When a movie pulls its punches it’s always a good idea to ask why. In the case of Moulin, a biopic of a national hero of France from the second world war, the obvious answer is because it was designed with younger audiences in mind. As a primer for who …
The existence of art for art’s sake is always wonderful to see. It might not necessarily meet the moment or fill a need, but people have gone to some trouble to create it and this hard work and good cheer is always fascinating. The Man I Love is precisely just …
The journalist and documentary filmmaker Daniel Lombroso has been consistently releasing shorts and features that reflect on two central themes: beauty and the American society. In the previous years, he released Denial, Hold the Line, American Scar, and White Noise, which all portray the history of the United States and …
When discussing pioneers in cinema, Barbara Hammer’s name is quintessential for any discussion. The avant-garde filmmaker is essential for the feminist cinema alongside names like Chantal Akerman, Lizzie Borden, Barbara Loden, and Sally Porter. In a sense, all of those directors provided different multitudes for the feminine representation on the …
It’s wonderful when filmmakers decide they have nothing to lose. If you are going to make an outrageous quest through the kink scene of Paris you might as well hold nothing back. And indeed Jim Queen holds nothing, and I mean NOTHING, back. This is probably why the film is …
As the discussions surrounding Artificial Intelligence sparked the daily conversations of society, mostly of the aesthetically different artistry might be appointed as GenAI by the untrained eye. Our difficulty in absorbing the artistic content of unconventional art leads us to confuse the various artistic styles with a new, harmful tool …
The considerably more dramatic original title of this German movie is Ants Don’t Eat Halva. This is a line spoken during the argument that’s at the core of this sweet and strange story of adult responsibilities assumed much too young. I Spy With My Little Eye has heavy subject matter …
One movie is an experience. Four is a consensus. The female filmmakers of America have agreed: modern motherhood is hell on earth. The mommies at the centre of these recent movies are all wealthy, with every societal advantage their husband’s money can buy. (They’re all thin and white too, if we …
Using the court system as a way to discuss societal problems has been a mainstay of television around the world for decades. Yet since Anatomy of a Fall gave the world an clever, multilingual mystery, the court system has suddenly become just as popular a technique for movies to address …
I’ll admit I walked into this one with my guard up. Every trailer drop for Spider-Man: Brand New Day — and I avoided them like the plague, though there’s only so much a person can dodge — kept adding another name to an already overstuffed-looking roster: Bruce Banner / Hulk …
Some writers might use subtext. Others have the main female character ask the male lead, “So you’re on a f*cked-up American pilgrimage?” It never hurts to spell things out, but Via Negativa ricochets quite a bit between overly explaining things and letting Young Mazino’s handsome face do all the work. …
Jordan Peele’s third feature film, Nope, was kept a mystery in its marketing and has been slotted into various categories since its release: supernatural horror, science fiction, modern Western, creature feature, and sardonic look at a society obsessed with getting the perfect money-making shot. Nope is all of these in …
This charming little movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does do three things. It makes the case that Haley Bennett is one of our most overlooked movie stars, it introduces Austrian actor Elyas M’Barek to English-speaking audiences, and it tells a serious story of unsupported female ambition with a …
Film festivals can be a little too intellectual sometimes. There is of course space in movies for people giving each other lectures on why capitalism is bad (something that featured in an awful lot of films at Cannes this year). But those movies are rarely a good time, and most …
When a genre is ‘alive and kicking’ nobody bothers to look into its roots. But judging by the sheer volume and declining quality of spoof comedies, it’s safe to say this kind of movie is mostly living of its past. You ask any cinephile, and they’ll quickly point to Airplane!, …
Romantic movies told from the male point of view tend to focus on the guy, especially a guy able to recognise something in a woman – beauty, brains, talent – that she didn’t know she had. Through the guy’s actions the woman is able to get what she deserves, which …
Travel remains one of life’s luxuries where, for a few hours whilst in the air, passengers are encouraged to switch off from outside distractions and disconnect those online connections. Therefore to be a designated ‘travel companion’ to receive free flights, on standby, is a perk that few are unlikely to …
The prolific filmmaker and theorist Mark Cousins returns to the festival circuit with his 16-part project, The Story of Documentary Film. Recently, he presented the segment 1970s at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is a two-halves project that narrates the production of non-fiction in the decade. Firstly, in the …
For anyone who is, knows, or aspires to be a dad, Finnegan’s Foursome is the perfect movie. The stakes are low, the banter is high, and there’s so much golf that anyone who’s ever fallen asleep in front of Sunday afternoon television will feel right at home. Edward Burns has …
To say there’s not much new in this story of female super-soldiers is kind of reductive, because major action blockbusters centered around a woman are still unusual in Hindi cinema. Fortunately Alia Bhatt is a major Hindi superstar, who has occasionally also worked in English, and who absolutely has the …