO FILMS ON CINANDO CINANDO and THE FILM VERDICT (TFV) announce an innovative new feature that will make the TFV film review a more valuable tool for film distribution...

Abyss

Abyss

by | Mar 29, 2022 |

In partnering with Google’s Image Recognition AI, Jeppe Lange has constructed a 100mph frenzy of match-cutting that is strange, rhythmic and at times somewhat profound.

AWARDS CORNER

AWARDS CORNER

by | Mar 29, 2022 | , ,

Golden Alexander Award - International competition A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS (Denmark-Finland-Sweden-Ukraine) by Simon Lereng Wilmont Special Jury Award - International competition YOUNG PLATO (UK-Ireland-France-Belgium) by Declan McGrath and Neasa Ní Chianáin Golden...

The Locust

The Locust

by | Mar 23, 2022 |

Iranian filmmaker Faeze Azizkhani portrays the hazards of making a movie about yourself in a self-referential drama packed with anxiety and irony.

Hostile

Hostile

by | Mar 14, 2022 |

Sonita Gale’s documentary is an important examination of Britain’s devastating immigration practices over several decades.

Rhino

Rhino

by | Mar 7, 2022 | , ,

ORIGINALLY REVIEWED SEPT. 13, 2021 Ukrainian activist Oleh Sentsov directs a hard-boiled gangster tale set in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, whose over-the-top violence is starkly undermotivated.

Heroines

Heroines

by | Feb 20, 2022 | ,

Communal mythologies and the importance of historical forebears are explored in Marina Herrera’s quietly humorous hybrid documentary about a rebellious Indigenous woman.

Fogaréu

Fogaréu

by | Feb 19, 2022 | , ,

Debuting director Flávia Neves throws far too many elements into her overstuffed Gothic-tinged plot, intriguing enough to hold attention but too convoluted to withstand criticism.

Taurus

Taurus

by | Feb 19, 2022 | , ,

Musician Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly, plays a drug-damaged pop star in director Tim Sutton’s ‘Taurus’, a stylishly sleazy but self-indulgent depiction of toxic fame.

Haulout

Haulout

by | Feb 19, 2022 | ,

Evgenia and Maxim Arbugaeva’s astonishing documentary captures the annual arrival of thousands of walruses on a remote beach in the Russian Arctic in awesome intimacy.

Millie Lies Low

Millie Lies Low

by | Feb 18, 2022 | , ,

Millie foolishly lies low but the film should stand tall given how well it captures the excruciatingly relatable tribulations of a young New Zealand woman who digs herself into a very deep hole while attempting to preserve other peoples’ expectations.

Unrest

Unrest

by | Feb 18, 2022 | , ,

Cyril Schäublin’s Berlin prize-winner ‘Unrest’ is a playful, gently subversive, precision-tooled drama about anarchist watch-makers in 19th century Switzerland.

Working Class Heroes

Working Class Heroes

by | Feb 18, 2022 | , ,

The band of rowdy construction workers at the heart of Serbian director Milos Pusic’s dark new dramedy are not your typical Working Class Heroes, and the film’s title is meant to be taken somewhat ironically, or at least with a sizeable grain of salt. They are,...

Axiom

Axiom

by | Feb 17, 2022 | ,

Jöns Jönsson’s intriguing slow-burner about a charismatic fabulist occasionally challenges our suspension of disbelief, but its exacting evocation of atmosphere nicely plays on the tension between normality and disruption.

Trap

Trap

by | Feb 16, 2022 | ,

Anastasia Veber’s prize-winning drama is an evocative exploration of the lives of young people in contemporary Russia caught between aggression and eroticism, isolation and intimacy.

The Novelist’s Film

The Novelist’s Film

by | Feb 16, 2022 | , ,

Hong Sang-soo’s 27th feature, and his third in competition in Berlin in as many years, offers his trademark acerbic humor, anchored by veteran Korean actress Lee Hye-young’s caustic turn as an embittered writer.

No U-Turn

No U-Turn

by | Feb 15, 2022 | , ,

Another documentary subtly but clearly discouraging African migration, with the good sense to find camera-friendly subjects who imbue the film’s trite theme with humour and energy.

The Forger

The Forger

by | Feb 15, 2022 | , ,

Maggie Peren’s evocation of young, reckless Jewish forger Cioma Schönhaus during the dark days of Hitler’s Berlin is strong on physical atmosphere but can’t balance his devil-may-care spunk with a sense of what awaits should he be caught

1341 Frames of Love and War

1341 Frames of Love and War

by | Feb 14, 2022 | ,

Magnum photographer Micha Bar-Am’s life and work is powerfully, sometimes painfully recounted through still images and offscreen voiceover in Ran Tal’s multilayered documentary that questions the psychological effects of shooting atrocities.

