There is a striking early scene with an unknown woman that cuts deep into the sensory motif embedded in the title of May el-Toukhy’s latest…
The way in which we tell the origin story of a romantic relationship says a lot about how we look at our partners in the…
“Talk to me in a Continental accent.” That’s what Juana (Esmeralda Pimentel), a Mexican corporate heiress, begs of her Cuban immigrant husband Camilo (Gael García…
Few filmmakers have confronted the fractures of modern America with such formal rigor and moral devotion as Barbara Kopple. For several decades, the legendary documentarian…
According to the UN, nearly 1,000 Palestinians currently living in Jerusalem face eviction at the hands of the Israeli government. Of those permitted housing, less…
Identical twin sisters — so closely connected that they speak in unison, dream the same dreams, and furiously love the same man — dig a…
A woman of unknown origin and, for a time, unknown purpose, Mira (Larissa Corriveau) observes. For some, her observation is distant, silently watching the people…
Pain is not a present sensation. Pain is a memory. Like all sensations, by the time information — be it visual, aural, or anything else…
Death is awful, but the language we use to describe death is arguably worse. Humorist Norm Macdonald, who himself died of cancer, took issue with…
If you were to flip past Marine Atlan’s film La Gradiva on TV (which used to be a thing you could do), you might think…
For a viewer who is familiar with Angela Schanelec’s cinema, in particular the three films she has made over the last 10 years, My Wife…
A longtime favorite filmmaker at InRO, this writer had only seen one work by Nicolás Pereda, Minotaur (2015) — a surreal exploration of stasis and…
Reverberation usually describes the phenomenon of a reflected and delayed sound impulse that, attenuated to the perceiving ear, has diverted into different manifestations from its…
As an adult, returning to watch a beloved film from childhood can be a most delightful experience. That which charmed you then may still charm…
Since its debut 151 years ago, Georges Bizet’s enduring and controversial opera Carmen has inspired dozens of adaptations across mediums as varied as film, Broadway,…
Cannes seems to have settled into a kind of violent habit: slotting a promising film by a female auteur into its tail end. This year’s…
Talk of generations forgotten is typically regarded as historical fact, whereas dreams about the desiccated self are frequently dismissed as melodramatic outings a dime a…
For the first time in his feature career, Cristian Mungiu has shifted his critical gaze from Romania to its western neighbors. A Cannes luminary par…
As landmark movies go, Lisandro Alonso’s 2001 debut Freedom could hardly have been less fitting. A documentary/fiction hybrid chronicling one day in the life of…
Long before Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the winter of 2022, preeminent cineast Andrey Zvyagintsev already saw dark clouds gathering over his…
Sometimes the first shot of a film tells you enough to know you’re in the hands of a great director. Arthur Harari’s The Unknown —…