New York Film Festival Review: Paul Schrader’s ‘First Reformed’
“The multi-hyphenate filmmaker’s latest seems to anticipate dissection: its formal austerity belies a haphazard, literary-minded indulgence.”
CIFF After Dark Review: Oliver Kienle’s ‘Four Hands’
“‘Four Hands’ is sublime and arresting in its imagery.”
CIFF After Dark Review: Giddens Ko’s ‘Mon Mon Mon Monsters’
“‘Mon Mon Mon Monsters’ actually inspires and entertains while pointedly dealing with a subject that hits close to home for many.”
Review: Kazik Radwanski’s ‘Scaffold’
“Out of a fractured, tentative world, Kazik Radwanski created a strong and whole short film.”
London Film Festival Review: Léonor Serraille’s ‘Jeune femme’
“Dare I say it, but ‘Jeune Femme’ is as ripe for an American remake as any film I’ve seen on this year’s festival circuit.”
London Film Festival Review: Rungano Nyoni’s ‘I Am Not a Witch’
“Shot beautifully, with an imposing yet wholly appropriate classical soundtrack to match, ‘I Am Not a Witch’ is worth the watch.”
London Film Festival Review: Andrey Zvyagintsev’s ‘Loveless’
“Much like ‘Leviathan,’ the film is oppressively bleak.”
London Film Festival Review: Vivian Qu’s ‘Angels Wear White’
“Vivian Qu’s ‘Angels Wear White’ is another realist, slow cinema meditation on the social troubles in China.”
London Film Festival Review: Dee Rees’ ‘Mudbound’
“‘Mudbound’ plays the game and begins with a white man, but, throughout the course of an epic tale, it arrives at a moving destination.”
Review: Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Blade Runner 2049’
“If time has the power to render every structure and memory as null, then here are the moments that define humanity; here are the moments that we hope to remember.”
London Film Festival Review: Todd Haynes’ ‘Wonderstruck’
“This kind of world recreation doesn’t come cheap, and it’s a delight to see a filmmaker of Haynes’ caliber given such a worthy budget.”
London Film Festival Review: Andrew Haigh‘s ‘Lean on Pete’
“‘Lean on Pete’ hits the mark emotionally and reveals itself to be a poised, moving film.”
New York Film Festival Review: Serge Bozon’s ‘Madame Hyde’
“‘Madame Hyde’ crystallizes its views about the absurd limitations in trying to communicate the abstract gift of knowledge.”
Review: Darren Aronofsky’s ‘mother!’
“If ‘mother!’ lacks the refinement of a manifesto for a new breed of movie theater flick, it makes up for it in the audacity to be unique.”
TIFF 2017 Review: Lucrecia Martel’s ‘Zama’
“‘Zama’ is the kind of historical film that refuses to concede even the smallest positivity to the history in question.”
TIFF 2017 Review: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’
“Guillermo del Toro may very well be cinema’s reigning master of monster mythology.”
TIFF 2017 Review (Wavelengths): Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel’s ‘Caniba’
“Have they never heard of negative space?”
TIFF 2017 Review: Govinda Van Maele’s ‘Gutland’
“The brooding ominousness Van Maele plays with throughout seems to run through many of this year’s European offerings.”
Andy Muschietti’s ‘It’ Struggles with Adaptation
“As an adaptation of a great 20th century novel, ‘It’ completely misses the mark.”
TIFF 2017 Review: Alexander Payne’s ‘Downsizing’
“‘Downsizing’ thinks it has big ideas, but artistically and intellectually, it’s as small as its protagonists.”