Return to Dust

Return to Dust

by | Feb 13, 2022 | ,

Li Ruijun’s deeply felt portrait of mature love between two socially unvalued Chinese peasants is beautiful to look at, but labors to catch the emotional wave it promises.

My Small Land

My Small Land

by | Feb 13, 2022 | ,

Japanese filmmaker Emma Kawawada takes the humanist cue from her mentor, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and adapt it to her warm and engaging directorial debut, in which a Kurdish-born Japanese teenager struggles to keep her life and dreams afloat when the authorities threaten to deport her family from the country.

Dragon Tooth

Dragon Tooth

by | Feb 13, 2022 | ,

Through colourful, chemically contaminated found footage, Rafael Castanheira Parrode evocatively excavates the trauma of the 1987 radioactivity disaster in Goiânia, Brazil.

KUDOS TO: MOHAMED HEFZY

KUDOS TO: MOHAMED HEFZY

by | Feb 13, 2022 | , ,

When it was announced that Egyptian producer and screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy would be on the World Cinema Dramatic Competition jury at Sundance this year, following his recent jury stints at Venice and BFI London, we saw it as not just a recognition for the producer,...

Myanmar Diaries

Myanmar Diaries

by | Feb 13, 2022 | , ,

An anonymous collective of Burmese filmmakers delivers a powerful statement of defiance against the murderous military dictatorship that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government on February 1, 2021.

Dreaming Walls

Dreaming Walls

by | Feb 13, 2022 | ,

There’s not much new in this lovingly made impressionistic documentary about New York’s very well-chronicled Chelsea Hotel, but the place and its tenacious residents still have a pull.

Call Jane

Call Jane

by | Feb 13, 2022 | ,

Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver play abortion rights activists in director Phyllis Nagy’s worthy but timid debut feature ‘Call Jane’.

Sonne

Sonne

by | Feb 12, 2022 | ,

Gen Z’s creative use of video and chat powers Kurdwin Ayub’s knowing take on a teenage girl in Vienna forced to negotiate the tensions and expectations arising from her Kurdish identity.

Coma

Coma

by | Feb 12, 2022 |

French filmmaker Bertrand Bonello’s work has often toed the line between narrative and the avant-garde, with plots that are chopped and screwed into a melee of images, sounds and music — the latter often beautifully composed by Bonello himself. His movies are less...

Convenience Store

Convenience Store

by | Feb 12, 2022 | ,

A punishing film of unrelenting cruelty which seeks to draw attention to the plight of enslaved Central Asian workers in Russia, but its overstuffed plot and taunting hopelessness is more alienating than galvanizing.

Dirndlschuld

Dirndlschuld

by | Feb 12, 2022 | ,

Super 8 footage of an idyllic holiday destination provides the serene surface for Wilbirg Brainin-Donnenberg’s probe into the darker elements of history both political and personal.

Into My Name

Into My Name

by | Feb 12, 2022 | ,

Elliot Page’s attachment as executive producer will spur interest, but “Into My Name” stands on its own as a sensitive, humanist portrait of four young F to M trans Italians coming into their own.

Lullaby

Lullaby

by | Feb 11, 2022 | ,

Motherhood is de-glamourized in this gentle, honest account of parenting during stressful times, shot in Spain’s Basque country by director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa.

Dark Glasses

Dark Glasses

by | Feb 11, 2022 | ,

Less gore and more psychology should broaden the audience for Dario Argento’s kinky but strangely staid horror film about a slasher out to kill a blind prostitute.

Agrilogistics

Agrilogistics

by | Feb 11, 2022 | ,

Gerard Ortín Castellví’s film about the mechanised standardisation of plant products in an industrial greenhouse is both hypnotic and unsettling; meticulous documentary and dreamlike fantasy.

Rookies

Rookies

by | Feb 10, 2022 | ,

Once again dealing in dance, Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai follow a group of hip hop-loving kids striving for academic success in a Parisian school.

Oink

Oink

by | Feb 10, 2022 | ,

A young girl adopts a rambunctious piglet and must navigate puppy classes and survive the annual sausage-making competition in this delightful stop-motion animation.

