This is a banner for a review of the film Resurrection.

‘Resurrection’ Review: An Enormous, Sumptuous and Magnificent Movie from Bi Gan

This enormous, sumptuous, magnificent movie is almost too much, which is not a complaint. Resurrection is one of those movies that decided to tell the story of a universe starting with a kitchen sink and then built out from there. It’s very long – 160 minutes in this edit – …

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This is a banner for a review of the documentary Natchez. Photo still credit to Noah Collier.

‘Natchez’ Documentary Film Review: Southern History Reexamined

In her sophomore effort, Suzannah Herbert premieres her film Natchez at the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary title borrows its name from the city in Mississippi. In the 1800s, it was the city with the most millionaires in the world; cotton plantations and the slave trade were the main commercial …

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This is a banner for a review of Eagles of the Republic.

‘Eagles of the Republic’ Film Review: Movies, Governments, and the Truth

The movie with the best title at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is also the kind of movie filmmakers love to make: a movie about making a movie. But less joyously, the setting here is present-day Egypt, a nation not currently enjoying the delights of democracy. The creatives involved, beginning …

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This is a banner for a review of Julia Kowalski's Her Will Be Done/Que ma volonté soit faite.

‘Her Will Be Done’ Review: Julia Kowalski’s Modern Folky Horror Movie

The French/Polish director Julia Kowalski recently premiered her Que Ma Volonté Soit Faite (Her Will Be Done). It is a Quinzaine Des Cineastes selection and the director’s sophomore full-length feature, Crache Cœur (Raging Rose). The film narrates the story of Nawojka (Maria Wróbel), a girl from rural France whose parents …

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This is a banner for a review of the animated film Death Does Not Exist.

‘Death Does Not Exist’ Review: Film Illustrates an Animated Political Connundrum

Bold, primary colours take centre point within the animated tale Death Does Not Exist (La mort n’existe pas) which convey the film’s blunt messaging effectively. Political in nature and economic in scale, the film lays bare its stance within its opening sequence leaving no doubt about its eat the rich …

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This banner is for a review of The Phoenician Scheme.

‘The Phoenician Scheme’ Movie Review: Wes Anderson’s Stylish Misfire

Everybody knows the greatest thing about Wes Anderson’s movies is their sense of style. Style is the tool he uses to bring lightness to dark and complex subjects such as grief, the creeping threat of fascism and being an insufferable young person. The staging and blocking, the centering of images, …

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This is a banner for a review of the film Case 137 or Dossier 137.

‘Case 137’ Film Review: France and Lessons Learned From 2018

The ripped-from-the-headlines Case 137 (Dossier 137) combines two genres everybody loves. The first is the detailed bureaucracy of justice and how much easier it is to find objective truth since we all started carrying recording devices (our mobile phones) around at all times. Think Anatomy of a Fall and Saint …

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This is a banner for a review of Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning.

‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Movie Review: So Excellent It’s Hard to Believe

Some years ago I went to Arles for the annual photography festival and discovered that, on Saturday nights, the local bullfighting school put on a show in the Roman amphitheatre. I paid my ten euros and watched three young matadors in training kill their bulls while the locals treated this …

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This is a review for the documentary Toroboro: El Nombre de las Plantas.

‘Toroboro: El Nombre de las Plantas’ or ‘The Name of the Plants’ Documentary Review

The Ecuadorian director Manolo Sarmiento is a crucial figure in the local documentary community. He is the co-founder and executive director of EDOC, Encuentros del Otro Cine, a singular festival for Ecuadorian cinema. Sarmiento produced a diptych, a two-piece work on the native people of the Rio Napo. The indigenous …

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