Isolationism breeds a variety of affects that spur those involved toward indelibly discrete action. In many, Sho Miyake’s latest, Two Seasons, Two Strangers, courses the…
In this dispatch: Agon, Donkey Days, Fantasy…
Over a small jetty, a cruise ship waits to dock and its passengers get ready to dismount. The process is unrushed, methodical; a throng of…
In German, Kai Stänicke’s debut feature Trial of Hein bears the title Der Heimatlose, which translates as “the stateless person” or “the homeless.” This is…
What a strange thing, the Olympics. In 1896, with the tools for globalization just barely on the horizon, the world (or, rather, Greece, leveraging its…
If one were being deliberately reductive, the logline for Dutch director-screenwriter Rosanne Pel’s sophomore film Donkey Days could read as a near-exact twin of Joachim…
In the first half of Fantasy, Isabel Pagliai’s feature debut, it is easy to become fixated on Fatty, the Calico-mix cat who lives with the…
The international breakthrough of All We Imagine as Light in 2024, which was the first Indian film to play in Cannes competition in 30 years,…
When you see a lot of movies at film festivals, you begin to notice certain patterns in the cinema as a whole. One such pattern…
Originally popularized and coveted by the Western world, the esteemed traveler cut a formidable figure for its elites: the rationalists for their admiration of breathtaking…
Sophy Romvari has used cinema to mine the fractured, seemingly incomplete nature of her family history since her first short film, Nine Behind. In that…
The Part-Time shorts program, in collaboration with Now Instant Image Hall, was presented at the Los Angeles Festival of Movies in two blocks. The first…
After it was reported that MUBI had received a $100 million investment from venture capitalists with ties to an Israeli defense tech firm in May…
“The working man is a sucker” — so reads the opening title card of Joel Alfonso Vargas’ debut feature, Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny,…
In my day job as a college writing instructor, there is a lot of talk about “multi-modal composition.” This simply means that instead of remaining…
Excepting the newly bicurious and the chronically polyamorous, most people will adore Erupcja for the wrong reasons. Pete Ohs’ sixth narrative feature has, on the…
In this dispatch: Leviticus, Kika, Strange…
Much digital ink has been spilled over whether now, more than ever, we need positive queer images in popular media. As the world skids further…
Clemente Castor’s Cold Metal is a difficult film to wrap one’s head around. It’s a small-scale, profoundly opaque object that rejects traditional narrative in favor…
Social realism is alive and well and living in Belgium — but you knew that already, given that it’s the Dardennes’ home court. It may…
If, with Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino set a 21st century standard for leisurely, sun-dappled, queer coming-of-age films, then, nearly a decade later,…