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…
Roh trades only in tropes, and subverts any inherent eeriness with its heavy-handed application of mood. Emir Ezwan’s debut feature, Roh, is part of an…
After Asako I & II, Hamaguchi’s latest can’t help but feel like something of a step backward into less aesthetically daring filmmaking. “Once Again”, the…
Memory House is little more than a mélange of affectations and overt symbolism, opaque for its own sake and succumbing to the worst arthouse pretenses.…
Wildland suffers for its underdeveloped characters and themes, but its sense of intimacy stands out in a genre often tilted only toward style. Watching Wildland,…
Curiosa is a shallow bit of French period erotica, sometimes visually compelling but devoid of much insight. Loosely conceived and freely adapted from the photographs…
Tailgate is a thriller in name only, mostly devoid of tension and entirely schematic. One wonders what exactly the point is of such a thoroughly…
Sweet Thing is one of the most gorgeous films in recent memory, but it fails to develop beyond its pretty packaging. Titled in homage…
The Columnist successfully balances a line between the satirical and sobering, and delivers some nice genre play in the process. Ivo Van Aart’s darkly comic…
Nina Wu’s early patience and promise unfortunately gives way to a more sensationalized, ill-conceived study of trauma. Hailed as Taiwan’s answer to the #MeToo…
Rose Plays Julie ultimately relies too heavily on well-worn revenge tropes at the expense of any substantive study of identity. So cold and somber that…
Lapsis mines much of its dystopic power through appropriately small-scale world-building and clear-eyed rhetoric. Noah Hutton’s Lapsis is a genuine curiosity, a micro-budget sci-fi feature…
True Mothers bears Kawase’s familiar textures and ambiance but is hampered by a few too many banal plot beats. Adapted from a 2015 bestseller by…
You Will Die at Twenty contains plenty of allegorical power, but its ineffectual plotting ultimately teases out more stimulating questions than it does answers. As…
Once Upon a River is frequently pretty to look at, but Rose fails to build much depth into the film’s fable-like narrative. Once Upon a…
An effort of self-serious arthouse aspiration, Song Without a Name brings nothing new to the table. Melina León’s Song Without A Name is representative of…
A Girl Missing establishes Kôji Fukada as a strong imagemaker, but the film’s weak script weighs things down. If nothing else, A Girl Missing demonstrates yet…
The Wild Goose Lake is a thrilling neon noir and incisive commentary on the degradation that comes with rapid economic boon. There’s a particularly pleasing…