Filipino genre filmmaker Pedring Lopez world premiered his first English-language film, the neo-noir thriller Shadow Transit, at last year’s QCinema International Film Festival. An independent co-production between the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Canada, Shadow Transit centers on a chance encounter between a grieving singer-photographer and a drifting DJ, resulting in …
The central plot point of The Stranger – a coloniser kills one of the colonised, and there are consequences – lands very differently now that it did when the original novella was published by Albert Camus in occupied France in 1942. For one thing, the world is trying with mixed …
The introductory section of Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister (La petite dernière) is slightly alienating, as it swiftly moves from one scene to the next, without an anchor point for the audience to latch onto, despite being adapted from Fatima Daas’ 2020 autofiction novel of the same name. However, our …
The British multi-artist Charlie Shackleton is among the most fascinating figures in modern non-fiction. Throughout his extensive catalogue of short films, the director discussed criticism in the TikTok era, low-budget film production in the 1990s, but his most well-known work is a 607-minute static shot of paint drying on a brick …
There’s a lot going on in the little town of Hawkins, Indiana, and none of it’s good. With so much going on in the Upside Down and with Vecna, it can be easy to forget that there are plenty of normal problems, too. While searching for Vecna, Nancy stumbles across …
A sweet young girl with a dark past becomes the live-in help for a troubled couple and ends up being exactly what the husband needs to heal his broken heart. Sounds like a classic Hallmark movie, doesn’t it? But turns out this story is closer to Hitchcock than Hallmark because …
It’s over, the Joker is dead, and Gotham is saved. There is a lot of cleaning up to do and a lot of people who need help, but Bruce Wayne can handle it; Batman is no longer needed. Or is he? There is still a lot of crime in Gotham. …
Throughout the complicated formation of Latin America, Catholicism became the norm for the so-called civilization of native populations. Hence, ever since its inception, the new continent has been a Catholic region, colonized mainly by the Portuguese and Spanish. Despite the colonial wounds, the imperial process carries severe traumas, particularly in …
Most people don’t feel terror when it comes to walking. Even if they don’t particularly like walking or reaching 10,000 steps a day seems like a lot, they still don’t have nightmares over it. But in The Long Walk, Stephen King tries to turn this everyday activity into the stuff …
It seems that Train Dreams is so named because of how spectacular and innovative the technology of train travel was to the life at the centre of the film. It is set almost entirely in Idaho and western Washington state and shows a style of living that might as well …
The greatest glory of Pillion is that its sexual boldness is in service to an important point about self-determination and personal desire. We can watch this for the action, the message, or both. Though don’t get your hopes up too high: not a great deal of ‘action’ is shown, although …
Amir El-Masry is the lucky owner of one of the great faces in modern cinema, and he got to show it off not once but twice at this year’s London Film Festival. Unfortunately in neither case was it shown off to his best advantage. Giant managed somehow not to be …
H For Hawk, based on Helen MacDonald’s eloquent memoir about grief, is a moving guide to processing loss. The film and the book follow Helen unravelling mind as she tries to distract herself after the death of her father by adopting a goshawk. Academic Helen (Claire Foy) is not the …
Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1982 debut novel, A Pale View of Hills, is an elegant and nuanced examination of identity for post-war Japan. Kei Ishikawa’s ambitious but unsubtle adaptation can’t capture the spirit of his gorgeous writing. The novel and the film are narrated by Etsuko, who appears in two timelines. In …
“Assassination can be no more guarded against than death by lightning; it is best not to worry about either.” With these words early in his presidency, James Garfield may have sealed his fate. Shot by Charles J. Guiteau and dying six months after taking office in 1881, the United States …
Content Note: The following contains spoilers for episode 2 of It: Welcome to Derry. The show also deals with child death/harm and mental institutions, so proceed with caution if those are sensitive subjects. The end of episode 1 of It: Welcome to Derry was a significant shocker, with several kids who seemed like …
A pillion is a seat for a passenger behind a motorcyclist. This simple, not-overly-familiar word captures the whole experience of Colin (Harry Melling) in Harry Lighton’s feature directorial debut adapted from the 2020 novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones. In Pillion, Colin is shy, still living at home with his …
Back when I was younger, Nicholas Sparks had cornered the market of romance books, with some of the most heartbreaking novels that have ever taken the world by storm. From The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Dear John, Sparks’ stories were designed to make readers cry as they volley …
“Just Hedda is fine.” With these prickly, precise words, Hedda (Tessa Thompson) immediately establishes her self-image and control thereof. Hedda is the recently married wife of up-and-coming scholar George Tesman (Tom Bateman), but the legacy left by her father General Gabler – including his guns – is one she takes …
I have been a Stephen King fan since high school. And despite its numerous questionable aspects, It has remained my favorite of his novels. The screen adaptations have had varying levels of success, and Andy Muschietti, along with Bill Skarsgård, did a great job of updating Pennywise for a new …