Friendships can start in some of the weirdest situations and turn out to be crucial for a variety of reasons. But what happens when a friendship evolves into something unexpected, something more tender, called love? This burning question is asked in Tom Nesher’s brilliantly executed and heartwarming film, Come Closer. …
In Mira Shaib’s debut feature film, audiences are immersed in the bustling streets and vibrant life of Beirut through the compelling narrative of Arzé. The film chronicles the journey of Arzé (Diamand Abou Abboud), a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. However, she never shies away from …
A Family Affair is the newest rom-com from the streaming magnate Netflix. Directed by Richard LaGravenese and written by Carrie Solomon, the movie doesn’t positively add to the company’s track record. While it’s not a copy-and-paste version of it, the film is certainly deeply reminiscent of Prime Video’s rom-com from …
I appreciate all genres of cinema. It’s true: there’s no style of storytelling or any fictional setting that automatically puts me off – I genuinely believe all genres have their respective masterpieces. That said, like any viewer, I have my personal preferences, and, indeed, there are a few types of …
With On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, director and writer Rungano Nyoni returns to Cannes with an exciting sophomore feature after her successful feature film debut with I Am Not a Witch. Nyoni’s latest film competed in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, where the Zambia-born director won the …
Directed by the Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, Limonov: The Ballad premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where the film competed for the Palme d’Or in May 2024. Serebrennikov also co-wrote the name with Ben Hopkins and Pawel Pawlikowski. The film is based on Limonov, a 2011 book by Emmanuel Carrére …
For cinephiles like me, the vast majority of films watched throughout the year don’t need specific reasons to “convince” me to visit the theater or turn on the TV on one of the streaming channels. That said, there’s always a standout element in the movie to be watched that raises …
I can’t tell if Cora Bora is satirical, ironic, or sincere. That’s a problem. You know the type of humor: it’s funny in Portland or LA, but somehow loses its charm anywhere else. If you think that embodying and ever-so-slightly playing up the most annoying parts of Gen-Zers is funny, …
Land of Women is the new dramedy from Apple TV+, drawing inspiration from the Sandra Barneda novel La Tierra de la Mujeres. It’s a multigenerational story led by Eva Longoria as Gala, whose life has completely come undone in the clink of a wine glass. Apple TV+ has another well-balanced comedy on its …
It’s a tale as old as art – male characters do stuff, and female characters react to male characters doing stuff – but it’s rarely taken to such an extreme as in The Bikeriders. Kathy (Jodie Comer, more on whom later) quite literally narrates the story of the Chicago biker …
Morrisa Maltz, Jasmine Bearkiller Shangreaux, and Syriah Fool Head Means sat down with us in an exclusive interview to chat about their film, Jazzy. Filmmaker Morrisa Maltz made a mark on the film world with The Unknown Country and gave us a glimpse of her storytelling prowess. Now, two years …
Disney’s newest sports-inspiration film, Young Woman and the Sea, may not be the most artistic film ever made, but it knows what it’s supposed to be doing and does it well. Directed by Joachim Rønning, the biopic follows Trudy Ederle (Daisy Ridley), a New Yorker born in 1905, as she …
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In Mira Shaib’s Beirut-set drama, Arzé, the narrative framework that is imitated is that of Bicycle Thieves, a pantheonic piece of Italian neorealism. Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 classic follows a father and his son searching for a stolen bike, a symbol of means …
This is a spoiler free review of the first four episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2. The legacy of Game of Thrones was fascinating to watch unfold. What once started as an arguably revolutionary piece of television ended on a sour note. That note involved the series ending …
At the 2023 AFI Film Festival, I saw Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders and fell in love with it. After the festival, Searchlight sold the film to Focus Features, and it is in theaters as of June 21st. Heading into the movie a second time, I wondered if it would ignite …
Do you remember about the friendships you had when you were young? Most of us don’t. But there’s one person that we all remember or even have with us since the day we got to know about the idea of a friendship. Although we tend to meet new people as …
Musicians have a long history of migrating from recording albums to acting in pictures. We could appoint Cher in Moonstruck (1987), which gave her an Academy Award, Barbra Streisand with Funny Girl (1968), which also gave her the Academy Award, and Eminem with 8 Mile (2003). It is a media …
In the 20th century, Dr. Erich Lindemann changed the medical understanding of loss through his Grief Work theory. In this theory, he stated that the way of overcoming the death of a loved one and regaining oneself is the emancipation from the bondage of the deceased, readjustment of the environment …
With Twisters around the corner, what better time to revisit the 1996 original? Twister feels like an ancient relic in the modern day of cinema. The ’90s were stormed with disaster movies of all types, and sometimes, they had competing films releasing at once—for example, Deep Impact and Armageddon or …
No filmmaker is more unconcerned about the audience than Quentin Dupieux. His previous movie, Yannick, was an hour-long dark comedy that tiptoed around in circles as its titular character (played with pitch-perfect timing by Raphaël Quenard) turns a grating complaint about the play he’s watching into a total nightmare for …