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).

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.

Society of the Snow

Society of the Snow

by | Sep 9, 2023 | ,

‘Society of the Snow’, the edge-of-seat disaster movie that closes the 80th Venice Film Festival, directed by J.A. Bayona of ‘The Impossible’ fame, recreates the 1972 air crash of a Uruguayan flight in the Andes in great but respectful detail.

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.

The Summer with Carmen

The Summer with Carmen

by | Sep 7, 2023 | ,

A queer filmmaker in a funk despite his pink-blue hair needs to come up with a treatment for a film that’s “fun, sexy, Greek and low budget” in Zacharias Mavroeidis’ The Summer with Carmen (To kalokairi tis Karmen). The resulting meta film succeeds on three of those...

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.

Me Captain

Me Captain

by | Sep 6, 2023 | ,

Director Matteo Garrone steps back from the edginess of stylized crime dramas and horror fantasies to recount the no less cruel and shocking journey made by two Senegalese teens to Europe in ‘Me Captain’.

Dormitory

Dormitory

by | Sep 6, 2023 |

Turkish rookie director Nehir Tuna has made a beautifully played and shot if somewhat opaquely told coming-of-age story set in a rarely-seen world.

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.

For Night Will Come

For Night Will Come

by | Sep 6, 2023 |

A French family moves to a new place in a rural village in For Night Will Come (En attendant la nuit). What the villagers aren’t initially aware of is that the tenebrous and toothy teenage son of the family, Philémon, is somewhat unusual in nature. It’s not hard to...

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.

Bye Bye Tiberias

Bye Bye Tiberias

by | Sep 5, 2023 | , ,

Directed by Hiam Abbass’s daughter Lina Soualem, this beautifully layered, quietly intelligent documentary explores her female-centric family’s experiences of dispossession and exile following the 1948 Nakba, seeking to break the silence surrounding trauma.

Green Border

Green Border

by | Sep 5, 2023 | ,

In ‘Green Border’, veteran Agnieszka Holland is joined by young directors Kamila Tarabura and Katarzyna Warzecha in a black-and-white drama about refugees trying to enter the EU, which is more thematically than emotionally resonant.

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.

The Promised Land

The Promised Land

by | Sep 1, 2023 |

After The Royal Affair, which gave us Mads Mikkelsen and a then-unknown Alicia Vikander in a tumultuous Rococo-era court romance, Danish writer-director Nikolaj Arcel goes back to the 18th century for another story of power struggles and romance in The Promised Land...

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...

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

Shayda

Shayda

by | Aug 12, 2023 | , ,

Noora Niasari’s episodic debut film ‘Shayda’ stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi (‘Holy Spider’) in an involving performance as an Iranian woman in an Australian women’s shelter.

Rossosperanza

Rossosperanza

by | Aug 10, 2023 |

The audacious second feature from Annarita Zambrano (‘After the War’) explores the mindspace of Italian teenagers in 1990 who aren’t allowed to be themselves.

First Case

First Case

by | Aug 9, 2023 | ,

A young French law-office worker unexpectedly finds herself defending a murder suspect in First Case (Première Affaire), the debut feature from Victoria Musiedlak. The unassuming drama continues in the vein of down-to-earth portraits of regular people working in...

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.

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.

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...

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.

The Pot au Feu

The Pot au Feu

by | May 24, 2023 | , ,

The pièce de résistance of unabashed culinary cinema, Tran Anh Hung’s ‘The Pot au Feu’ serves up a French country idyll in romantic 19th century sauce for audiences whose tastes run to the fine wines and 12-course meals.

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.

Pictures of Ghosts

Pictures of Ghosts

by | May 24, 2023 | , , ,

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s poetic docu-essay Pictures of Ghost is a passkey to his previous films as well as a personal reflection on his relationship with Recife and cinephilia, but this terrifically edited meditation is also a more universal ode to the way memories become ghosts that inhabit the physical spaces of our lives.

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.

Close Your Eyes

Close Your Eyes

by | May 23, 2023 | ,

A passionate, big-issue film from revered Spanish maestro Victor Erice, ‘Close Your Eyes” engagingly reflects on art, memory, identity and recapturing time past.

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.

If Only I Could Hibernate

If Only I Could Hibernate

by | May 21, 2023 | ,

Japan-educated Mongolian filmmaker Zoljargal Purevdash’s first feature provides a sensitive yet sobering account of a teenager’s struggle for his family’s survival, even if it means sacrificing his own future.

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...

Four Daughters

Four Daughters

by | May 20, 2023 | , ,

An enthralling “fictional documentary” by Kaouther Ben Hania exploring the psychological states of a strong-headed Tunisian mother and her four daughters, two of whom joined Islamic State, through staged recreations and interactions with actors playing their roles.

About Dry Grasses

About Dry Grasses

by | May 19, 2023 | , , ,

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s melancholy, dialogue-heavy rumination on personal responsibility, politics and the weight of provincial isolation is intellectually rigorous and always engrossing but largely lacks the well-earned emotional gifts of his more recent masterworks.

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.

The Delinquents

The Delinquents

by | May 18, 2023 | , ,

A delicious reverie on escaping capitalism’s numbing daily drudge and finding the true meaning of freedom, “The Delinquents” is a rare three-hour charmer sure to be scooped up in multiple territories.

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...

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.

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.

Samsara

Samsara

by | Feb 20, 2023 | ,

Lois Patiño’s latest contains a fascinating cinematic experience though the work as a whole will likely receive a more mixed reception.

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,...

The Burdened

The Burdened

by | Feb 20, 2023 | , ,

A hard-pressed couple in Yemen’s port city of Aden search for a doctor to perform an abortion in Amr Gamal’s excellent, understated yet hard-hitting portrait of a family and their city in desperation.

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.

Silver Haze

Silver Haze

by | Feb 19, 2023 | ,

Dutch director Sacha Polak and British actress Vicky Knight reunite for an even looser-limbed slice-of-life story after their ‘Dirty God,’ which opened Rotterdam in 2019.

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.

The Teachers’ Lounge

The Teachers’ Lounge

by | Feb 18, 2023 | ,

The Teacher`s Lounge Ilker Çatak’s latest, features a great performance from German actress Leonie Benesch (The Crown) in a solid drama about trying to stand upright in a world of changing mores.

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.