I have been staring at a blinking cursor for several minutes now, failing to find a place to start discussing Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance. This is, to be clear, not a complaint. The audacious and unrelenting film is one of the most singular works of cinema I have seen this …
German-born director Nora Fingscheidt is in high-demand with her new film The Outrun starring Oscar-nominee Saoirse Ronan. I was lucky enough to speak with her about her new film, where we talk about the film’s themes on addiction and redemption, the power of Ronan, and stealing from the best films. …
It’s depressing to realize someone is coasting on their reputation instead of using their talent, and in fact making so little use of their talent that their reputation becomes suspect. This is the sorry state of affairs after seeing The Room Next Door, written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, that …
This 3 ½ hour long tale, complete with intermission, of a Jewish-Hungarian architect attempting to make his way in America after the second world war is what Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis wishes it had been. It is about human dignity in the face of incredible suffering, and the ways in …
Happy Holidays is possibly as apolitical as a Palestinian movie can get, which is to say not very. Writer-editor-director Scandar Copti, who won the Orrozonti prize for best screenplay at this year’s Venice Biennale, worked with non-professional actors in an non-linear fashion to depict a very bad few months in …
They live in Metz, a city in northeastern France close to the borders with both Germany and Luxembourg. Both sons, who are in their very early twenties, cheerfully live at home. The older Fus (Benjamin Voisin) studied to be a welder but has been unable to find paying work so …
Writer-director Francesca Comencini apparently decided that her entire audience for The Time It Takes would be people who already knew that she is the daughter of the late Italian film director Luigi Comencini. This was so obvious to her that neither the father (played by Fabrizio Gifuni) nor the daughter …
What you have to realize about Queer is that it is an adaptation of a book by William S. Burroughs, so the queerness on display here is less about sexuality, but more a way of looking at the world. William Lee, largely Lee to his friends (an astonishing Daniel Craig), …
The most anticipated film of the Venice Biennale this year was the epic Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, which landed with something of a whimper instead of the bang it truly deserves. Kevin Costner’s project, the first part of which had its world premiere in Cannes this past …
Agatha All Along, with Kathryn Hahn, is the latest from Marvel Television and is a solid Halloween watch. Ever since Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been scrutinized. Fans have felt that the post-Infinity Saga films and television series have lacked focus. While engaging characters have entered the equation, it’s …
The title of writer-director Daisy-May Hudson’s latest feature, Lollipop, hearkens to a sticky-sweet childhood candy and its colorful, innocent connotations. Yet this film opens with a collect phone call playing over the BFI funding title card, notifying the recipient that it is from a British prison and how to decline …
It may be unrealistic to suggest that zombies will rise from graves or aliens will flood the sky, but a lot of films and TV shows, like War of the Worlds and The Walking Dead, provide an insight into what might happen in those situations. They beg the question: what …
Stories of young adulthood’s unique growing pains are familiar fodder for feature films, and writer, director, and film editor Axel Cheb Terrab’s first feature Gala & Kiwi is a startling, rough-around-the-edges look at a friendship gone awry in these turbulent years. This time of life immediately after leaving one’s family …
All cinephiles have certain filmmakers or actors whose names alone are enough to make us sit in any theater or couch without knowing anything else about the film. Elizabeth Olsen (Captain America: Civil War) is that celebrity for me, as I consider her one of the best actresses of her …
Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing opens from the wings of a theatre. The camera moves hazily through sparkling streamers hanging from the stage ceiling before emerging on John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo) performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rapturous applause breaks out, and the entire cast joins …
One of the most devastating issues society is facing today is gun violence. It strips away the sense of safety and security from communities, tearing families apart and causing long-lasting trauma to survivors. There have been several movies and TV shows depicting how gun violence can be so lethal for …
The empty nest is notoriously difficult for parents to deal with, but My Everything (Mon Inséparable) has taken a fresh angle to this ordinary dilemma: the adult son who’s ready to flee the coop has an intellectual disability. Joël (Charles Peccia Galletto) is in his late twenties/early thirties and lives …
Sometimes, you see marketing for a film, and then when you actually watch the movie, something feels off about that marketing. That was the case when I watched Good One, the debut feature film from writer and director India Donaldson. While this film does feature a young person who learns a …
The performances in He Ain’t Heavy are so emotional that it takes a while to notice the movie is essentially a three-hander, between Jade (Leila George), her little brother Max (Sam Corlett), and their mother Bev (Greta Scacchi, Ms. George’s real-life mother). They live in Perth in western Australia and …
Though no one has ever said so explicitly, The Mallorca Files was clearly designed to remind the British of the benefits of a close relationship with Europe. The show is filmed in a Spain where everyone speaks fluent English, with one British and one German lead actor, and a supporting …