I loved Robert Machoian’s The Killing of Two Lovers (2020) and he again examines a crisis of masculinity in rural America, albeit through a simpler tale.
Continue readingThe Integrity of Joseph Chambers (2022)
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The Box (La Caja) (2021)
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Lorenzo Vigas pares back dialogue and fills the frame with the vast expanses of Northern Mexico in this contemplative story of loss and separation.
Continue readingHarka (2022)
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There is something inevitable about the trajectory of Ali’s life in Lofty Nathan’s sunbleached drama of hopelessness that foreshadows the start of the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia in 2011.
Continue readingIncredible But True (Incroyable Mais Vrai) (2022)
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If you watched Deerskin (2019), you’ll know what to expect from ‘fabulist’ Quentin Dupieux.
Continue readingWar Pony (2022)
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It’s worth lauding this film simply because of its collaborative creation with Hollywood heavyweight Riley Keough adding weight to what is essentially an authentic indigenous story.
Continue readingKompromat (2022)
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Rules for escaping a totalitarian state: 1) Don’t use a mobile phone; 2) Don’t use a mobile phone to call the daughter-in-law of your pursuer; 3) Don’t use a torch when crossing a patrolled border at night. And a hot tip – Siberian aluminium foil is the bomb!
Continue readingThe Northman (2022)
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Robert Eggars (The Lighthouse (2019), The Witch (2015)) gives us toxic masculinity writ large without a shred of irony or insight.
Continue readingLunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019)
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This is why I watch films. First-time director Pawo Choyning Dorji takes a simple story and transports you into the world of the inhabitants of Lunana, a remote village in the north west of Bhutan.
Continue readingA Hero (Ghahreman) (2021)
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It’s a relief to watch an Asghar Farhadi film that returns to the morally complex form of his earlier films like A Separation (2011) and The Past (2013). His dip into Hollywood with Everybody Knows (2018) was a disappointment for those who love his exploration of Iranian culture.
Continue readingNever Gonna Snow Again (Sniegu juz nigdy nie bedzie) (2020)
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This beautiful and decidedly enigmatic mood piece from Malgorzata Szumowska (Mug (2018), Body (2015)) and Michal Englert confounds as much as it satisfies.
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