Martin Scorsese and Bob Dylan Make Believe in ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’
“Not everyone, and not even every Dylan fan, will go along with the tall tales, but amidst the japes are several of the most riveting live performances of Dylan’s career.”
Sergio Caballero’s ‘Je te tiens’: The Many Machinations of a Movie
“‘Je te tiens’ connotes a representation of the conversation that exists between the inner contextual world of a film and the overarching art of filmmaking itself.”
La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Review: Ariane Labed’s ‘Olla’
“Through sharp sound design and awkward moments of situational comedy, ‘Olla’ highlights the inner fire of a young woman; a charismatic vagabond. Like her frequent collaborator Yorgos Lanthimos, Labed uses tonally offbeat situations to hilariously explore perceptions of logical and illogical behavior.”
Jahnu Barua’s ‘Bhoga Khirikee’ Peeks Into An Insurgent Assam
“There is seething, justified anger that underscores the plot of ‘Bhoga Khirikee’; an anger that could be used to create extremely radical female characters who pull the plot forward instead of becoming cardboard stand-ins for the filmmaker’s radical politics.”
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.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Pippa Bianco’s ‘Share’
“When everything aligns, ‘Share’ works brilliantly and feels like a true indie hit. Unfortunately, such moments are fleeting, and it ultimately feels like a glorified student film.”
Review: Joe Talbot’s ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’
“‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ soars, stretching gull wings as a poetic lament articulating longing and loss recognizable and accessible to all.”
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.”
Eat Meat / Man, Woman: Bhaskar Hazarika’s ‘Aamis’
“Hazarika’s is a voice that comes from outside of the Bollywood canon and reverberates sharp and hard throughout the cinemascape of the country. May it grow only louder.”
La Semaine de la Critique Review: Valentina Maurel’s ‘Lucia en el limbo’
“Maurel allows Arenas’ body language to speak for her, rather than relying upon cliché teenage dialogue found in many Hollywood films.”
Forty Years of Facehugging and Chestbursting: ‘Memory: The Origins of Alien’
“‘Alien’ is a gift that keeps on giving, and ‘Memory’ unwraps so many colorfully wrapped boxes of various shapes and sizes.”
La Semaine de la Critique Review: Moin Hussain’s ‘Naptha’
“Moin Hussain’s ‘Naptha’ is a classic, compact portrait of a strained father-son relationship that addresses the angst of aging and the pain that familial relationships can bring.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Robert Eggers’ ‘The Lighthouse’
“Eggers is persistent in never revealing his hand, but I’ve got a hunch he’s hiding a royal flush.”
Review: Praveen Morchhale’s ‘Widow of Silence’
“Widow of Silence’s characters communicate little because the core of human existence is on the verge of death. It’s the humanization of the unfamiliar that makes the characters feel so exceptionally real, and viewers will likely see parts of themselves on screen.”
Olivia Wilde Makes Confident Directorial Debut with ‘Booksmart’
“You don’t have to be a queer teenage activist to relate to Amy, but imagine what ‘Booksmart’ might mean to those who have not seen themselves regularly represented on the mainstream screen.”
Review: FINT’s ‘Fonotune: An Electric Fairytale’
“‘Fonotune: An Electric Fairytale’ can’t escape feeling like a zany music video concept, lacking the energy or plot to sustain a feature.”
Review: Ry Russo-Young’s ‘The Sun Is Also a Star’
“Despite entertaining directorial flourishes often accompanied by striking stock footage cutaways — from Carl Sagan to a history lesson on Black hair care products — Russo-Young can’t set her hooks into much beyond the postcard images of the Big Apple.”
Review: Chad Stahelski’s ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’
“As a whole, ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’ is a fun romp and continues the Greek/pulp mythology set up in ‘John Wick: Chapter 2.’ In future installments, Stahelski might want to tone down the campiness, otherwise the series will lunge into self-parody.”
Stefon Bristol Makes Bright Debut with ‘See You Yesterday’
“One of the greatest pleasures of ‘See You Yesterday’ is that the challenges and complexities of the jumps get better as the story unfolds.”