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‘God Will Not Help’ Film Review: When Fierce Performances Aren’t Enough

In the following effort for the Croatian director Hana Jušić, she presents God Will Not Help in the Concorso Internazionale of the 2025 Locarno Film Festival. Following her debut at the Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori with Quit Staring at My Plate, the Croatian author takes a look at the …

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‘Mare’s Nest’ Review: Ben Rivers Adapts Don DeLillo

The experimental director and visual artist Ben Rivers is a respected name in the film festival circuit. The director debuts his works in principal events, such as the Locarno Film Festival, where he premiered his 2024 film Bogancloch and his new work, Mare’s Nest, both in the Concorso Internazionale. In …

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‘Sorella di Clausura’ Film Review: Ivana Mladenović’s Gem

In her fourth directorial effort, the Serbian director Ivana Mladenović returns to the Locarno Film Festival, where she premiered her 2019 film Ivana the Terrible, now with Sorella di Clausura. The director, who currently resides in Romania, presents a story about a wasted Romanian talent – someone who never reached …

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‘Tóc, giấy và nước…’ Film Review: Trương Minh Quý and Nicolas Graux on the Differences in Generations

The Vietnamese director Trương Minh Quý was one of the highlights of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival with his film Viet and Nam. The film had an extensive festival season, including a main slate slot in the New York Film Festival and a Wavelength selection in the Toronto International Film …

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‘Yakushima’s Illusion’ Film Review: Vicky Krieps’ Best Performance Since Corsage

Naomi Kawase is arguably the most well-known Japanese female director internationally. Previously, she competed in the Festival de Cannes competition five times with Shara in 2003, The Mourning Forest in 2007, Hanezu in 2011, Still the Water in 2014, and Radiance in 2017. Her 2020 feature, True Mothers, appeared on …

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‘Le Lac’ Film Review: An Unconventional Exploration of Grief from Fabrice Aragno (Locarno)

The Swiss director Fabrice Aragno is known for his collaborations with the cinematic genius Jean-Luc Godard. He worked as a cinematographer in Godard’s films ” Film Socialisme, Goodbye to Language, and Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars. He produced Godard’s last Cannes competition entry, The Book …

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‘As Estações’ Film Review: A Poetic Documentary Portraying Alentejo

The French director Maureen Fazendeiro is known for her short documentary Sol Negro (Black Sun), a recitation of Henri Michaux‘s poem. After that, she joined the Portuguese director Miguel Gomes, co-writing his Cannes award-winning Grand Tour, and co-directing the 2021 film, Diários de Otsoga (The Tsugua Diaries). Now, she directs …

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‘Dry Leaf’ Film Review: Alexandre Koberidze’s Gorgeously Fierce Neo-Noir Odyssey

Georgian director Alexandre Koberidze made a splash in the arthouse circuit when he competed in the 2021 Berlin Film Festival with his What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?. MUBI acquired the film and released it as one of the original releases during the expansion of the …

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Fantasia 2025: ‘Touch Me’ Film Review

Touch Me is the sophomore effort by Addison Heimann. The director premiered with Hypochondriac, a 2022 release. His new film is another addition to the tendency of contemporary horror films to use genre conventions to tackle trauma and abuse. In his latest film, Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) is a traumatized …

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Fantasia 2025: ‘Blazing Fists’ Film Review – A Visceral Work by the Master Takashi Miike

Japanese director Takashi Miike is one of the most prolific directors alive. In 2025, he released three films: Shin Abarenbo Shogun, Sham, and Blazing Fists. He is known for his signature in his work, which usually merges genres. In Blazing Fists, Miike crafts a martial arts film that combines fighting, …

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Fantasia 2025: ‘$POSITIONS’ Review: Brandon Daley’s Compelling First Feature Film

$POSITIONS is the debut feature by Brandon Daley, after his three short films: Savasana (2015), Chicken Tuesdays (2017), and Technology Lake: Meditations on Death and Sex (2019). In his first feature directorial effort, the director explores the world of cryptocurrencies and the allure of making easy money online. He sets …

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Fantasia 2025: ‘OBEX’ Film Review – Albert Birney’s Homage to Early Video Games

The American indie director Albert Birney has had a prolific career in the last few years. He is releasing his sixth feature film, OBEX. Birney released before Strawberry Mansion, Tux and Fanny, Sylvio, Eyeballs in the Darkness, and The Beast Pageant. The director uses the 1980s setting to tell his …

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Fantasia 2025: ‘Lurker’ Review – Théodore Pellerin’s Superb Film Performance

Lurker is the debut feature by Alex Russell. He is an Emmy winner for his work as a supervising producer in Netflix’s miniseries, Beef. Besides the show with Ali Wong and Steve Yeun, the young screenwriter penned episodes of FX’s Dave and The Bear. In 2017, Russell wrote a feature …

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John Lennon and Yoko Ono in ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

‘One to One: John & Yoko’ Film Review: Lennon, Politically

Academy Award-winning director Kevin MacDonald has returned to documentary filmmaking after a series of fiction works, including The Mauritanian and How I Live Now, among others. His last three works were documentaries: High and Low – John Galliano, Last Song From Kabul, and One to One: John & Yoko. In …

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‘Reflection in a Dead Diamond’ Movie Review: A Stylish and Fresh Genre Homage (Fantasia 2025)

The duo of directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani is known for their approach to genre cinema, especially the giallo, an Italian sub-genre of slasher films marked by its distinctive visual style. They are back with their latest film, Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Reflet dans un diamant mort), a …

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