Sundance Review: Robin Wright’s ‘Land’
“‘Land’ is positioned as an exploration of grief and survivor’s guilt — a crowded celluloid space – but the lack of distinctive figures renders Wright’s film picturesque but fallow.”
This category is a Vague Visages archive for movie, TV and music content from the 2020s.
About Vague Visages:
Mission: Vague Visages aims to publish high-quality writing about world cinema and culture. The site maintains a balance of indie and mainstream coverage, allowing for a unique blend of perspectives.
Origins:ย Inspired by the cinema movement known as La Nouvelle Vague, Q.V. Hough created an image-based blog called โFaces of the French New Waveโ in 2014. For a creative twist, the siteโs name quickly changed to โVague Visagesโ (aka Wave Faces) in honor of French New Wave filmmakers and American indie filmmaker John Cassavetes (director of the 1968 film Faces).
Shift to Film Criticism:ย Q.V. moved Vague Visages from Blogger to WordPress in late 2014, using the French publication Cahiers du cinรฉmaย as a thematic model.
About Q.V. Hough:
Q.V. (Quinn) Houghย is Vague Visagesโ founding editor and a Rotten Tomatoes-certified film critic. After graduating fromย Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota) in 2004 with degrees in Communication-Mass Media, History and Classical Studies, he lived in Hollywood, California from 2006 to 2012. Q.V. worked closely with ABC On-Air Promotions as the production manager for LUSSIER. He previously co-hosted Concordia On-Air for three semesters before moving to Los Angeles.
In 2014, Q.V. founded Vague Visages.ย While developing the site, he wrote 600 video scripts and one e-book for WatchMojo (2014-17), along with 2,000 articles for Screen Rant (2018-21).ย Q.V. has also written for RogerEbert.com,ย Fandor and Crooked Marquee. He committed to Vague Visages full-time in August 2021.
E-Mail: qvh@vaguevisages.com
Twitter: @QVHough
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LinkedIn: @QVHough
“‘Land’ is positioned as an exploration of grief and survivor’s guilt — a crowded celluloid space – but the lack of distinctive figures renders Wright’s film picturesque but fallow.”
“‘Tove’ is a tribute to all creatives who pursue their passion projects, and applauds those who are able to break free from bindings.”
Greg Carlson Reviews Rodney Ascher’s ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’
“Only 37 years old, Alberdi is a dynamic figure in documentary studies and practice.”
“‘Mayday’ is the filmic equivalent of an answer to a distress call, letting those in need simply know that itโs there.”
“‘John and the Hole’ may be too frustratingly vague to really connect, but it seems to challenge its audience from a place of urgency…”
“‘The Reckoning’ makes a sharp point about the complicity of women, or more accurately white women, in the destruction of other women.”
“‘As We Like It’ is a film that makes many unique moments out of its childish buffoonery, and it’s lifted, like its characters, into a class of its own.”
“Making a gothic horror story about the creation of a gothic horror story is a worthy and potentially enlightening idea, but Unkel fumbles the ball at every turn with ‘A Nightmare Wakes.'”
“‘Passing’ may be too ambiguous an experience for some, yet the way it reveals and conceals at the same time feels not just like a perfect encapsulation of its subject, but also underlines Hallโs emergence as a filmmaker to watch.”
“The most surprising thing about ‘In the Earth’ may be just how much of a return it is to the pitch black humour that characterised Wheatleyโs earliest films.”
“By the time ‘Riders of Justice’ rampsย up its stakes, the final showdown hardly seems to matter as much as the gangโs presence.”
“While ‘How It Ends’ acts as a cathartic experience for all of us still in the throes of the COVID-19 crisis, its character study will allow it to remain relevant once this pandemic is (hopefully) settled.”
“‘Weโre All Going to the Worldโs Fair’ would’ve benefitted from leaning more into the ambiguous lines between documentation and constructed fiction, but it remains a fascinating fiction debut nevertheless.”
“‘One for the Road’ feels like a filmmaker trying to capture another directorโs voice to the extent that they lose their own in the process.”
“‘No Manโs Land,’ Conor Allynโs earthy effort at a serious revisionist western, is a film of good intentions that goes awry when it attempts to unpack any of its ideas.”
“The ‘Shadow in the Cloud’ team acknowledges gremlin mythology with genuine admiration and respect.”
Dipankar Sarkar Interviews ‘Chronicle of Space’ Filmmaker Akshay Indikar
“An exceedingly dark and violent survival horror film, ‘Hunted’ will make sure you never again go out alone at night.”
Dipankar Sarkar Interviews ‘Meel Patthar’ Filmmaker Ivan Ayr