Lacking much in the way of an explored thesis, The Viewing Booth only musters the power of a gimmick. Talking about the patent-pending Interrotron in a 2004…
Swan Swan’s good intentions get lost amid its tonal disarray and narrative faceplants. Character actor extraordinaire Udo Kier takes center stage in Swan Song, writer-director…
Fullt Realized Humans is a half-realized film, awkwardly sliding between authenticity and sitcom superficiality. Bland but inoffensive, Joshua Leonard’s post-mumblecore rom-com Fully Realized Humans resembles nothing…
Ride the Eagle is a slight, breezy affair that succeeds on the strength of its comedic charm and slick pacing. If you had another chance with…
Enemies of the State fails to probe deeply, content with its story’s sensational surface at the expense of more meaningful study. Produced by genius documentarian and…
Nine Days angles toward profundity, but is a largely maudlin, intellectually bankrupt genre-exercise of self-congratulation. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, prisoners sit facing a wall…
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…
There’s no denying that Val indulges in a bit of hagiography, but it remains a frequently engaging study of its enigmatic subject. Actor Val Kilmer has…
Ailey ably captures and reflects its eponymous subject’s abiding vision: art’s capacity as a universal language. On December 4, 1988, dancer-choreographer Alvin Ailey received the…
Miller is a talent to watch, but Joe Bell is profoundly tone-deaf, little more than queer cinema for straight people. Joe Bell is the kind of…
How It Ends is the kind of pandemic-shot film that fails to capitalize on the novelty of its creation’s circumstance. New indie comedy How It…
Eyimofe is yet another sub work sliding in neatly under the exhausted moniker of European art house. Imagine, ever so briefly, that you’re actually in…
The Works and Days is a gargantuan feat, one that ruminates on life’s impermanence and rewards viewers willing to spend time in its company. What…
Jacquot’s latest sticks to the directors strengths, mining poignancy from the inexplicable and beauteous. As erratic and eccentric as any new film by Benoît Jacquot…
The dull and ethically dubious Mama Weed fails to live up to the gonzo promise of its title. With a premise and (English language) title sure…
Roadrunner doesn’t revolutionize the portrait documentary, but it does execute its essential elements with pathos and formal precision. The late culinary connoisseur Anthony Bourdain once…
Like Blindspotting before it, Summertime is glib in its politics and hollow in its messaging. In one of the more telling recent Hollywood career leaps, L.A.-based music video director…
The Witches of the Orient once again testifies to Faraut’s facility with crafting surprising, poignant sports docs with plenty of formal character. It’s exciting to see…
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…
Being a Human Person ends up a bit formless, but it presents a complex portrait both of an artist and of the disconnect between action…