Kudos to Ulrich and Erika Gregor

Kudos to Ulrich and Erika Gregor

by | Feb 10, 2022 | ,

The 72-year history of the Berlin Film Festival has been shaped by many people, but arguably none have left a greater mark than Erika and Ulrich Gregor, the founders of the Arsenal Cinema and creators the festival’s influential Forum section. And it’s not just a...

Kumbuka

Kumbuka

by | Feb 6, 2022 | ,

Petna Ndaliko Katondolo’s documentary is a multifaceted exploration of complex questions around the combating of European perspectives in cinema about Africa.

The Dream and the Radio

The Dream and the Radio

by | Feb 5, 2022 | , , ,

Canadian filmmakers Renaud Després-Larose and Ana Tapia Rousiouk pay tribute to Stan Brakhage, Guy Debord, Jean-Luc Godard and Pedro Costa in an intriguing experimental exercise looking at the history of cinema and old-school political activism.

To Love Again

To Love Again

by | Feb 3, 2022 | , ,

The vestiges of politically-instigated past trauma come back to trouble an older couple in their second marriage as they begin ruminating on their demise in Gao Linyang’s subtly crafted, detail and performance driven feature debut.

Drifting Petals

Drifting Petals

by | Feb 2, 2022 | ,

The history of Hong Kong and its seething democratic movements is interwoven with a cryptic ghost story in Clara Law’s challenging film about memory and political struggle.

Constant

Constant

by | Feb 1, 2022 |

Sasha Litvintseva and Beny Wagner’s new essay film is a heady examination of the history, impacts, and social equality of standardised measurement.

Singing in the Wilderness

Singing in the Wilderness

by | Feb 1, 2022 | ,

A bittersweet chronicle of Miao farmers who form a Christian choir in the remote mountains in China, and who are recruited to perform nationally while gradually losing their lands, autonomy, and identity.

Achrome

Achrome

by | Jan 29, 2022 | ,

An innocent farm boy experiences first-hand the horrors of the Nazi occupation of the Baltic states when he becomes a collaborator in Maria Ignatenko’s sensitive but over-aestheticized reflection on war.

Assault

Assault

by | Jan 29, 2022 | ,

Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov finds tragicomic humour in Assault, a bleakly stylish thriller about a snowbound high school under terrorist attack.

Nazarbazi

Nazarbazi

by | Jan 29, 2022 | ,

An utterly captivating found footage collage that pieces together a sensuous history of intimacy in Iranian post-revolution cinema where depictions of physical contact are prohibited.

Give Me Pity!

Give Me Pity!

by | Jan 29, 2022 | ,

Amanda Kramer recreates a 1970s-style variety TV special to comment on a certain kind of diva celebrity, but the results are tediously self-indulgent, clueless about camp affect, and open to claims of disingenuousness.

My Emptiness and I

My Emptiness and I

by | Jan 28, 2022 | ,

This fictionalized portrait of a trans woman’s emotional journey towards selfhood tries to cover too many bases in the psychological process, but Raphaëlle Perez’s sympathetic performance and the film’s overall sensitivity make up for some of its flaws.

Phantom Project

Phantom Project

by | Jan 27, 2022 | ,

A pleasant though minor queer-skewed indie slice-of-life look at Millenials in Chile, using a ghost device as a way of concretizing the niggling concerns within a struggling actor’s subconscious.

Warsha

Warsha

by | Jan 26, 2022 | ,

A potentially familiar story of a Syrian construction worker living in Lebanon is turned on its head in Dania Bdeir’s sensual and soulful evocation of freedom.

Midwives

Midwives

by | Jan 25, 2022 | , ,

Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s first feature-length documentary offers a mellow and intimate portrait of two midwives – one a Buddhist, the other Muslim – who defy the deadly inter-communal conflict around them to become friends and health care providers for their poverty-stricken communities.

Tundra

Tundra

by | Jan 25, 2022 | ,

A paper-pushing official searches for a woman in red in José Luis Aparicio’s noirish short set in an oppressive, dystopian Cuba afflicted by strange, sluglike creatures.

Sandstorm

Sandstorm

by | Jan 25, 2022 | ,

An excellent, nuanced performance by Parizae Fatima anchors Seemab Gul’s tense depiction of a teenage girl navigating the dangers and dilemmas of an online relationship.

The Mission

The Mission

by | Jan 24, 2022 | , ,

Young American missionaries from the Church of the Latter-Day Saints set off to convert the dubious inhabitants of Finland in Tania Anderson’s paradoxical but respectful documentary.

$75,000

$75,000

by | Jan 24, 2022 | ,

First person testimonies and 3D modelling are effectively combined in Moïse Togo’s harrowing short documentary about the horrific violence faced by albino people across Africa.

