Foreign
Film Review – Official Competition
It’s been said that any movie – regardless of quality – is something of a miracle. That’s because cinema is the most collaborative artform. Painters have themselves, a brush, and a canvas to work with. In contrast, it can take dozens (sometimes even hundreds) of…
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An Appreciation – Rashomon
Rashomon (1950) has left such an indelible cultural impact that its very name has taken a life of its own. The film was made early in the career of director Akira Kurosawa, introducing him and Japanese cinema to the world stage. It has been referenced by generations…
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Film Review – Spiritwalker
A man wakes up from a car crash with no memory of how we got there. He has no recollection of who he is or how he ended up behind the wheel. The only clues he has is a picture of a woman he does…
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An Appreciation – Cléo from 5 to 7
Of the French New Wave filmmakers, Agnès Varda stands on a pillar of her own. Although her name may not be the first mentioned – shamefully – along the likes of Jean-Luc Godard or François Truffaut, Varda’s contributions to the movement are just as important, if not more so. Her…
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Film Review – Hard Hit
Writer/director Changju Kim’s Hard Hit (2021) is a solid, throwback thriller. A remake of the Spanish film, Retribution (2015), this South Korean offering has the DNA of tense, location-specific action films of the past. Characters trapped in a vehicle wired with a bomb will call to mind the premise of Speed (1994).…
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Film Review – A Hero
Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero (2021) is simply brilliant. It is an intricate examination of how decency, compassion, and honor can bend in the face of desperation. Just as he did in his Oscar-winning A Separation (2011), Farhadi paints his narrative so that there are no good guys or…
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Film Review – Belle
The Japanese film Belle (2021) exemplifies how animation can be utilized to transport us into fantasy worlds. Because we are fully aware that those are not real people or places shown on screen, we’re given more flexibility to accept what we see and immerse ourselves deeper into…
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Film Review – Parallel Mothers
Pedro Almodóvar is one of the few filmmakers in the world who can depict melodrama with such precise observation. Others would steer away from the genre, thinking it too schmaltzy or overdramatic. That is not the case with Almodóvar. His stories involve love, deception, sex,…
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