Because of the sheer breadth of work on display — 10 programs, with an average of seven or eight films per program — the annual…
Director Christoph Hochhäusler arrived on the international scene in the early aughts, as the film world began discovering a plethora of unique, formally inventive movies…
British filmmaker Ben Rivers is competing in the 2024 Locarno Film Festival with his newest film, Bogancloch. It is Rivers’ second feature about Jake Williams,…
For a certain type of documentary, intimate access to one’s subject is a double-edged sword. Leila Amini’s debut film is a close look at her…
There’s a good chance you’ve never heard of André Forcier, the writer-director of the new comedy Ababooned. But he is actually one of the grand…
Anyone who follows any artform closely — in this case, cinema, but it’s equally true for music, painting, sculpture, literature, what have you — knows…
The A24ification of world cinema continues apace with Brief History of a Family, a dreary Chinese genre exercise that premiered earlier this year at Sundance.…
Although his name may be unfamiliar to some, Chinese director Wei Shujun has already made several feature films, including 2021’s Ripples of Life, which also…
One of the hallmarks of rapid-onset social change is a general sense of confusion. We often understand that some sort of intervention is absolutely necessary,…
For several years, Austrian filmmaker Antoinette Zwirchmayr has alternated between rigorous visual filmmaking and a hybrid form of experimental narrative. She seems to be interested…
In Jessica Dunn Rovinelli’s newest short film, the director trains her camera on Australian critical theorist McKenzie Wark. On the audio track we hear Wark…
Since the release of her 1995 debut feature My Sister’s Good Fortune, Angela Schanelec has become recognized as one of the most unique and significant…
Sadly, the title of Ariane Louis-Seize’s debut feature tells you virtually everything you need to know about the film itself. The Quebecois horror-comedy Humanist Vampire…
It’s rare, but not unheard of, for a filmmaker to land their debut feature in competition at Cannes. Such instances include Steven Soderbergh’s sex, lies…
The fraternal duo of Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu have been making films together for around 25 years. An early featurette of theirs, Roland’s Pass (2000),…
In Retreat, the debut feature from Iranian-born Ladhaki director Maisam Ali, is the sort of film one hates to be negative about. It’s made on…
Many critics’ wrap-ups from the 2023 edition of Cannes included dismissive language directed at Ken Loach’s new film competition film, The Old Oak. As is…
Moral judgments in artwork tend to be tinged in shades of gray. This is sometimes expressed by citing Jean Renoir’s unofficial motto that “everyone has…
The Shameless feels very much like an art-sploitation entry from the mid-’90s, when directors thought that a frank depiction of lesbian desire, in and of…
There have been a number of “lockdown movies” since the outbreak of Covid, and most of them have been unfortunate affairs. While it’s true that…
In her previous film Wet Sand, Georgian director Elene Naveriani depicted a clash between the urbane, laid-back values of Tbilisi and the small-minded cruelty of…