Bestia

Bestia

by | Jan 24, 2022 | ,

The inner life and fragmenting psyche of a secret police agent form the basis of Hugo Covarrubias’s exemplary and sinister stop-motion animation set during the Chilean military dictatorship

Kudos to Patricio Guzman

Kudos to Patricio Guzman

by | Jan 23, 2022 | ,

The bloody military coup that shook up Chile in 1973 would not be as well known around the world without the remarkable documentary trilogy made by Patricio Guzman, The Battle of Chile (La batalla de Chile). After the coup, Patricio was imprisoned in the infamous...

Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil

by | Jan 22, 2022 | ,

When a Danish couple visits a Dutch couple they barely know, polite discomfort dissolves into horror as Christian Tafdrup’s social comedy of manners goes Gothic dark.

Gentle

Gentle

by | Jan 22, 2022 | , ,

A female bodybuilder tries her hand as an escort in order to pay for her steroids and supplements in this beautifully calibrated, exceptionally well-played feature that digs deep inside its characters, forcing audiences to upend initial conceptions while weaving a memorable, lingering spell.

Leonor Will Never Die

Leonor Will Never Die

by | Jan 21, 2022 | , ,

Martika Ramirez Escobar’s audacious first feature is a maniacally meta love letter to Philippine cinema, but its films-within-a-film structure and nods to wildly different genres suffer from the lack of a substantial story.

Zoon

Zoon

by | Jan 21, 2022 | ,

Jonatan Schwenk follows the award-winning ‘Sog’ with another beguiling animated short that wordlessly meditates on our relationship to the natural world via a group of axolotls and the people that eat them.

Tantura

Tantura

by | Jan 21, 2022 | ,

Israeli filmmaker Alon Schwarz questions his own country’s foundational myth with a harrowing investigation of the state-sanctioned cover-up of the killings of hundreds of civilians in a Palestinian village in May 1948.

Short Film Reviews Debut on The Film Verdict

Short Film Reviews Debut on The Film Verdict

by | Jan 21, 2022 |

Affirming our commitment to review the finest of world cinema regardless of length, The Film Verdict is proud to announce a new Short Films column which will make its debut during the Sundance Film Festival and will be a notable feature of our coverage in Rotterdam...

No Land’s Man

No Land’s Man

by | Jan 11, 2022 | ,

Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a pathological liar whose romance with an Australian girl unveils a horrifying backstory of racism in Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s genre-bending pleaser.

Europa

Europa

by | Jan 10, 2022 | ,

An immersive, sensorial plunge into a young Iraqi refugee’s desperation as he evades capture by anti-immigration vigilantes in a Bulgarian forest, filmed with taut suspense and anchored by a stand-out performance from Adam Ali.

Ascension

Ascension

by | Jan 8, 2022 |

Jessica Kingdon’s prize-winning, Oscar-shortlisted documentary Ascension is a disjointed but fascinating portrait of contemporary China as consumer capitalist superpower.

Zinder

Zinder

by | Jan 6, 2022 | ,

Aicha Macky’s superb documentary about the impoverished citizens of Zinder, in the Republic of Niger, bends towards compassion for a neglected people.

Words of Negroes

Words of Negroes

by | Jan 6, 2022 | , ,

Workers in an outdated sugar cane factory in Guadeloupe read from the transcripts of an 1842 trial against a slave owner in Sylvaine Dampierre’s powerful act of reclaiming history, Words of Negroes. Stunningly shot by Renaud Personnaz in crisp, vivid images, the film...

May God Be With You

May God Be With You

by | Jan 6, 2022 | , ,

The act of exile is never a single-generation event; its ever-mutating ramifications shift down the family tree, undergoing a change as each generation grapples with questions of identity and belonging. Given that the person who flees their country often rejects...

Marx Can Wait

Marx Can Wait

by | Jan 6, 2022 | ,

The most fascinating aspect of Marco Bellocchio’s guilt-streaked revisitation of the suicide of his twin brother in 1968 is the insight it offers into the Italian master’s creative font–his own family.

Rupture

Rupture

by | Jan 5, 2022 | , ,

The unsettled protagonists of Hamzah Jamjoom’s “Rupture” seem to be literally pulled through past, present and future in this Italian-inspired thriller in which a woman’s sanity is disturbed by her pregnancy and a malevolent concierge (played by Billy Zane) with his own unsavory baggage.

