Written by Eric Zhu "Centered on the friendship between two female artists Hanna and Pari, the film opens on one of Pari’s shows, a piece of Brechtian performance art where actors enact their daily routines within a white soundstage. This … Continue reading.
Category: Film Festival
Cannes 2026: 9 Temples to Heaven
Written by Eric Zhu "...tensions surface in the merit ceremonies, where some temples have been refashioned to appeal to a modern audience and nearly all leverage spirituality as a means to earn donations. At the second temple, a monk stresses … Continue reading.
Cannes 2026: La Perra (2026)
Written by Eric Zhu "Dominga Sotomayor’s "La Perra" is both perfectly judged and ravishingly beautiful. Set on a remote island in the South of Chile, the film is situated within a community of seaweed harvesters, one of whom, Silvia, has … Continue reading.
VIFF 2025: With Hasan in Gaza
Written by Eric Zhu "For us, unbound from the burden of direct representation, these images invite speculation of who these people are, of who they might be now, of lives before these images, and of Palestine’s future."… Continue reading.
NYFF 2025: Levers
Written by Eric Zhu "The disruption of daily routine that the darkness inspires, and the corresponding subversion of cinematic legibility, are what enable the film’s expansive sprawl. Perhaps the intimate nocturnal atmosphere is also..."… Continue reading.
NYAFF 2025: Transcending Dimensions
Written by Eric Zhu "Operating simultaneously as urban revenge thriller, space opera, and a Japanese version of a wuxia flick, Toyoda treats each genre vernacular as part of the same overarching prison. Attempting to liberate the film from narrative, he … Continue reading.
NYAFF 2025: Queerpanorama
Written by Eric Zhu "Despite the references to real-world tensions, “QueerPanorama” exists in a punishingly claustrophobic headspace. This is most obvious in the barren abstraction of Cheung’s apartment, where Cheung’s arrested development is on..."… Continue reading.
SIFF 2025: Invention
Written by Taylor Baker "What emerges is neither purely documentary nor entirely fictional but, as its title suggests, an invention unto itself. It's a film about the descendants of snake oil salesmen and big dreamers, about the complicated inheritances we … Continue reading.
VIFF 2024: Measures for a Funeral
Written by Michael Clawson "“Measures for a Funeral,” arrives as her most ambitious work to date, and as a culmination of her collaborations with actress Deragh Campbell. More than just a leap in scale over her previous work, “Measures” suggests..."… Continue reading.
VIFF 2024: Dream Team
Written by Michael Clawson "Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn’s “Dream Team” is what you might call a “vibes” movie. A sparkly, sun-dappled, and pleasurably silly riff on crime drama, it melds erotica and absurdism through a plot that’s digressive and … Continue reading.








