Review: Alex Lee Moyer’s ‘TFW NO GF’
“By the time ‘TFW NO GF’ lets the viewer up for air, faith in the facts will have dissipated. It may feel like time to get offline, and stay there.”
‘True History of the Kelly Gang’: Nothing in Life Is Free
“‘True History of the Kelly Gang’ explodes like a Molotov cocktail, one that is fueled by punk spirit and more androgynous costuming than a New York Dolls album.”
‘The Assistant’: Kitty Green’s Important Workplace Drama
“Green’s skillful direction is a master class in strategic elision.”
Review: Grímur Hákonarson’s ‘The County’
“Filled with powerful female-led moments, laid on the backdrop of the Icelandic countryside, Hákonarson’s crowd-pleasing humanist creation strengthens Iceland’s reputation within the international film circuit.”
Review: Brandon Christensen’s ‘Z’
“As a genre exercise, ‘Z’ shows promise for what Christensen might do with a higher budget.”
Review: Lorcan Finnegan’s ‘Vivarium’
“Taken purely at its basest form, ‘Vivarium’ is a terrifying isolation horror movie that goes for the jugular.”
Review: Marc Collin’s ‘Le choc du futur’
“One of the most accomplished elements of ‘Le choc du futur,’ which is Collin’s feature debut (he is better known as covers project Nouvelle Vague’s co-founder), is the way the film engages in an ongoing conversation on the nature of art and how we consume it as well as create it.”
Review: Jeff Barnaby’s ‘Blood Quantum’
“Politically motivated but never preachy, ‘Blood Quantum’ is a zombie movie for the ages that honors the grandest traditions of the genre while remaining true to its own unique essence.”
Review: Pablo Larraín’s ‘Ema’
“‘Ema’ is a challenge to the walls we build around ourselves, to the baggage we leave behind for our children and the folly of the damage we can do to each other.”
Review: Rachel Harrison Gordon’s ‘Broken Bird’
“‘Broken Bird’ may be only 10 minutes long, but the rhythms, characterizations and thematic interests make it feel like a richly detailed feature-length accomplishment.”
Foreign Objects: ‘Swallow’ Is a Convincing Feature Debut for Director Carlo Mirabella-Davis
“Haley Bennett’s central performance is career-best work.”
Review: Kirill Sokolov’s ‘Why Don’t You Just Die!’
“Revolving around an encounter in a single Russian apartment, Kirill Sokolov’s ‘Why Don’t You Just Die?’ is an electrifyingly-kinetic black comedy with densely-packed homages to international action cinema and a satirical commentary about Russian society.”
Review: Steve Elkins’ ‘Echoes of the Invisible’
“‘Echoes of the Invisible’ is both calming and exhilarating in equal measure.”
Review: Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s ‘Bacurau’
“Relishing in its ability to wrong foot and thrill right to its final moments, ‘Bacurau’ is an unashamedly cinematic experience, with its makers playing in a sandbox of tropes and expectations, subverting them to put forward a radical and wholly essential message.”
Review: James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham’s ‘Crip Camp’
“Jened’s real-life teen angst and its participants’ hopes and dreams — from endless makeout sessions to the hysterical aftermath of a crab outbreak — are as horny, heartfelt and human as it gets.”
Review: Nora Fingscheidt’s ‘System Crasher’
“Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, ‘System Crasher (Systemsprenger)’ features a tremendous central performance from Helena Zengel, along with superb use of editing and colour.”
Review: Safy Nebbou’s ‘Who You Think I Am’
“Stories of older women emotionally manipulating younger acquaintances remain commonplace, but Nebbou’s film manages to find something genuinely human beneath tired hagsploitation tropes.”
Review: Neasa Hardiman’s ‘Sea Fever’
“In these increasingly confusing times, taking solace anywhere we can is more important than ever, and it’s impressively weird, intelligent movies like ‘Sea Fever’ that offer such comfort.”
‘Finding Yingying’: A Search for Answers to an Unanswerable Situation
“‘Finding Yingying’ doesn’t try to offer answers that it can’t manifest in reality, and instead allows the legacy of its subject to lead the way, through intimate diary entries, by pondering the important questions of who we want to be, for each other and for our communities.”
Eliza Hittman’s ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ Releases Digitally
“Hittman’s third feature continues to demonstrate the talents, sensibilities and cinematic evolution of a first-rate writer-director…”