The Lost Daughter

by | Jan 4, 2022 | ,

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel ‘The Lost Daughter’ strays too far from Italy to be convincing, but a stunningly good Olivia Colman saves the day.

Communion

Communion

by | Dec 31, 2021 | , ,

In his exploration of a man’s descent into madness during the present pandemic, director-actor Nejib Belkadhi makes a rare of-the-moment drama, inflected with humor and surrealism, that captures our unease in ways likely to outlast COVID’s grip on our psyches.

Flee

Flee

by | Dec 24, 2021 | , ,

Denmark’s shortlisted Oscar contender Flee is a warmly personal animated coming-of-age documentary about an Afghan refugee coming to terms with his sexuality and painful family history.

Huda’s Salon

Huda’s Salon

by | Dec 17, 2021 | , ,

Hany Abu-Assad’s best work toys with questions of moral absolutes, yet his dissatisfying “Huda’s Salon” is hamstrung by a weak script and ill-advised editing choices that fail to build characters or tension, despite an interesting premise.

Route Ten

Route Ten

by | Dec 16, 2021 | , ,

What on the surface appears to be a formulaic road movie thriller about a couple of siblings tormented by a white Jeep on a desert road turns into a surprising critique of the Saudi old guard in which the younger generation declares its liberation from toxic patriarchy.

Becoming

by | Dec 15, 2021 | ,

An omnibus of women-directed Saudi shorts that acts as a calling card for the diversity of rising talent in the Kingdom, offering five largely strong entries highlighting the ways women negotiate traditional female and non-female spaces.

Radiograph of a Family

Radiograph of a Family

by | Dec 14, 2021 | ,

Director Firouzeh Khosrovani’s own parents embody the lacerating split of Iran into modern liberals and Islamic fundamentalists after the 1978 revolution, in a personal doc of startling clarity and impact.

Hit the Road

Hit the Road

by | Dec 11, 2021 | ,

Voted best film at the London BFI festival and Mar del Plata, an offbeat Iranian roadie launches the filmmaking career of Jafar Panahi’s son Panah in style.

The Stranger

The Stranger

by | Dec 8, 2021 | , ,

Palestine’s 2022 Oscar submission is a brooding story of lives in limbo in the Golan Heights, stunningly shot and wrenching in its moving evocation of a man mired in self-loathing and paralyzed by the physical and existential no-man’s land resulting in the Israeli occupation and the disaster in Syria.

A Second Life

A Second Life

by | Dec 4, 2021 | , ,

A well-calibrated debut with a fine central performance, weaving together notions of class and familial betrayal when an impoverished mother sells her son’s kidney to a well-off family in exchange for a better life.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow

by | Dec 4, 2021 | ,

In the bitter drama of a human rights lawyer struggling with mental illness, well-known actor Dhafer L’Abidine directs, produces and stars in a passionate plea to Tunisians to reclaim their revolution.

The Power of the Dog

by | Dec 2, 2021 | ,

Jane Campion’s bold cinematic interpretation of Thomas Savage’s novel about cattle ranchers in 1920’s Montana is a sensuous, aestheticized Netflix release, whose meticulous detail and gay subplot are admirable but a little tiring.

Authentik

Authentik

by | Dec 1, 2021 | ,

France’s most famous rap duo gets an energized if standardized biopic in this first of two projects to tackle the legacy of hip-hop group Suprême NTM.

Daughters of Abdulrahman

Daughters of Abdulrahman

by | Nov 29, 2021 | , ,

Predictably stereotyped characterizations still deliver some enjoyable moments in this female empowerment story that unfortunately also plays to the region’s homophobia but will be a crowd-pleaser in the Arab world.

Dear Thomas

Dear Thomas

by | Nov 28, 2021 | ,

Director Andreas Kleinert’s prize-winning Cold War bio-drama Dear Thomas pays compelling but indulgent tribute to East German literary outlaw Thomas Brasch.

Tonight’s Homework

Tonight’s Homework

by | Nov 26, 2021 | ,

Abbas Kiarostami’s trailblazing ‘Homework’ (1989) gets a brilliant update in a documentary that is equal parts hilarious and saddening in its portrayal of Iranian schoolkids.

When Pomegranates Howl

When Pomegranates Howl

by | Nov 24, 2021 | ,

With sensitivity and devastating last-scene irony, filmmaker and poet Granaz Moussavi cinematically embeds the viewer in children’s lives in the heart of war-torn Kabul, in Australia’s Oscar hopeful.

Ironland

Ironland

by | Nov 24, 2021 | ,

An outcry against man-made environmental disasters, tracking the long-term effects on the survivors of the biggest dam collapse in Brazil.

