By Jeremy Carr. At just 88 minutes, King of Killers moves along at a well enough pace, but when there are lulls in the film it can be as lifeless as so many corpses strewn across the floor.” There’s something to be said for the escapist allure of a big, […]
Falling in Love with Myself: Signe Baume’s My Love Affair with Marriage (2022)
By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. The film uses animation to delve deep into the complex tapestry of women’s roles in marriage and the harrowing loss of identity that often accompanies this timeless practice.” I felt like an inflated balloon trying to fit into a shoe box that couldn’t accommodate its […]
Take Your Medicine: Baatar Batsukh’s Aberrance (2022)
By Thomas M. Puhr. Unfortunately, this historical importance, as “the first Mongolian horror feature to be released theatrically in the U.S., is attached to a messy – albeit occasionally inspired – thriller that collapses under one (or two, or three) too many outlandish twists.” Baatar Batsukh’s Aberrance (2022) arrives with […]
She Has Overcome: Joan Baez I Am a Noise
By Elias Savada. A lovely curtain call, offering time for Joan to frame how she ultimately crushed her life-long demons. It’s a heartbreaking journey into the horrifying past and a heartwarming walk into a future of forgiveness.” I always envisioned this legendary folk musician and activist as the Baby Boomer […]
Life in Plastic, Not Fantastic: Micheal Bafaro’s Don’t Look Away (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. If the synopsis sounds familiar, then you’ve probably seen It Follows (2014). Don’t Look Away acknowledges this indebtedness… but this grating self-awareness relies far too heavily on its influences.” A haunted mannequin stalks a group of dimwitted twentysomethings in Micheal Bafaro’s Don’t Look Away (2023). Once […]
The Creator: Something Rotten in the State of AI
By Elias Savada. With all the talk of artificial intelligence taking over our lives, this technically proficient film may be timely, but its futuristic concept – mankind vs. an enemy of its own making – flails about as a misguided, muddled search for (non-)human salvation.” I can’t accept the overblown […]
The Unexpected Raymond Griffith
By Thomas Gladysz. The two films included in Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian serve as an excellent introduction to the comedian’s considerable talents.” Many rediscoveries aren’t. All-too-often, the thing in question – a movie or book or album, an actor, artist or musician, hasn’t been undeservedly forgotten so much […]
Chaos on an Island – Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films
A Book Review by Thomas M. Puhr. With The Palace recently premiering at Venice, now is an opportune time to revisit these early works, and Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films may prove a valuable companion for such a journey….” In a 2011 Cineaste review, David Sterritt noted that “Cul-de-Sac […]
Boo-Who-dunit – Kenneth Branagh Sinks A Haunting in Venice
By Elias Savada. Not the charm you might be hoping for, unless you’re a fan of endless rain, too many jump scares, unsettling camera angles, ragged hand-held camerawork, onerous close-ups, and a score drowning in dreary woodwinds and screechy violins.” Those actor-ensemble, murder mystery set pieces you’ve experienced in movie […]
To Love the Uncanny – Haunted by Vertigo: Hitchcock’s Masterpiece Then and Now
A Book Review by Dávid Szőke. The book’s eleven chapters approach the master’s film from broad, yet intersecting angles, allowing the reading and cinematic audience into the colourful patterns that weave the filmic narrative threads into a magnetically composite unity.” “Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past, […]