Glasgow Film Festival Review: Régis Roinsard’s ‘Les traducteurs’
“Roinsard is so preoccupied with setting up the next twist that ‘Les traducteurs’ does little to establish why viewers should care.”
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2020: Brief Encounters
Marshall Shaffer on Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2020: ‘On a Magical Night, ‘Perfect Nanny, ‘Deerskin,’ ‘Someone, Somewhere’ and ‘The Dazzled’
Review: ‘The Invisible Man’ Is a Sight for Sore Eyes
“Whannell’s ‘The Invisible Man’ is an absolute banger, and stands tall as the most spectacular evolution of the story to hit the big screen.”
Album Review: Wasted Shirt ‘Fungus II’
“‘Fungus II’ is another reminder that not only is Segall one of the most hard-working and talented artists of the last decade, but also a genuine musical omnivore.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Mahnaz Mohammadi’s ‘Son-Mother’
“Mahnaz Mohammadi’s tale of an Iranian mother’s dilemma render the emotional highs and lows of its characters with a naturalistic clarity.”
Berlinale 2020 Review: Tsai Ming-liang’s ‘Days’
“Why are we watching if the director’s gaze — and hence our own — makes us feel like we’re intruding spaces that should be left otherwise untouched?”
Why Criticism: Berlinale 2020 and the Power of Sound
Swedish Film Critic Jakob Åsell on the Sounds of Berlinale 2020
Review: Oz Perkins’ ‘Gretel & Hansel’
“Great art has every piece in intimate communion with the art as a whole. ‘Gretel & Hansel’ takes an elemental approach to the folklore, gasping with the fears of the original material while exhaling a new mystique of its own.”
Berlinale 2020 Review: Kelly Reichardt’s ‘First Cow’
“Reichardt’s story has the mythic quality of a fable, but refrains from moralising or casting judgement on the misdeeds and mistakes of its characters.”
Berlinale 2020 Review: Hong Sang-soo’s ‘The Woman Who Ran’
“Hong Sang-soo’s cinematic apparatus might seem limited to some, but it’s in the endless repetition of the same movements that perfection is achieved.”
Berlinale 2020 Review: Bassam Tariq’s ‘Mogul Mowgli’
“Similarly to its lead, ‘Mogul Mowgli’ indicates its awareness of the big themes tied to the experiences of young British-Pakistani men, but doesn’t quite do all the legwork required to properly manifest a thesis.”
Review: Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s ‘The Lodge’
“Franz and Fiala scale down Kubrick’s more expansive vision, and the result offers its own kind of skin-crawling satisfaction.”
World Cinema Project: Nowhere Fast – ‘Touki Bouki’ and ‘Taipei Story’
“For those suffering from the same dissatisfactions depicted in ‘Touki Bouki’ and ‘Taipei Story’ — be they based on economics, vocation, familial and romantic relations or a broad national uncertainty — hope may be all there is. And that, at least, is something.”
That Sweet Smell of Success: On Bruno de Almeida’s ‘Cabaret Maxime’
“By addressing the dark realities of show business, ‘Cabaret Maxime’ spotlights the beauty of unconditional artistic love – for an individual creative pursuit, and for a shared belief system amongst peers.”
Light in a Dark Room: The Legacy of ‘The Snake Pit’
“‘The Snake Pit’ became the first Hollywood film to address mental health in such a raw way, and set a standard for future films that similarly explore the topic.”
Album Review: Bambara ‘Stray’
“Stray’s expanded timeline, along with Bambara’s skill in conjuring a distinctly Southern kind of horror, feels akin to True Detective’s spectacular first season.”
Pictures of You: Stella Meghie’s ‘The Photograph’
“The appealing leads spark with genuine onscreen chemistry, and Meghie capitalizes on a terrific supporting cast to vividly render past and present in complementary balance.”
Why Criticism: The One-Inch Tall Barrier of Foreign Cinema
“Tucked in our so-called privileged positions, we need to not only hold tight but also need to learn when to engage and when to let things go.”
On the Calamity of Life: Angela Schanelec’s ‘I Was at Home, But’
“A film like ‘I Was at Home, But’ tests its audience and never tells them if they’re right, and therein lies the challenge. The point is not to “get” the film but to have thought about it and come up with a whole array of personal truths.”
‘The Wave’: A Promising Fiction Debut from Gille Klabin
“‘The Wave’ spotlights the proverbial writing on the wall for its most flawed characters, but also makes sure to settle on the base-level humanity of others. The result is an affecting and forward-thinking film that pinpoints what it means to be self-aware.”