Nr. 10

Nr. 10

by | Nov 24, 2021 | ,

Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam takes darkly comic gloom to a new level with his audaciously weird tenth film, Nr. 10.

Isaac

Isaac

by | Nov 23, 2021 | , , ,

In his skillfully helmed first feature, Isaac (Izaokas), Lithuanian writer-director Jurgis Matulevicius delves into his country’s turbulent past under both Communism and Nazism, following a trio of friends in the 1960s whose lives are overshadowed by a massacre that...

Holy Emy

Holy Emy

by | Nov 22, 2021 | , ,

A young Filipino immigrant in Greece with special healing powers is the focus of Araceli Lemos’ assured drama delving into questions of spirituality, belonging and sisterly bonds with a distinctively creepy edge.

Sisterhood

Sisterhood

by | Nov 17, 2021 | ,

The hypocrisy of high school slut-shaming is the core theme of this strong feature debut boasting two exceptional performances and a layered script that’s distinctly Macedonian but with international resonance.

Vera Dreams of the Sea

by | Nov 17, 2021 | , ,

Kosovo’s Kaltrina Krasniqi makes an impressive feature debut with this beautifully measured drama about a once-compliant 60-something widow who attempts to deflect the malevolent traditional patriarchy in a nation on the edge of change.

Post Mortem

Post Mortem

by | Nov 17, 2021 | ,

Filled with enough gyrating dead corpses to cast the next Zack Snyder movie several times over, director Péter Bergendy’s Hungarian horror flick Post Mortem is high on gore and jump scares, low on convincing storytelling and originality. It displays a solid level of...

Titane

Titane

by | Nov 13, 2021 | , ,

A gloriously extreme Oscar submission, French writer-director Julia Ducournau’s prize-winning erotic thriller about a gender-blurring serial killer with a fetish for sex with cars is funny, fast and furious.

Io sto bene

Io sto bene

by | Nov 3, 2021 | ,

In Io sto bene, Luxembourg’s submission to the Oscars, Donato Rotunno movingly chronicles how present-day Europe has become more diverse and tolerant, but still presents obstacles for new arrivals and leaves the elderly isolated and lonely. In one eloquent scene, an...

White Building

White Building

by | Oct 31, 2021 | , ,

Cambodia’s Oscar submission is a semi-autobiographical critique of how the country’s rampant capitalism frays the traditional social fabric, told with sympathy yet short on dynamism.

The Great Basin

The Great Basin

by | Oct 30, 2021 | ,

Few people outside eastern Nevada will have even heard of White Pine County, a rural area on the border with Utah that’s home to just over 10,000 inhabitants. If it has any especially distinguishing characteristics outside ones stereotypically associated with rural...

A Bay

A Bay

by | Oct 28, 2021 | ,

The city of Rio de Janeiro lies on the western shore of Guanabara Bay, the location of Murilo Salles's hymn to working class toil, A Bay (Uma baía). Salles excelled as cinematographer in such Brazilian film classics as Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands and has directed...

Clara Sola

Clara Sola

by | Oct 27, 2021 | , , ,

Costa Rica dancer Wendy Chinchilla Araya gives an eerie, riveting perf but it only goes so far in this unstructured tale of magic realism and female power from debuting director Nathalie Alvarez Mesen.

Amira

Amira

by | Oct 27, 2021 | ,

A great deal of attention is about to accrue to Egyptian director Mohamed Diab, who’s just finished shooting on the Marvel franchise series Moon Knight, slated for release sometime in 2022. That’s a good thing, because it likely means his Venice premiered...

Captains of Za’atari

Captains of Za’atari

by | Oct 25, 2021 | ,

Everything about Ali El Arabi’s Captains of Za’atari seems custom-made to appeal to a broad public. After all, who doesn’t love an underdog story, this one involving a couple of Syrian teens in a Jordanian refugee camp whose skills at football (European; soccer for...

Dashcam

Dashcam

by | Oct 25, 2021 | , ,

Controversial LA musician Annie Hardy plays an obnoxious American tourist battling demonic forces in the English countryside in director Rob Savage’s profane, provocative, hilarious found-footage horror comedy Dashcam.

Life of Ivanna

Life of Ivanna

by | Oct 23, 2021 | ,

Documaker Renato Borrayo Serrano offers eye-opening glimpses into the harrowing and chaotic life of a modern Nenets woman that overturn stereotypes about Arctic life.

