Shithouse marks a promising debut from writer-director Cooper Raiff, effectively capturing the awkwardness and insecurity of the collegiate experience. One’s reaction to the coming-of-age dramedy Shithouse will likely depend on how one relates to its central protagonist, Alex (writer-director Cooper Raiff), a white, middle-class,…
The Wolf of Snow Hollow is yet further, winning proof of Jim Cummings’ singular artistic voice. Much like his debut feature, 2018’s Thunder Road, director-writer-actor Jim Cummings’s The Wolf of Snow Hollow is delightfully off-center, a feathered fish that thrives on its singular weirdness and…
The Projectionist is a lovely elegy for the glory days of film exhibition, one that 2020 has brought into surprising focus. Since getting clean a few years ago, Abel Ferrara has been remarkably productive. Interspersed between more ambitious projects (such as this year’s Tomasso and the…
Despite the formidable presence of Angela Bettis, 12 Hour Shift is a half-assed and visionless throwaway. 2002 was a breakout year for actress Angela Bettis, as she portrayed the title roles in two distinctly original films about murderous introverts — Lucky McKee’s magnificent May and the…
Possessor is an artfully ultra-violent and surprisingly empathetic mash-up of futuristic and retro genre influences. In Brandon Cronenberg’s debut film Antiviral, there’s a line of dialogue that sticks out as a kind of poetic koan to his sensibility; a salesman specializing in pushing celebrities’ viral contagions…
Kajillionaire is both July’s most restrained and most maudlin work to date There’s no denying that Miranda July’s particular idiosyncrasy shares DNA with a number of forgettable, mid-aughts indie comedies, but her weirdo shtick, then and now, is too outré to be regarded as stereotypical…
Ava is a generic, poorly-shot, and utterly pointless entry into the female assassin subgenre. Tate Taylor must be the most charming man in the world. There’s no other explanation for why he continues to be gifted cinematic canvases upon which to exhibit his hackneyed “talents”…
About Endlessness is a gentler than usual work from Roy Andersson, one that reflects humanity’s ability to create both great beauty and profound suffering. Those complaining that Wes Anderson’s movies all look the same have clearly never encountered the work of Roy Andersson. Over the…
The Nest is a deeply obvious, under-cooked attempt at horror-flecked domestic portraiture. The Nest, writer-director Sean Durkin’s long-awaited follow-up to his remarkably assured debut feature, 2011’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, utilizes the genre trappings of horror to present the portrait of a marriage on the…
Sibyl is a film that feels richer at the margins than at the center, largely by design and to its credit. Victoria, Justine Triet’s last film, opens with Virginie Efira curled up on a couch asking her therapist where, exactly, her life became unstuck. Efira occupies…
