One often encounters the (admittedly lazy) critical idea that a particular film “would’ve been better as a short,” suggesting that whatever ideas or formal…
There’s an opaque yet stern quality to Kaloyan (Ognyan “Fyre” Pavlov), a heavily tattooed young man returning to his small Bulgarian hometown after many…
Given the muted critical response and prolonged time period between its festival premiere and eventual (limited) distribution, the new Olivier Assayas film has apparently…
James Ashcroft’s 2021 debut feature, Coming Home in the Dark, was a deeply disturbing exploration of how the powerful wield their authority over others…
It becomes clear very early on that the new documentary CHAOS: The Manson Murders is going to be largely incoherent. What is unclear is…
There have been many movies about baseball, that most American of sports — it is axiomatic. They can be nostalgic, romantic, or even, increasingly,…
Matías Piñeiro is best known for loosely adapting Shakespearean texts via small-scaled, interpersonal dramas: Twelfth Night in Viola; Measure for Measure in Isabella; Love’s…
Coming-of-age movies are a dime a dozen, at this point practically an entire sub-genre of Sundance-approved indie calling cards. Which is perhaps why Henry…
In his recent book Filmmakers Thinking, Adrian Martin quotes the German filmmaker Hartmut Bitomsky at length regarding the “dialogues” that all filmmakers are engaged…
You’ve got a really good cast doing sturdy, reliable work in an otherwise largely generic crime dramedy with Riff Raff, the latest from director…
If the new indie neo-noir Gazer feels familiar, riffing on any number of classic thrillers as well as newer models like Memento and Too…
It’s difficult to know what to do with the films of Mickey Keating; finding success in low-budget indie filmmaking should always be applauded, but…
It’s entirely possible, even likely, that the person reading this review right now has never heard of Edward Burns, let alone seen any of…
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) would be Otto Preminger’s last film for 20th Century Fox, capping off a productive (if tumultuous) chapter in the…
Filmed almost entirely on location in the dense forests of Sikkim, the northeasternmost state of India, Bhargav Saikia’s Bokshi is a wildly ambitious debut…
The best thing that can be said for co-writer/director Þórður Pálsson’s debut feature film The Damned is that it looks and feels like a…
The beginning of Jack Clark and Jim Weir’s debut feature, Birdeater, condenses the relationship of Louie (Mackenzie Fearnley) and Irene (Shabana Azeez) into an extended,…
It’s been a couple of years now, but it’s still disconcerting to see the classic MGM logo in front of Amazon streaming movies. It’s…