Murina

Murina

by | Oct 22, 2021 | , ,

‘Murina’, which won this year’s Camera d’Or in Cannes for first-time director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic, extols female rebellion but walks a dangerous tightrope connecting the male gaze with the body of a rebellious 17-year-old girl.

Eyimofe

Eyimofe

by | Oct 21, 2021 | , ,

Chuko and Ari Esiri’s Eyimofe, which is competing at Fespaco, combines two semi-overlapping stories of Nigerians on the edge. The first story is titled Spain, the second Italy. The idea in both titles is destination. In both stories, the Nigerian characters have come...

Eiffel

Eiffel

by | Oct 19, 2021 |

You don’t need to hold a doctorate in Freudian psychology, or to have labored through all 750 pages of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, to know that big towers built by ambitious men usually are, in one way or another, substitutes for their penises. And yet, in the highly...

Cruz

Cruz

by | Oct 19, 2021 | ,

Teresa Camou Guerrero’s poetic, heartbreaking documentary follows an indigenous Mexican family displaced by violent drug traffickers who struggle to return to their homelands.

ear for eye

ear for eye

by | Oct 17, 2021 | ,

James Bond star Lashana Lynch joins a large ensemble cast in debbie tucker green’s powerful stage-to-screen drama for the Black Lives Matter era.

Swallow

Swallow

by | Oct 14, 2021 |

Nollywood’s most famous director has made a period piece for Netflix that, while good to look and with all the right politics for today, doesn’t quite come alive and yet stays on too long.

No Time to Die

No Time to Die

by | Sep 29, 2021 |

The 25th James Bond film is bloated and plodding in places, but it ultimately delivers the goods and sends Daniel Craig out in a blaze of glory.

The Auschwitz Report

The Auschwitz Report

by | Sep 28, 2021 |

Slovakia’s former Oscars submission recreates the courageous real-life exploits of two Jewish prisoners who escaped from Auschwitz and alerted the world to the horrors of the Holocaust.

Black Box

Black Box

by | Sep 24, 2021 |

A good pitch, such as the one behind the French aviation thriller Black Box (Boîte noire), can only travel so far when the characters provide little fuel for the story. At some point, usually toward the middle of the second act, the movie stutters, stalls and then...

I Want to Talk About Duras

I Want to Talk About Duras

by | Sep 23, 2021 | ,

In her many novels, plays and movies, author and filmmaker Marguerite Duras would often make herself a character in the stories she was telling, mixing autobiography and fiction into a seamless blend that the French called autofiction. It was writing with a capital I,...

Django & Django

by | Sep 20, 2021 |

Quentin Tarantino explains his love for Sergio Corbucci’s Spaghetti Westerns and reveals a lot about his own work in the process in Luca Rea’s irresistible, eye-opening documentary.

Maixabel

by | Sep 19, 2021 | ,

Award-winning Spanish filmmaker Icair Bollain chillingly dramatizes the real-life encounter between a strong-minded widow and the repentant Basque terrorists who murdered her husband.

One Second

by | Sep 18, 2021 |

Zhang Yimou ironically salutes the movies and their fervent audiences during China’s Cultural Revolution, in a stylistic pastiche that drags a little.

Silent Land

Silent Land

by | Sep 14, 2021 | , , ,

A wealthy young Polish couple are forced to confront their own moral bankruptcy during a luxury Italian vacation in Silent Land, Aga Woszczy?ska’s elegantly bleak exploration of First World Problems.

Miracle

Miracle

by | Sep 11, 2021 |

There are two movies in Miracle, Bogdan George Apetri’s uneven, beautifully shot drama divided between a young religious novice’s ordeal when seeking an abortion and the police investigation that follows her brutal rape. The first part, characterized by an admirable...

On the Job: The Missing 8

by | Sep 11, 2021 |

A Venice competition slot seems like a strange place for On the Job: The Missing 8, a punishingly long corruption thriller from Filipino genre master Erik Matti that’s soon to be seen as an HBO Asia Original six-episode mini-series. Following on – but not actually a...

Encounter

by | Sep 11, 2021 | ,

Riz Ahmed stars in this stylish sci-fi chase thriller as a troubled military veteran battling his own demons as well as extra-terrestrial enemies.

America Latina

by | Sep 10, 2021 |

Elio Germano plays a mild-mannered dentist who discovers a girl is tied up in his basement in Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo’s (‘Favolacce’) absurdist psychological thriller.

