“‘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 Hall’s 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 Wheatley’s earliest films.”
“The art of the hangout movie lives…”
“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.”
“‘We’re All Going to the World’s 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 director’s voice to the extent that they lose their own in the process.”
“‘No Man’s Land,’ Conor Allyn’s 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.”
“An exceedingly dark and violent survival horror film, ‘Hunted’ will make sure you never again go out alone at night.”
“‘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.”
“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.”
“One of the great pleasures of ‘Nomadland’ is the consistently shrewd and perceptive manner in which Fern’s hidden depths and flinty pragmatics defy expectations.”
“‘Panda Bear It’ suggests plenty about the human condition without the need to bog itself down with exposition or endless, energy-sapping ruminations.”
