You always hope for a gem at a film festival – a film you know nothing about, that you have no particular hopes for but that transports you somewhere transcendent.
Continue readingThe Lonely Spirits Variety Hour (2022)
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Children of the Mist (Những đứa trẻ trong sương) (2021)
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Documentaries don’t usually make me so angry I want to throw something at the screen. Vietnamese film maker Hà Lệ Diễm gives us unprecedented insight into Hmong culture and their tradition of bride kidnapping.
Continue readingEvolution (2021)
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There was something deeply compelling about this rigorous and austere look at identity and trauma by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó.
Continue readingThe Eight Mountains (Le Otto Montagne)(2022)
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Even though this is a very intimate story of friendship, it feels epic in scale and rich in detail, set against a glorious backdrop of Alpine mountains.
Continue readingInnocence (2004)
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Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s first feature-length film is an austere and ominous parable about the societal limitations imposed on young women.
Continue readingThe Goddess (Devi) (1960)
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Satyajit Ray is a master of pared-back social drama that exposes the class and social structure of India.
Continue readingThe Exam (2021)
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Shawkat Amin Korki cranks up the tension in this exploration of the desperate lengths people will go to when they are given few choices.
Continue readingPiggy (Cerdita)(2022)
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Carlota Pereda gives us a delicious revenge movie that expands the story from her 2018 short film.
Continue readingMona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021)
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My expectations were high for this second feature from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night director Ana Lily Amirpour.
Continue readingDogs in Space (1986)
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I was instantly transported back 40 years in Richard Lowenstein’s chaotic love letter to 70s post-punk subculture.
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