Leave No Traces

by | Sep 10, 2021 |

The first shot of Leave No Traces may make you think you’re at a retrospective of one of the great Polish filmmakers from forty or more years ago, so perfect is the recreation. It takes place in a shadowy Warsaw bedroom in 1983, and the stillness, warm tonalities and...

The Catholic School

by | Sep 9, 2021 |

Stefano Mordini’s unconvincing ensemble drama searches for the origins of evil that provoked the Circeo massacre of two girls in 1975 and rattled upper class Rome.

Captain Volkonogov Escaped

by | Sep 8, 2021 |

In a vividly dystopic 1938 Leningrad under Stalin’s Great Purge, a young NKVD torturer tries to save his soul, in co-directors Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov’s high-energy parable ‘Captain Volkonogov Escaped’.

Freaks Out

by | Sep 8, 2021 |

There’s a reaction shot in Mel Brooks’ The Producers when the open-mouthed audience watches the “Springtime for Hitler” number in shocked disbelief, amazed that something so crass and campy could have made it on Broadway. The scene is hilarious because Brooks knows...

Reflection

by | Sep 6, 2021 | , ,

ORIGINALLY REVIEWED SEPT. 7, 2021 Ukrainian filmmaker Valentyn Vasyanovych follows up his Venice Horizons-winning ‘Atlantis’ with ‘Reflection’ (‘Vidblysk’), a perturbing true horror tale of his country’s war with Russia.

Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon

by | Sep 5, 2021 |

A psychotic girl with lethal powers walks anywhere she pleases at night in Ana Lily Amirpour’s occasionally amusing but mostly treadless fantasy, ‘Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.’

Sundown

by | Sep 5, 2021 |

The controversy stirred up by Michel Franco’s previous film ‘New Order’ will be partly placated and partly reignited in ‘Sundown’, the story of English tourists (Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg) in Mexico.

Il Buco

by | Sep 4, 2021 |

The symbiotic relationship between people of the land and their environment is the basis of all Michelangelo Frammartino’s work, most strikingly seen in his 2010 second feature Le Quattro Volte, a surprise international arthouse success. His hallmarks – unfussy,...

Last Night in Soho

by | Sep 4, 2021 |

A girl’s exhilarating mind-trip through swinging London of the Sixties turns wild and woolly and full of zombies in ‘Last Night in Soho’, Edgar Wright’s multi-genre treat, co-starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie.

Dune

by | Sep 3, 2021 |

There must be a reason Frank Herbert’s sci fi masterwork Dune defies cinematic adaptation, the latest attempt being director Denis Villeneuve’s attentively lensed but humorless actioner aimed at teen fans of the book and Timothée Chalamet.

Karmalink

by | Sep 3, 2021 |

Jake Wachtel’s Critics Week opener in Venice is a brash hybrid of near-future sci fi and timeless Buddhist beliefs in reincarnation.

The Card Counter

by | Sep 2, 2021 |

One of Paul Schrader’s most complex and profound reflections on personal traumatic memory bleeds into the American tragedy of Abu Ghraib in an anguishing drama starring Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan and Tiffany Haddish.

A Tale of Love and Desire

by | Sep 2, 2021 |

There are so many good ideas in Leyla Bouzid’s second feature A Tale of Love and Desire, so many rarely-addressed issues deserving attention, that it’s especially frustrating how faintly the sparks fly between her two main characters, university classmates at the...

Runner

Runner

by | Sep 1, 2021 | , ,

This cat-and-mouse chase thriller offers an opaque commentary on love as a form of psychosis and the paranoid political mood in post-Soviet Lithuania,

Feathers

by | Sep 1, 2021 | ,

The distinctive vision that Omar El Zohairy brought to his two prize-wining shorts is much in evidence in his meticulously crafted absurdist feature debut Feathers. It’s amusing to imagine how he pitched the project at the start, given the narrative’s unlikely...

The Stronghold

by | Aug 31, 2021 | ,

Over the past decade or so, the French city of Marseille has worked hard to clean up its image, gentrifying a significant area around its touristy Vieux-Port, opening a brand new museum and conference center — both architectural marvels — and attracting a swatch of...

Our Men

Our Men

by | Aug 31, 2021 | ,

Claire Denis sublimely explored the sweaty, dust-coated bodies of French legionnaires in one of her best movies, Beau Travail, which focused on a platoon of lonesome fighters marooned at a remote outpost in East Africa. In Our Men (Mon légionnaire), the second feature...

A New Old Play

by | Aug 31, 2021 | ,

Director Qiu Jiongjiong uses a traditional theater troupe to spin out three long hours of dreamy reflections on Chinese history in the 20th century.