Cotton Queen is the debut film of Russian-Sudanese writer-director Suzannah Mirghani and very clearly made for an international audience. The establishing shots of laughing teenager cotton workers watching Tiktoks make sure, even if we know nothing about Sudan, we know it’s firmly in the now. And while it is Sudanese …
Comedian Mae Martin’s (Feel Good) first venture into drama is a confused exploration of a dysfunctional town with a mysterious school. What has the potential to be a Lynchian mystery falls flat as it struggles to combine two perspectives. Told through two separate viewpoints, Wayward follows cop Alex Dempsey (Martin) …
Few national authors have the same clout and immediate recognisability as Scottish author Irvine Welsh. Paul Sng’s documentary Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough – co-written by Sng and Welsh – opens with a laundry list of ways Welsh and his work, definitions of national treasures, has reached adoring audiences …
Of all the hype bubbles that form around the first reactions to a new release, One Battle After Another generated some of the most effusive of this century. And I mean that almost literally, since many of those reactions contained the pull-quote-ready taglines that marketing departments love so much — …
Ron Howard is one of the most prolific directors working today. His films, like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, have stood the test of time. Whereas even with those winners, Howard has delivered misfires like In The Heart of The Sea and Hillbilly Elegy. It’s a varied career that, …
We live in a cinematic era fascinated by the origin stories of founders and their revolutionary creations, but not all of them seem as urgently relevant as that of Whitney Wolfe and Bumble. The promise of exploring the creation of a dating app designed as an antidote to the toxic …
With Urchin, Harris Dickinson – one of the UK’s brightest young stars – makes the move from actor to director like so many before him. He does not star in this debut feature, making only an uncredited featured appearance early on in this story of a young rough-sleeping drug addict. …
Even before her debut feature, Sophy Romvari has become a highly regarded upcoming director among the online cinephiles. Her shorts Norman Norman, Still Processing, and It’s What Each Person Needs were part of the selections at the Toronto International Film Festival. Criterion Channel acquired some of her other films, such …
I am always on the lookout for a new Christmas movie to throw into the rotation. I love a happy, silly film, but my all-time favorite is It’s A Wonderful Life, the Christmas-adjacent movie that my dad forced me to watch as a teenager and has remained a staple ever …
This movie, for which the English title should be My Tennis Coach and it’s weird that it isn’t, is an affable Italian road movie about the coming of age of a wannabe tennis player. The entire thing is built around the nuclear-level charm of Pierfrancesco Favino (who previously worked with …
We are living in an era where humans and machines share a very intimate relationship. Our world now revolves around gadgets and the technology that is being provided to us. Whether it is through smartphones or software, human lives are deeply connected with the world of hi-tech, and this relationship …
Throughout the history of mankind, there have been several instances where humans have found themselves facing a lot of peculiar situations. As per mythology, crime and corruption reached levels that even the gods had to come down to the planet to restore balance, and that’s what is about to happen …
Bella’s problems continue in Eclipse. Edward has returned to her, and that heals one hole in her heart. But it’s caused a seemingly insurmountable rift between her and Jacob, which opens a whole new one up. On top of that, a vampire seems to be hunting her again, and Alice’s …
Twenty years ago, Stephenie Meyer released Twilight and threw a bomb into the teen romance scene. Twilight could have been the end of the story, but honestly, there were some unanswered questions that readers needed answered, so less than a year later, she released New Moon and created more questions than answers. [Warning: …
Teenage self-assurance takes a serious hit in Stereo Girls but its sense of friendship and fun is strong enough to go to some dark places without losing its way. It’s an even bigger joy to see a movie about teenage girls who have such a strong sense of themselves, even …
I got married for the first time when I was 23. I was pregnant just a few months later, and that kid recently celebrated his 27th birthday. I’m no longer with my first husband, and it’s always interesting to consume media that helps me continue to process that split, even …
In their first directorial effort as a directing duo, Nicole and Valentina Bertani debut at the Concorso Internazionale of the Locarno Film Festival with Mosquitoes (Le Bambine). In 2022, Valentina screened her first film, The Crown Shyness (La timidezza delle chiome) at the Giornate degli Autori of the Venice Film …
Twenty years ago, Stephenie Meyer wrote a story of teenage love and changed everything we know about vampires. Edward is a vampire with a conscience, and Bella is a human with no sense of self-preservation. He is the most dangerous thing on Earth for her, and they can’t stay away from …
Playing in the Orizzonti competition program at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, Thai director and screenwriter Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s latest vision Human Resource doubles as an intimate character study and a meditative portrait of contemporary Thai life mapped through the soul-sapping mechanics of corporate grind, a kind of a white-collar …
Writer-director Mihai Mincan told the room at the Venice Film Festival that the idea of Milk Teeth came from a real case of a girl who disappeared carrying a bucket of walnut shells to the garbage. His movie also makes an interesting companion piece to another film from the festival, …