Hard work should always be enough, and yet we all know it never is. The excellent Shame and Money makes it clear what we lose when that’s not the case. Late in the film, about an ethnic Albanian family’s financial struggles in Kosovo, there’s a street scene in downtown Pristina …
This documentary is about the power of community in healing from grief, through the method of Gaelic psalm singing. The dialogue is almost entirely in Scots-Gaelic – the indigenous language of Scotland and a cousin to Irish Gaelic, the indigenous language of Ireland – and centers the journey of one …
Another small-town story set in its director’s hometown, Romblon island, Filipino filmmaker Ryan Machado’s sophomore feature Raging follows a young man (played by Elijah Canlas) in the aftermath of sexual abuse. Unfolding in the mid-1990s, the film is pensive and unhurriedly paced, portraying its central character’s conflicts as more inward …
There is a small rural enclave in southern Philippines called Sitio Masalay, whose fields were turned into a horrific site of carnage one fateful day in November 2009, summarily taking 58 innocent lives. In the aftermath, only 57 bodies were found, and one remains missing. Director Carl Joseph Papa presciently …
In 1979, Iran underwent a severe transformation after the Iranian Revolution. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of the country, fell due to the dissatisfaction of the population, which organized itself politically. The figure of that revolution grew to power, Ayatollah Khomeini, a central individual who established the morality police …
Whenever a filmmaker with the pedigree of Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) ventures into the realm of live-action, my attention levels are immediately raised. Stanton is one of the foundational architects of Pixar, a master at finding the soul in inanimate objects. Approaching In the Blink of an Eye, my expectations …
American movies like The Weight used to be a dime a dozen, which is meant as a compliment. It used to be that Hollywood loved to take an action-heavy script, people it with a fun combination of big stars and delightful character actors, move like the wind from one entertaining …
Anyone who will discuss Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow will immediately recognize – and laud – that its politics are morally sound and cogent. It might even be an angrier film than you think, even if it mainly focuses on the distant relationship two young brothers, Akinola (Godwin Egbo), …
Throughout the more than a hundred and twenty-five years of filmmaking, the film history organized itself into canons and critical retrospectives that analyzed cinema through various prisms. Similar to all of the arts, this canon is white-centered and Anglo-European, excluding the works of people of color, women, and those located …
Writing about the Scream saga is, personally, a nostalgic task that involves a constant reassessment of what horror represents in popular culture. After Scream (2022), one of the best sequels in the franchise, positioning itself right behind the original for me, and Scream VI that, despite some flaws, still managed …
The ways in which adults make decisions on behalf of children, and how those decisions are, or aren’t, in the child’s best interests are the stuff of life. This wonderful movie begins with questioning what it takes to be an artist, and ends by questioning what it means to be …
Dan Fogelman’s political thriller returns for a second season, reimagining itself as a post-apocalyptic drama more akin to The Last Of Us. It’s a season full of twists that even the most avid TV watcher won’t expect, as the writers continue to take risks that mostly pay off. In season …
There are some movies, including Queen at Sea, which are so disturbing they can only be watched once. Fortunately Queen at Sea is so well made that its care and consideration makes its brutally tough topic easier to handle. This is why it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at …
In 1980 Lily Tomlin was faced with a dilemma. She was riding high after winning a Tony with her one-woman play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and then starring in feminist revenge comedy 9 to 5, but then she had to do her next thing. …
James Benning is one of the most prominent experimental directors in history. Labeled as a researcher of the American landscapes, his work features a formally rigorous study of the United States and its structures. His interest in the composition of the country is evident in his most well-known films: The …
The Brazilian director Gabe Klinger has built his career entirely in the United States. Based in Chicago, he directed the documentary Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater, Porto, and the short film Bergman’s Ghosts, a complementary work to Bergman Island, the Cannes film by Mia Hansen-Løve. For the first …
It’s very normal for documentaries to begin and end with copious lists of the various production companies who have contributed to or enabled its making. As director Valerie Veatch pointed out in her Sundance Film Festival Q&A, Ghost in the Machine has none of these. She had to fund the …
As award season descends upon us, the winners and losers already feel set in stone. 2025 was a strong year for film, and not every performance can make the cut, but just because they didn’t earn a nomination doesn’t mean they aren’t worth checking out. From unknown queer biopics to …
Thea is the logical one, the protective one, the last one to put up with the lure of magic. But things are changing in Thirstwood. Odd trees are being reported, and people are disappearing. Then dresses start to mysteriously appear in Thea’s room. They stink of magic, but Thea is …
Well, third time’s the charm. It’s no secret that I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about The Strangers Chapter 1 or 2. Trading in the worst of jump scare tactics, while also being remarkably meek, ironic for a franchise defined by its chilling brutality, both films were exhausting exercises in patience as …