Director on the Verge of Change: The Controlled Chaos of Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Julieta’
“One of the great pleasures of watching any Almodóvar film, but especially ‘Julieta,’ is studying its expressionistic textures…”
A Quest for Companionship: On Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s ‘Labour of Love’
“What comes to the fore in ‘Labour of Love’ is the difference between hearing and listening.”
Review: Rose Glass’ ‘Saint Maud’
“‘Saint Maud’ proves, once again, that horror, and particularly indie horror, provides the opportunity for first timers to take real risks.”
Review: Jordan Graham’s ‘Sator’
“‘Sator’ is a slow burn, and the payoff for waiting around will not suit everybody. Like ‘Blair Witch,’ it requires your full attention to really make an impact — half-watching while scrolling through Twitter won’t cut it.”
Kantemir Balagov’s ‘Beanpole’ Makes Oscar Shortlist
“‘Beanpole’ masters the unseen, the unspoken and the ‘presence of absence’ in the way it unpacks the toll of ongoing armed conflict through a kind of metonymic expression of experience.”
Review: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s ‘Synchronic’
“Benson and Moorhead’s typically dark, cynical tone is well-suited to the material until a too-neat ending tries to retcon ‘Synchronic’ into something else in the most jarring way possible.”
Review: Mickey Reece’s ‘Climate of the Hunter’
“‘Climate of the Hunter’ is fatally enthralled by its own bizarre, overwrought stylistic tics, from the exaggerated performances aiming squarely for the cheap seats to the Wes Anderson-style PSAs…”
Review: Massoud Bakhshi’s ‘Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness’
“‘Yalda’ shows itself to be a deft treatise on how the contradictions of our modern world complicate something even as simple as saying sorry.”
Review: Darius Marder’s ‘Sound of Metal’
“Watching Ahmed flourish without words, typically an actor’s lifeline, is a joy. It’s a massive challenge, and he rises to it with aplomb in ‘Sound of Metal.'”
Review: Rama Rau’s ‘Honey Bee’
“Stone, who’s barely in her twenties, is truly exceptional in the lead role. Her naturalistic ‘Honey Bee’ performance is as raw as an exposed nerve.”
An Interview with ‘Dolly Kitty & Those Twinkling Stars’ Filmmaker Alankrita Shrivastava
Dipankar Sarkar Interviews ‘Dolly Kitty & Those Twinkling Stars’ Filmmaker Alankrita Shrivastava
Review: Ryan Spindell’s ‘The Mortuary Collection’
“Spindell pays homage to many horror productions, yet his film is its own uniquely strange, inventive, entertaining and frequently frightening little monster.”
Don Hertzfeldt Expands the Universe Again in ‘World of Tomorrow’ Episode Three
“If Hertzfeldt’s ability to successfully expand on the emotional terrain and metaphysical considerations of previous chapters is a recipe, then he is an impeccable cinematic chef de cuisine.”
Encounters Film Festival: Troubled Pasts and Open Futures Collide in ‘Father’
“In just 23 minutes, ‘Vader’ presents a nuanced and complex picture of fatherhood, as shaped by both individual personalities and wider social events.”
Review: Luis Iga’s ‘Murder in the Woods’
“‘Murder in the Woods’ is a slight but entertaining offering, sold completely and committedly by a talented cast of fresh, new faces and with a bonus appearance by the always-welcome Danny Trejo to boot.”
An Interview With ‘Tales from Our Childhood’ Director Mukul Haloi
Dipankar Sarkar Interviews ‘Tales from Our Childhood’ Director Mukul Haloi
The Cinematic Lineage of Quentin Dupieux’s ‘Deerskin’
“Deerskin’s methodology might be new, but the central tenets of its 77 minutes are part of the same cinematic heritage that created Jim McBride’s indie darling ‘David Holzman’s Diary’ (1967) and Krzysztof Kieslowski’s ‘Camera Buff’ (1979).”
Review: Peter Medak’s ‘The Ghost of Peter Sellers’
“If failure is the greatest teacher, then Peter Medak has earned his doctorate with ‘The Ghost of Peter Sellers.'”
Sion Sono’s ‘Tokyo Vampire Hotel’ Is Trauma Porn, and Maybe That’s OK
“The most remarkable feature of ‘Tokyo Vampire Hotel’ is its timeliness. Though the series was released in 2017, it takes place in 2021, and something about it feels distinctly ‘2020s,’ distinctly of the cinema to come, if not distinctly of 2020 and the present moment.”
One Tough Nun: Spiritual Awakening in Isabel Sandoval’s ‘Aparisyon’
“It’s a fascinating experience to see ‘Aparisyon’ via Locarno’s ‘Open Doors’ strand, where it is presented as a key work in understanding contemporary Filipino cinema.”