Glasgow Film Festival Review: Min-Ho Woo’s ‘The Man Standing Next’
“Both emotionally and narratively, ‘The Man Standing Next’ is an easy story to get lost in.”
Collecting Movies with Director Dava Whisenant
Greg Carlson Interviews Director Dava Whisenant About Movie Collecting
‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ Review: A Fable Vibrating with Imagination and Optimism
“‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ welcomes a reflection on its Asian-fusion design because western adaptations of Asian culture, even with visible and vocal creative Asian input, will come with a spectrum of orientalism…”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Frederick Wiseman’s ‘City Hall’
“‘Reality fiction’ contours everything in ‘City Hall,’ from the microscopic level of scene transitions to the macroscopic level of entire sequences given deliberate framings…”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Eui-Jeong Hong’s ‘Voice of Silence’
“Rather than using the violence itself as a punchline, ‘Voice of Silence’ builds a comedy of manners out of Chang-bok and his colleagues’ sensibilities.”
A Wild Ride in the Bullpen: How a Young Pedro Almodóvar Upended Genre and Gender
“For all the praise showered on Almodóvar’s later work, it lacks the wildness, freshness and exuberance of his 80s filmography, which often feels unfairly overlooked as a result.”
Review: Jill Li’s ‘Lost Course’
“The most powerful aspect of ‘Lost Course’ is how it portrays the struggle of the Wukan citizens as a general metaphor for political corruption and the futility of activism.”
Interview with ‘Dad Made Dirty Movies’ Author-Director Jordan Todorov
Yoana Pavlova Interviews ‘Dad Made Dirty Movies’ Author-Director Jordan Todorov
Sharp Wits and Sharp Swords: How ‘Love & Friendship’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ Reveal Jane Austen’s Savage Side
“Jane Austen’s stories are already more pointed and complex than many people give them credit for, but two 2016 film adaptations took that caustic tone to new heights…”
Nuns and ‘Dark Habits’: Spoiling God’s Servants
“By spoiling God’s servants with sex, drugs and doubt, films like Almodóvar’s ‘Dark Habits’ show that earnestly criticising the Catholic Church’s crimes is not the only way to weaken centuries of unchecked supremacy.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Lili Horvát’s ‘Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time’
“It’s a delight to watch Stork think in ‘Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.’ Her cogitations are signaled by the darting actions of her piercing blue eyes, the slight flex of an eyebrow or the raising of a subtle and pursed smirk.”
Album Review: Julien Baker ‘Little Oblivions’
“Mining the depths of her own hurt and regret as she does, singer-songwriter Julien Baker has positioned herself as something of a modern scholar on the second chance.”
Black Gold: Cinema, Wealth and Blackness
Brian Brems on ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and ‘Trespass’
European Shooting Stars: An Interview with Alba Baptista
European Film Promotion Shooting Stars: Elle Haywood Interviews Actress Alba Baptista
Netflix Review: Barry Avrich’s ‘Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art’
“When viewed as a character study, ‘Made You Look’ is the rare art documentary that has a re-watchable quality.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Kevin Macdonald’s ‘The Mauritanian’
“The foregrounding of Mohamedou’s experiences and perspective — and, by extension, all those subjected to Guantánamo’s purpose — is the fuel in The Mauritanian’s engine.”
Strength, Solidarity and Grace: Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Volver’ Is an Ode to Womanhood
“Pedro Almodóvar adores women, and he’s a champion of feminism. In no other film is the Spanish filmmaker’s reverence for the female gender more evident than in the 2006 drama ‘Volver.'”
VVoices: What Is Gatekeeping?
VVoices #2: Film Critics Discuss Gatekeeping
Antonio and Almodóvar
Fedor Tot on Pedro Almodóvar’s Collaborations with Antonio Banderas
Netflix Review: ‘Brian Regan: On the Rocks’
“Whereas many Netflix acts are so clearly designed to address cultural topics A, B, and C — whether it’s politics, social media, or celebrity culture — Regan riffs away with evergreen observational humor that gives ‘On the Rocks’ a timeless quality…”