Film Festival reviews, interviews, and podcast episodes.
VIFF 2023: Anselm
Written by Taylor Baker
“Wim Wenders’s “Anselm” opens with landscape shots of statuesque dresses adorning the countryside with atomic structures, trees, and inanimate objects nestled into their neckline as symbolic…”
VIFF 2023: A Cooler Climate
Written by Taylor Baker
““A Cooler Climate” glides across moments of Ivory’s life from Klamath Falls Oregon to different regions in Asia and the Middle East and back. The film has a general sense of serenity that emerges from the decades-old footage…”
VIFF 2023: Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Written by Patrick Hao
“The ethos of Radu Jude’s newest film is right in the title: “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World.” Jude’s trek across Bucharest through the eyes of…”
VIFF 2023: Let Me Go (Laissez-moi)
Written by Michael Clawson
“A middle-aged single mother, the glamorous and self-possessed Claudine (Jeanne Balibar) is raising her disabled son Baptiste in the Swiss Alps. She works as a seamstress, fashioning wedding dresses and mending…”
VIFF 2023: The Delinquents
Written by Michael Clawson
“Coming on the heels of the comparably sprawling “Trenque Lauquen” from Laura Citarella, the arrival of Rodrigo Moreno’s “The Delinquents” marks a triumphant moment for boundary-breaking Argentine cinema. This lengthy…”
VIFF 2023: There’s No Place Like Home (Den, der lever stille)
Written by Michael Clawson
“In the tonally confused Danish film “There’s No Place Like Home,” dysfunctional family drama is filtered through surrealistic horror, and made into a brightly colored nightmare. In her early twenties, Leonora…”
VIFF 2023: Bitten (La Morsure)
Written by Michael Clawson
““Bitten” opens with a dizzying flurry of eerie sights. Shards of gauzy images – a swinging crystal pendulum, a burning chapel in the woods, a young girl crying out in agony…”
TIFF 2023: Dream Scenario
Written by Christopher Cross
“Kristoffer Borgli’s latest feature is an absurdist take on fame and influencer culture, that eventually shifts into a nightmare as an ordinary man who just wants…”
TIFF 2023: The Umbrella Men: Escape from Robben Island
Written by Alexander Reams
“John Barker returns to direct and his continued passion and love for this community and these people is as evident as his direction in the first. He opens and closes both films with music and…”
TIFF 2023: 100 Yards
Written by Christopher Cross
“Influenced by the martial arts classics that came before it, Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng’s latest film, “100 Yards,” delivers some of the most engrossing and grounded fight sequences in recent…”
TIFF 2023: Working Class Goes to Hell
Written by Christopher Cross
“Money is the root of all evil, but if you’re not attentive, all roads will lead to capitalism in Mladen Đorđević’s “Working Class Goes to Hell.” A satire imbued with the power of Satan, Đorđević’s timely reflection on…”
NYAFF 2023: Vital Sign
Written by Patrick Hao
“At first glance, the Hong Kong thriller, “Vital Sign,” seems like a conventional thriller following a Hong Kong paramedic, Ma Chi-yip (Louis Koo), who does not like the bureaucracy that hinders him from…”
Fantasia 2023: Aporia
Written by Taylor Baker
““Aporia” is unnotable, it has little to say, and less to do. Its characters are unremarkable as are its consequences, which is a real pity for what is quite a nifty premise.”
Cannes 2023: All to Play For (Rien à perdre)
Written by Taylor Baker
“Virginie Efira stars in “All to Play For” a slice of life film depicting a single mother raising two boys on a low income. Efira’s Sylvie works at a local restaurant, and sometimes due to her schedule she has to leave…”
Tribeca 2023: Cinnamon (2023)
Written by Alexander Reams
“Blaxploitation is a genre that’s as synonymous with its crash zooms as it is memorable dialogue and sharply dressed characters who populate the traditionally sleazy setting. Since the movement lost steam there have been…”
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