This is a banner for a review of the documentary Under the Flags, the Sun.

‘Under the Flags, the Sun’ Documentary Review: Juanjo Pereira on the Stroessner era

In 1954, the General of the Paraguayan army, Alfredo Stroessner, performed a military coup in which he would become the country’s President. At that time, Paraguay would be an internationally unknown territory between two massive South American potencies: Argentina and Brazil. In Under the Flags, the Sun, the Paraguayan director …

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‘Andor’ Season 2 Episodes 7-9 Review: Messenger, Who Are You?, and Welcome to the Rebellion

Once again, Andor Season 2 moves one year later. When the clock rolls forward to BBY 2 at the start of Episode 7, Messenger, Cassian (Diego Luna) is on Yavin itself, working with organised and rapidly mobilising Rebel forces rather than just as the mercenary of Luthen (Stellan Skarsgard). Of …

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‘Carême’ Season 1, Episode 3 Review: A Recipe for a Disaster

Everybody clearly had a wonderful time making this episode of Carême, in which they either very politely make vicious threats to each other, or create a colossal mess. Best of all, nudity! Sorry, this is France: nudité. One bottom belongs to a male extra who has evidently just participated in …

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‘The Invasion’ Documentary Movie Review: Life Far from the Frontline

Since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, film production has shifted to narrating the intricacies of geopolitical matters. The 2022 Russian aggression and declaration of war by invading the Ukrainian borders provided different approaches to the reality in filmmaking. Therefore, the major film festivals in the world became a …

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‘Warfare’ Movie Review: Garland and Mendoza Strip the Genre to Its Rawest Form

Alex Garland, known for his thought-provoking storytelling in films like Ex Machina and Civil War, joins forces with war veteran Ray Mendoza to create one of his most ambitious projects to date. Co-written by the two filmmakers, Warfare aims to depict a military surveillance mission with the utmost realism – …

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‘My Armenian Phantoms’ Documentary Review: Family and Soviet Cinema

During the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), cinema was a meaningful tool for propaganda and Soviet cultural identity development. As the USSR had a massive territorial length, each region would have a unique voice in its approach regarding filmmaking. Therefore, plenty of the productions from the Soviet period are …

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‘Toroboro: La Consulta Popular’ or ‘The People’s Referendum’ Documentary Review

The sophomore effort in the Napo River (Toroboro) in Manolo Sarmiento’s diptych about the local communities is La Consulta Popular, or The People’s Referendum. He focuses on the political aspect of the situation. With this film, he shifts his lenses to the isolated tribes, who decided to continue far from …

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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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‘Carême’ Season 1, Episode 2 Review: Blackmail

What happens throughout this episode is, in the very best sense of the word, adult. Carême’s understanding that people’s motivations and people’s desires do not necessarily reflect their best selves is unknown in American art. But the French are perhaps more capable of acknowledging the gap between their best and …

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‘Carême’ Season 1, Episode 1 Review: The Infernal Machine – Whipped Cream and Other Delights

The sumptuous Carême hits two basic needs for a high-end television series. One is for sex, but the other is rarer in fictional television: food porn. This combination is an absolutely wonderful idea, because god knows our appetite for something good to eat doesn’t always get its due from a …

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