I was thoroughly absorbed by this primer on George Orwell and the writing of his novel 1984.
Continue readingOrwell: 2+2=5 (2025)
StandardTag Archives: 3.5 stars
Redux Redux (2025)
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I took the fam to this one and it was perfect fare with action, twists and turns, a healthy dose of revenge gore and a satisfying ending.
Continue readingHallow Road (2025)
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Hello road! Horror/thrillers are made or broken by their endings, although some are so good in every other respect that you can forgive an ending that doesn’t live up to its promise. I might have to think about this one for awhile because it feels like it is 90% great and 10% both heavy handed and enigmatic.
Continue readingAll I Had Was Nothingness (Je n’avais que le néant – Shoah par Lanzmann) (2025)
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A documentary about another documentary is an odd thing. This is not just any documentary though, it is about Shoah (1985), Claude Lanzmann’s 9 1/2 hour epic made over 12 years.
Continue readingLittle Trouble Girls (Kaj ti je deklica)(2025)
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Slovenian director Urska Djukic gives us a convincing meditation on emerging teenage identity and sexuality in a repressive Catholic culture.
Continue readingYoung Mothers (Jeunes Mères) (2025)
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I’ve wavered a little in what I feel about this absorbing look at teenage motherhood. Does it get under the skin of these young women or are we to believe their biggest stressors will be boyfriends and poor relationships with their own mothers?
Continue readingBy Design (2025)
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Really I shouldn’t be surprised that a film that is about a woman who wants to be a chair ends up being an absurd and surrealist set piece.
Continue readingModel (1981)
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I’m a Wisemen fa-an (why do I hear Susan Sarandon in I Can Make You a Man when I say this line?). Okay I’ve only seen two but I loved Menus-Plaisirs so much that I think I would like anything Frederick Wiseman makes.
Continue readingThe Golden Spurtle (2025)
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Can a documentary be too quirkily perfect? This might be a good example of one, where, after thoroughly enjoying every perfectly framed moment and oddball character, I began to wonder if the whole thing was constructed like a Christopher Guest mockumentary.
Continue readingThe Sealed Soil (Khake Sar Beh Mohr)(1977)
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One thing to try not to miss at film festivals is the rare films that don’t get any other platform for viewing. Narva Marbili’s The Sealed Soil is one of these, touted as the oldest surviving Iranian film directed by a woman.
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