Tove disrupts standard biopic conventions and mines meaning from its language-heavy approach. In a 1946 letter to her love Vivica Bandler, Swedish writer and artist Tove…
Bad Tales certainly tries hard but comes off mostly like an artfully-directed after-school special. The stink of desperation wafts heavily from Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo’s…
Slow Machine introduces a directing duo happy to noodle and experiment with various modes, but who aren’t yet refined or cogent enough in purpose. Jacques…
Port Authority boasts a thoughtful, intimate texture, but somewhat betrays its material in its character perspective. Going into Port Authority, two outcomes feel equally likely:…
Moby Doc is an absurd vanity project, proving Moby is less a fun meme and more an insufferable dope. Moby is, by most accounts, something of…
Final Account is not just a reckoning with history, but with its present lingering, executed with uncompromising force and first-hand immediacy. Released after the death of…
The best way to understand the character of Euros Lyn’s Dream Horse is as the type of film your mother describes as “sweet” and insists…
Riders of Justice finds director Jensen hedging between the dank feels of his early scriptwork and the weirdo vibes of his later directorial output, to mixed…
Both politically and aesthetically, New Order is an ironic and troubling proclamation of solidarity with the old, regressive guard. The refinement of taste, an ongoing exploration of…
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…
Dope is Death is a vital contribution to the ongoing re-evaluation of the black liberation movement and a welcome antidote to conventional neoliberal pap. Given the…
Georgetown isn’t the worst actor-turned-director debut feature, but it is a drab, superficial affair with little to distinguish it. Since coming to the attention of American…
There is No Evil is frequently, starkly poignant, but it’s successes are somewhat mitigated by a lack of culminating cohesion. Mohammad Rasoulof wasn’t present at last…
With The Killing of Two Lovers, Robert Machoian constructs a difficult balance between simple-yet-impressive visual techniques and more frenzied audio compositions to drive an underwhelming narrative.…
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…
The Water Man is a slight film that gets bogged down under the weight of its heavy themes and nondescript myth-making. Let’s just be blunt…
Much like the man at its center, State Funeral is an inscrutable, complex work. Josef Stalin died on March 5th, 1953, at his Kuntsevo dacha,…
Berlin Alexanderplatz fails to build to any climax that would justify its length, instead spinning out into infinity and confusing circuity for world-building. If Alfred…
Sharrock’s middlebrow approach and sitcom-ready style undermines much of Limbo’s potential power. About a decade ago, Serge Daney’s then recently-translated essay “The Tracking Shot in…
Four Good Days occasionally flirts with authenticity and pathos, but is mostly content to crank up the melodrama and hammy acting to deadening effect. The…