Odagiri’s somber observations about transition within tradition make for a meditative, rewarding viewing experience. Ten years after his debut feature, Looking for Cherry Blossoms (2009),…
Mogul Mowgli doesn’t quite know how to weight its issues or manage its scant runtime, but Ahmed keeps things raw and poignant. Rather strangely, Bassam Tariq’s…
Never Gonna Snow Again harnesses is an oddball, observational film that manages to comment on much without veering into obviousness. Premiering at the 2020 Venice Film…
The Man with the Answers aims for restraint but instead fails to either properly probe or articulate its characters. A well-meaning and tentative entrant into…
Scales is an undeniably distinctive film, but one that doesn’t quite feel fully conceived or executed. Saudi Arabian director Shahad Ameen’s Scales was notable in the…
Spring Blossom feels under-realized on the whole, but at least introduces a distinct authorial voice worth following. Part of the official selection at this year’s Cannes…
The Perfect Candidate keeps the stakes low and can be cloying at times, but its story is necessary. Haifaa Al-Mansour, whose 2012 feature debut Wadjda…
Supernova is a restrained love story that manages to balance out the territory’s innate sentimentality. While actor-turned-director Harry Macqueen’s debut film Hinterland utilized the premise of…
Herself is a well-intentioned but ultimately one-note message film that fails to build any real power. A patron of the British arts, Phyllida Lloyd’s transition from…
Ammonite struggles to summon the visceral potency or emotional depth needed to tell its story. Three years on from Francis Lee’s terrific gay drama, God’s Own…
Divine Love is a frustrating, contemptuous affair that ultimately builds little depth into its religio-dystopic premise. Gabriel Mascaro’s Divine Love comes at a timely moment for…
BAFTA-nominated director Aleem Khan’s debut, After Love, has given a rare opportunity to Joanna Scanlan. Once known as a television actress, but more recently a…
Archival footage of past conflicts between the North and South of Ireland accompany the opening credits of Irish director Cathy Brady’s politically-charged Wildfire, which addresses…
Recent reports in the media that claim that the UK government is planning to house asylum seekers offshore come at a timely moment for Ben…
Following a trio of failed marriages, Jane Fonda famously later observed that the point at which she knew they were over was when she began…
Miss Juneteenth is a delicate, gentle film arriving at a defining moment in American discourse surrounding race. Miss Juneteenth, the debut directorial feature of Channing Godfrey…
Quentin Dupieux’s latest delivers the expected outlandishness but won’t live long in viewers’ memories. The life of a sociopath is laid bare in Quentin Dupieux’s macabre…
A White, White Day is an uneven story of overcoming trauma that fails to muster the requisite pathos for its thematic material. Iceland’s Oscar entry this…
An utterly predictable narrative exercise, And Then We Danced salvages some intrigue in the celebration and presentation of its titular art. A familiar tale rears its head…
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Chinonye Chukwu’s grim death row drama Clemency begins with a lethal injection gone wrong,…
The instantly ravishing Portrait of a Lady on Fire is Céline Sciamma’s grandest film to date, even if its story feels somewhat familiar. Winner of the Queer Palm…