This is a banner for a review of Le Lac. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

‘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 …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the film Blue Film. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

‘Blue Film’ EIFF Review: A Fearless Look at Desire and Taboo

From the title of Blue Film, writer and director Elliott Tuttle’s feature debut suggests titillation. This unbelievably challenging work, however, is something far more slippery, enigmatic, and subversive than simple thrills within the milieu of modern sex work. Indeed, the on-screen sex scenes are brief and shot with a curious …

Read more

This is a banner for an interview with Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie of the Edinburgh film Dead Lover. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Interview: Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie talk smell-o-vision and ‘Dead Lover’

Toronto-based filmmaker Grace Glowicki is no stranger to the bizarre. Recently she, along with husband Ben Petrie, starred in the schlocky, romantic gothic horror Honey Bunch which premiered at Berlin in 2025. Her feature debut, Tito, was an offbeat comedy where she herself played an agoraphobic man whose world is …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the Edinburgh movie Grow. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

‘Grow’ Film Review: A Story Steeped in British Traditionalism and Pumpkins

From John McPhail, the Glaswegian director behind cult favourite Anna and the Apocalypse, comes Grow, a delightfully daft and incredibly charming family film that follows Charlie (newcomer Priya-Rose Brookwell), a young girl with an almost supernatural instinct for horticulture on a mission to grow the world’s biggest pumpkin.  After some …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the movie I Fell in Love with a Z Grade Director in Brooklyn. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn’ Film Review: A Lovely Ode to Rediscovering Artistic and Romantic Desire

Winner of the Bronze audience prize for Best Asian Feature at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival, I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn is a captivating romantic comedy that functions as yet another endearing paean to independent horror cinema from Japanese cult filmmaker Kenichi Ugana, following …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the Edinburgh film On the Sea. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

‘On the Sea’ Film Review: The Perils and Promise of Masculinity (EIFF)

The prison of British masculinity is explored in On The Sea, the latest film from writer and director Helen Walsh. On the outside, Jack (Barry Ward) has a stable, traditional life. He has been married to Maggie (Liz White) for decades, and they expected to raise their son Tom (Henry …

Read more

This is a banner for an interview with Jody Wilson, director of The Bearded Girl. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: Interview with Jody Wilson of ‘The Bearded Girl’

Canadian filmmaker Jody Wilson’s feature debut The Bearded Girl centers on a sideshow in Paradise County, where Cleo (Anwen O’Driscoll) is expected to follow in her mother, Lady Andre’s (Jessica Paré) footsteps and continue the proud tradition of bearded women. However, Cleo’s mother remains a controlling influence over their sideshow …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the Locarno film Solomamma. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

‘Solomamma’ Film Review: A Single Mother Finds A Second Coming of Age in Janicke Askevold’s Soberly Riveting Drama (Locarno)

2025 is slowly turning into a banner year for Norwegian cinema, not least because of the Grand Prix acclaim of Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, already touted as one of “The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far),” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Not long prior to that, Nina …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the film Dry Leaf. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

‘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 …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of Redux Redux. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Redux Redux’ Film Review: Michaela McManus Travels the Multiverse in this Striking Grief Indie

It feels like every movie I’ve seen at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival turns into an instant favorite, from A Grand Mockery, a hypnotic Super 8mm avant-garde trip from Sam Dixon and Adam C. Briggs, to Anything That Moves, an inventively transgressive Giallo/Bomba picture courtesy of Alex Phillips. Every …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of DUI Shaw. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Dui Shaw’ Film Review: Nuhash Humayun’s Folklore-fueled Anthology Runs the Tonal Gamut

Dui Shaw, courtesy of Bangladeshi writer-director Nuhash Humayun – who made history as the first filmmaker from Bangladesh to cop an Oscar nomination for the post-apocalyptic short film Moshari (2022), executive produced by horror master Jordan Peele and Sound of Metal star Riz Ahmed – locates grimy, cyclic folklores in …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the movie Every Heavy Thing. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Every Heavy Thing’ Film Review: Mickey Reece’s Big Tech Thriller is a Surreal Trip

Every Heavy Thing, the latest feature from prolific indie auteur Mickey Reece which just had its world premiere at Fantasia 2025, is a pulsing technothriller propelled by daring Lynchian experimentations. Essentially, it feels like a standalone Black Mirror episode reckoning with the threat of Big Tech in American suburbs. Mounted …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the film Touch me. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

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 …

Read more

This is a banner for an interview with director Alex Phillips of ANything That Goes. Image courtesy of the filmmaker.

Fantasia 2025: Director Alex Phillips on ‘Anything That Moves’ (Interview)

Chicago-based filmmaker Alex Phillips continues to entrench himself in underground and transgressive cinema with his sophomore feature, Anything That Moves. After 2022’s All Jacked Up and Full of Worms, about people eating and getting high on these slithery creatures, he sought another potentially polarizing idea in the vein of a …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of Blazing Fists. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

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, …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of the movie Hellcat. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

Fantasia 2025: ‘Hellcat’ Film Review: Dakota Gorman is a Visceral Force in Brock Bodell’s Suffocating Survival Horror

Brock Bodell’s feature directorial debut, Hellcat, which made its world premiere at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival, is a chamber survival horror-thriller that manages to be effectively tense and visceral despite a premise that we’ve come across a few too many times before. Produced and shot entirely in Nashville, …

Read more

This is a banner for a review of $POSITIONS. Image courtesy of the filmmakers.

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 …

Read more