In 2023, the Brazilian documentary veteran, Eliza Capai, released her Incompatível com a Vida (Incompatible with Life). Despite being a mix of talking head with diary documentary, it is an utterly personal telling of her experience with the traumatic loss of her baby in her womb. The director tells her …
I think we can blame the English royal family. When TV shows like Succession, The Righteous Gemstones and Yellowstone decide to examine the interpersonal struggle for power within an unbelievable wealthy family, they’ve all worked from the same template: tyrannical father and absent or dead mother with three sons and …
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die takes the worst nightmares of the current moment and turns them into comedy, but the kind of comedy where if you didn’t laugh you’d cry. This is done in the lighthearted comic blockbuster style best described as a mash-up where 1990s French horror-comedy Delicatessen …
This Chilean-Argentinian coproduction is a Chilean story but was filmed in Argentina for reasons its subject matter makes obvious. The military coup in Chile in 1973 that started with the murder of Salvador Allende brought about (speaking with understatement here) such a traumatic time to the nation that the after-effects …
Sasha Nathwani’s brilliant coming-of-age film Last Swim is set in London during the sweaty swing of summer, as young astrophysics enthusiast Ziba (Deba Hekmat) has her eye set on experiencing a meteor shower in person. Last Swim chronicles a day with Ziba and her friends as they celebrate their A-level results amongst their fading youth. …
In Aesop’s Fables, a set of tales told to children to imbue them with socially correct morals, exists the story of “The North Wind and The Sun.” The iconic fable describes how the anthropomorphic entities of the Wind and the Sun argued between themselves on the best method in getting someone …
In 2020, Ray Yeung’s film Suk Suk (Twilight’s Kiss) was nominated at the Hong Kong Film Awards, with lead actor Tai-Bo taking home Best Actor. However, due to the pandemic, the film never found international audiences. Now, four years later, Yeung hopes to bring his next feature, All Shall Be Well, to more audiences this time around. The film …
Queer stories aren’t a new concept. If you look at film history, especially before the Hays Code, you’ll see a vast collection that has been influenced by queer filmmakers since the beginning of Hollywood, even if it’s through fashion, set design, etc. Queer love stories have begun to find a …
Ray Yeung’s elegant and tender film All Shall Be Well begins with protagonists Angie (Patra Au Ga Man) and Pat (Maggie Li Lin-Lin) existing happily together as an elderly lesbian couple, their bond silent, no unnecessary words spoken between them as they eat, get ready and walk along an autumnal path. They’ve been …
In 2021, Claire Keegan’s novel on the Magdalene laundries Small Things Like These was released to acclaim, going on to be shortlisted for the famous Booker Prize. The turnaround between a book’s release and a film adaptation being made can vary, with some taking years to find their adaptive footing. In the case of Small …