Film Festival reviews, interviews, and podcast episodes.
HCAF 2021 Review: Since You Arrived, My Heart Stopped Belonging To Me
Written by Raúl Mendoza 97/100 Throughout my long debate with myself on what exactly I want my first review for the site to be, I kept asking myself what speaks more to me as a person but the various identities I subscribe to? I have watched a lot of incredible cinema this year that I … Continue reading HCAF 2021 Review: Since You Arrived, My Heart Stopped Belonging To Me
Tribeca 2021 Film Festival Review: Italian Studies
Written by Taylor Baker 70/100 “Does memory even matter?” An impulsive saturnine film that follows Vanessa Kirby as she billows around New York City for an unclear amount of time in an amnesiac fugue state. The non-linear timeline of the film accentuates the haziness Kirby’s performance indicates. At one point Kirby appears to be a … Continue reading Tribeca 2021 Film Festival Review: Italian Studies
Old School Kung Fu Festival: Joseph Kuo Retrospective
Written by Patrick Hao Joseph Kuo is the Roger Corman of kung fu cinema. He did not have the backing of a major studio like Shaw Brothers or Golden Harvest. He was not even making movies in Hong Kong. Rather, Kuo made independent films for his own production company, Hong Hwa International Films, in his … Continue reading Old School Kung Fu Festival: Joseph Kuo Retrospective
TIFF 2021 Review: The Survivor
Written by Taylor Baker 60/100 Barry Levinson, director of Rain Man and Good Morning Vietnam, picks up the camera again to depict a biographical film entitled The Survivor. Which offers a look back at Harry Haft (played by a very game, and made up Ben Foster) a survivor of Auschwitz who entertained Nazis by boxing … Continue reading TIFF 2021 Review: The Survivor
VIFF 2021 Review: Official Competition
Written by Taylor Baker 82/100 Co-Directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat craft a meta-fictional criticism of art, wealth, and awards. Official Competition begins with José Luis Gómez’s Humberto Suarez, a lavishly wealthy man nearing the end of his life and wanting to create a legacy. Not out of sincerity, but rather because people don’t think … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Official Competition
DXIFF 2021 Review: United States vs. Reality Winner
Written by Taylor Baker 35/100 Sonia Kennebeck follows up her 2020 documentary Enemies of the State up with a piece of trial propaganda entitled United States vs. Reality Winner. From the get-go there’s no question whose side we’re on, despite no clarity on why. It seems that playing flashy bombastic moments of Donald Trump on … Continue reading DXIFF 2021 Review: United States vs. Reality Winner
DXIFF 2021 Review: 3212 Un-Redacted
Written by Taylor Baker 75/100 Brian Epstein’s 3212 Un-Redacted presents a damning expose on the betrayal, cover-up, and conspiracy that occurred in October 2017. Deployed in Niger ODA(Operational Detachment Alpha) 3212 who were tasked against their Captain’s recommendation with pursuing a significant target in Tongo Tongo by their AFRICOM leadership. The secret sauce to the … Continue reading DXIFF 2021 Review: 3212 Un-Redacted
VIFF 2021 Review: Wife of a Spy
Written by Anna Harrison 60/100 Horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy has all the elements of a thrilling period piece: beautiful costumes, state secrets, wartime backdrop, all of it anchored by Yu Aoi as Satoko, whose determination to uncover the truth regarding her husband, wealthy merchant Yusaku (Issey Takahashi), who may or not … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Wife of a Spy
Raindance 2021 Film Festival Review: The Noise of Engines
Written by Alexander Reams 62/100 Loud noises, going in a straight path, exotic colors, wild outfits, in this race a star can be born, I could be describing RuPaul’s Drag Race, alas I am not. Instead, I am describing the modern culture of drag racing. Two (or in some cases four) cars in the same … Continue reading Raindance 2021 Film Festival Review: The Noise of Engines
Raindance 2021 Film Festival Capsule Review: Death Is Smoking My Cigars
Written by Alexander Reams 72/100 “You know: I’m drunk once again, here, listening to Tchaikovsky, on the radio. Jesus, I heard him 47 years, ago.” In 1987 Charles Bukowski scribed the poem Death Is Smoking My Cigars, an existential and reflective piece of poetry in which Bukowski reflects on his life and career. 34 years … Continue reading Raindance 2021 Film Festival Capsule Review: Death Is Smoking My Cigars
VIFF 2021 Review: Belfast
Written by Taylor Baker 78/100 Belfast-born Kenneth Branagh’s latest film Belfast is a love letter to a time gone by. Like a mid-size jawbreaker, you know what it is from the outset, but there’s no way to speed up the process of engorging it. As every painfully sweet minute of Belfast rolls by you’re painfully … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Belfast
Double Walker
Written by Patrick Hao 58/100 Double Walker represents another entry in the trend of horror movies dealing with the terror of misogyny inflicted on young women that even started before the MeToo movement with films like A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and The Witch. Just in the last month of this film’s release, … Continue reading Double Walker
VIFF 2021 Review: The Book of Delights (O Livro dos Prazeres)
Written by Maria Athayde 70/100 The Book of Delights co-written and directed by Marcela Lordy is a loose adaptation of Brazilian author Clarice Lispector’s book Uma Aprendizagem ou o Livro dos Prazers. It tells the story of Lóri (Simone Spoladore) an elementary school teacher on a journey of self-discovery as she navigates her monotonous professional … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: The Book of Delights (O Livro dos Prazeres)
VIFF 2021 Review: The Sanctity of Space
Written by Taylor Baker 65/100 The Sanctity of Space marks the first time either co-director/climber Renan Ozturk and Freddie Wilkinson have eclipsed a sixty minute runtime. It details the passage of the climbers on a collection of peaks that was plotted by renowned photographer, cartographer, explorer, and climber Bradford Washburn. The documentary serves as both … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: The Sanctity of Space
VIFF 2021 Review: Azor
Written by Maria Athayde 80/100 Azor is a Franco-Argentinian-Swiss co-production co-written and directed by Andreas Fontana marking his feature film debut. From the first shot there is something disorienting about the film. We see a somewhat disoriented man, surrounded by foliage, looking straight into the camera and shortly after we see two young men being … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Azor
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