Berlinale 2020 Review: Abel Ferrara’s ‘Siberia’
“Ferrara throws everything at ‘Siberia,’ turning it into a playground for emotive relation. But it is Dafoe, his muse, who so thoroughly brings the audience along with the randomness…”
Ben Flanagan
Berlinale 2020 Review: Christian Petzold’s ‘Undine’
“Petzold’s use of fairytale is rote, but – as a piece of Sirkian high melodrama – ‘Undine’ is eminently satisfying.”
Berlinale 2020 Review: Camilo Restrepo’s ‘Los conductos’
“‘Los conductos’ announces Camilo Restrepo as a visceral talent with the substance to back up his sublime imagery.”
Review: Ciro Guerra’s ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’
“‘Waiting for the Barbarians’ is utterly removed from anything of Italy, and yet echoes the most vulgar and despicable parts of film culture.”
Review: Pietro Marcello’s ‘Martin Eden’
“In ‘Martin Eden,’ the games that Marcello plays with form and structure coalesce into an immensely moving film, which — grounded by the standout turn from Marinelli — offers a new direction for the stale “Great American Novel” adaptation.”
London Film Festival Review: Marco Bellocchio’s ‘The Traitor’
“It wouldn’t be surprising to see ‘The Traitor’ filed in the Dad-canon of crime cinema alongside other European films like ‘Mesrine’ or ‘The Baader Meinhof Complex’ — films where the context is too wide to sufficiently cover…”
Sundance London Review: Daniel Scheinert’s ‘The Death of Dick Long’
“Scheinert uses each twist to burrow further into the impulses and regrets of two strong silent types.”
Sundance London Review: Patrick Brice’s ‘Corporate Animals’
“Brice and company get too tied up in the character comedy for ‘Corporate Animals’ to work as a satire (or to really say anything at all), and the televisual filmmaking isn’t helped by a plotline that could have been a single episode of ‘The Office.'”
Sundance London Review: Jennifer Kent’s ‘The Nightingale’
“Like ‘Blood Meridian,’ that epic of colonialist bloodshed along the frontier, ‘The Nightingale’ depicts a brutal historicism; a cruel world that favours no one but those who already have it. This isn’t a wish-fulfillment revenge film, but a reality check.”
Berlinale 2019 Review: Rob Garver’s ‘What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael’
“Garver doesn’t really provide more than an overview, but perhaps that will indeed bring new eyes to some great American writing.”