Philadelphia Film Festival Review: Xiaopeng Tian’s ‘Deep Sea’
“Xiaopeng Tian’s ‘Deep Sea’ features the most mesmerizing animation since ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.'”
“Xiaopeng Tian’s ‘Deep Sea’ features the most mesmerizing animation since ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.'”
“A total riot, ‘Kubi’ is a consummate epic that pokes fun at components of the subject matter while communicating the cold tragedy.”
“‘Breathing In’ effectively deconstructs themes of eternity, loyalty and slow strategy — it’s a timely tale about the horrors of war.”
“‘The End We Start From’ falls short of being a meaningful observation on the perils of climate injustice, but the film succeeds as an embodiment of maternal commitment, largely due to Comer’s wonderfully present performance.”
“The rhythms in ‘Music’ — the shift from one image to the next — make sense in ways that defy obvious explanation, much like the film itself.”
“There is no one better at channelling the multi-faceted force of joy than Binoche, whose entrancing performance grounds ‘The Taste of Things’ in its gentle tragedy.”
“Stolevski’s work has air and breath to it, like someone in love with the energy of simply creating.”
“A distinctly Ghibli feel pervades ‘The Boy and the Heron,’ which more comprehensively and ambitiously connects the studio’s interests than ever before — in whimsy and poignancy, struggle and adventure, the serious and the magical.”
“‘The New Boy’ is a film of deep, mystical qualities, and I can’t wait to revisit it.”
“Not only does ‘Oppenheimer’ prove to be one the best-crafted biopics in recent memory, but it also boldly reaffirms the director’s auteur status.”
“Many of us may miss the drama of awards season, but there are untold benefits to criticism if it continues to evolve away from its current state.”
“The total dominance of our digital cinema platforms has forced cinephiles to reckon with their own assumptions and understanding of the medium.”
“Film criticism is so vital not because it’s a service, but because it’s a tool — a way for each person to arrive at the final word on each film they see from the critic that matters most: themselves.”
“Film criticism unable to confront film’s relationship to business is destined to fail and will continue to reproduce the same tired critiques of cinema.”
“More than ever, it is crucial to contemplate what this nostalgia phenomenon means for the future of the arts and our discomfort with the new. Will there be a ‘new’ in the new world?”
“The main reason I write about horror movies, aside from having a deep and abiding love for them, is that I have a perspective unique to me. But, for certain men, that’s not enough.”
“If the point of criticism is to bring the reader closer to the artwork, then Schrader’s reviews of other films are as important as his own to understanding his perspective.”
“Over time, a film critic should be able to engage with cinema in an all-encompassing manner, acknowledging the interior and exterior forces of what makes a movie…”
Yoana Pavlova on William Brown’s ‘Non-Cinema: Global Digital Film-making and the Multitude’
Alejandra Rosenberg Interviews J. Hoberman