Film Festival reviews, interviews, and podcast episodes.
Episode 115: Tribeca 2021: False Positive / Italian Studies / Last Film Show / Essie Davis Interview
“The invention of the tripod was the best thing to happen to photography and the worst thing to happen to cinematography.” Pan Nalin, Director of Last Film Show Links: Apple Podcasts | Castbox | Deezer | Gaana | Google Podcasts | iHeartRadio | JioSaavn | LibSyn | Player FM | RadioPublic | Spotify | Stitcher … Continue reading Episode 115: Tribeca 2021: False Positive / Italian Studies / Last Film Show / Essie Davis Interview
VIFF 2021 Review: Bipolar
Written by Patrick Hao 73/100 It’s hard to describe exactly what Queena Li’s debut feature Bipolar is without sounding like an intern at a movie studio writing script coverage. There are bits of Luis Bunuel’ and Maya Deren’s surrealism, bits of Jim Jarmusch’ and David Lynch’s absurdist take on the everyday man, and Ingmar Bergman’s … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Bipolar
VIFF 2021 Review: Bergman Island
Written by Taylor Baker 88/100 Mia Hansen-Løve’s seventh feature length film entitled Bergman Island is in essence a meta fictional island getaway trip to work on new creative projects for a couple. The titular island is called Fårö, Ingmar Bergman’s palatial getaway where he crafted some of his greatest masterpieces, and some of the world’s … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Bergman Island
VIFF 2021 Review: Three Sisters
Written by Alexander Reams 55/100 Family ties us all together. Even with a strenuous relationship, family is always going to be a part of your life. Such is the case in Lee Seung-Woo’s Three Sisters. The eponymous three sisters gather on their father’s birthday. All of them carry scars and memories from their upbringing and … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Three Sisters
VIFF 2021 Review: The Girl and the Spider
Written by Michael Clawson 90/100 Apartment complexes are places of relatively constant change. There might be a few tenants in any given building who’ve resided there for what seems like forever, but otherwise, tenants tend to come and then leave, all their belongings, pets, dramas, and peculiarities in tow. The Girl and the Spider, a … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: The Girl and the Spider
VIFF 2021 Review: Red Rocket
Written by Taylor Baker 85/100 What happens when there’s a global epidemic and the film you’d been planning to shoot can’t be shot? For Sean Baker the answer to that question is Red Rocket. A long gestating idea that’s been percolating around his mind since researching for his 2012 film Starlet which he also co-wrote … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Red Rocket
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: Mad God
Written by Alexander Reams 76/100 Stop motion animation has always been my favorite medium within animated storytelling. There’s a level of passion that is shown throughout stop motion animation that I appreciate above all else. From Wes Anderson’s entries in this genre to the Laika films, sans the occasional miss, stop motion has always always … Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: Mad God
VIFF 2021 Review: In Front of Your Face
Written by Patrick Hao 71/100 Another year means another entry in Hong Sang-soo’s ever expanding oeuvre. In Front of Your Face is a sparse feature that, like most of Hong’s films, lulls the viewer into a sense of malaise to the daily trivialities of life, before the revelations change the context of the entire film. … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: In Front of Your Face
Fantastic Fest 2021: Lamb
Written by Taylor Baker 50/100 Valdimar Jóhannsson solo directorial debut Lamb is a mountainous pastoral film that details the lives of two farmers. Maria and Ingvar, played by Noomi Rapace(Millennium Series and Prometheus) and Hilmir Snær Guðnason whose films most American audiences won’t know. Maria and Ingvar have barns full of sheep, a barnyard cat, … Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2021: Lamb
VIFF 2021 Review: One Second
Written by Patrick Hao 63/100 Two years ago, Zhang Yimou’s One Second was pulled at the last minute from the Berlin International Film Festival. Many assumed this was due to last minute edits by the Chinese censors regarding the film’s content. This is especially surprising considering how Zhang has been criticized by contemporaries such as … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: One Second
VIFF 2021 Review: Money Has Four Legs
Written by Patrick Hao 68/100 Filmmakers love to make movies about how hard it is to make a movie. From The Disaster Artist to Living in Oblivion, these movies about movies are often a love letter to the medium that they love despite the hardships that they face. Money Has Four Legs goes beyond just … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Money Has Four Legs
Toronto International Film Festival 2021 Review: I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch)
Written by Patrick Hao 72/100 Since Her was released in 2013, a commentary on the loneliness of humans with the dawn of AI technology, filmic depictions of technology have been especially dour. The Black Mirror-ification of media harping on the cynicism of what technology is doing to humans – a perfectly valid response to our … Continue reading Toronto International Film Festival 2021 Review: I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch)
Toronto International Film Festival 2021 Review: I’m Your Man
Written by Anna Harrison 70/100 German director Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man joins the endless ranks of movies grappling with artificial intelligence that have populated the cinematic landscape for decades, though this time it’s a romcom focusing on the connection between cuneiform expert Alma (Maren Eggert) and Tom (Dan Stevens, speaking German and executive producing), … Continue reading Toronto International Film Festival 2021 Review: I’m Your Man
VIFF 2021 Review: Flee
Written by Patrick Hao 85/100 Flee tells us a story in a traditional sense. Amin Nawabi, not the real name of the real Afghan refugee who is the subject of this documentary, sits down in front of the camera to tell us his story. His story is harrowing, inspiring, funny, and scary, and it’s hard … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Flee
VIFF 2021 Review: Mothering Sunday
Written by Taylor Baker 40/100 Mothering Sunday is a staggered storyline period piece, that follows Jane Fairchild played by Odessa Young as she variously writes a novel, and experiences the sultry romance of forbidden love by imagining herself as the main character in the story she’s telling. Her lover Paul Sheringham is played by Josh … Continue reading VIFF 2021 Review: Mothering Sunday
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