By Thomas Gladysz. Davies was at her delightful best in comedies with a contemporary setting…. Nevertheless, her earlier costumes dramas and period pieces, like Zander the Great and Beverly of Graustark as well as the 2019 Undercrank release, Little Old New York, still have considerable charm.” The inherent contradiction in […]
Still Cruisin’ After All These Years – Top Gun: Maverick
By Elias Savada. Old fashioned fun.” Seemingly frozen in chivalrous time, the ever-youthful 59-year-old Tom Cruise is back in fine form 35-plus years after he scored big box office bucks with the original Top Gun. History should repeat itself for this long overdue sequel (with an additional two years tacked […]
On the Edge: Keoni Waxman on The Ravine
By Ken Hall. They would answer his questions but they couldn’t answer why.” The Ravine, “a combination of noir, suspense, and spiritual and fantastic elements,” as I described in my review of the film for Retreats from Oblivion, uses these elements to avoid becoming “an ordinary inspirational piece.” I caught […]
Unpredictable Moments: An Interview with Bijaya Jena on Abhaas (1997)
By Anees Aref. We all are sometimes weak and sometimes strong. I wanted to express how a moment of weakness can shatter your life.” Written and directed by Bijaya Jena, Abhaas (1997) has recently been restored after an initially challenging run finding distribution upon its first release. Set in 1950s […]
Beautiful Decay: Dwein Ruedas Baltazar’s Ode to Nothing (Kani Releasing)
By Thomas Puhr. It has non-diegetic music, a considerable amount of dialogue, some fairly complex camera movements, and even a few quick editing cuts. So why does my mind keep returning to that word: quiet? The less you know about Dwein Ruedas Baltazar’s Ode to Nothing (2018) going into it, […]
Norse Mythology, Repackaged: Ragnarok (Netflix, 2020- )
By Kenneth E. Hall. While not presuming a knowledge of Norse mythology, for those viewers already more versed in Norse myth the series offers a fresh approach to the corpus surrounding the apocalyptic event known as Ragnarok, employing a mix of magical realist and more traditionally fantastic techniques to unfold […]
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Demon Fatigue
By Elias Savada. Sam Raimi follows the Marvel bible but still manages to have his own directorial flair…. Action is almost non-stop, and you might just be gasping for air as you stick it out through the final credits.” Note: Some spoilers follow relating to “character developments” in this film. […]
Quietly Radical Filmmaking: Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman
By Theresa Rodewald. Deceptively short but its impact and heart are huge. This is quietly radical filmmaking: Sciamma shows us that there is an alternative to narratives shaped by the patriarchy….” “You are often unhappy,” says 8-year old Nelly to Marion who is the same age as her but also […]
Estrangement All Over: An Interview with Niki Karimi on Atabai
By Ali Moosavi. Atabai is about loneliness and the estrangement with environment that we feel all over the world.” My very first contribution to Film International was an interview with the Iranian actress-writer-director Niki Karimi in 2014 (issue 12.3). Since then she has appeared in ten movies and three TV […]
More Than Tradition: Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen
By Elias Savada. An affectionate tribute blending some behind-the-scenes material and mostly older (but still quite original) interviews with the film’s star Topol and others.” Harvesting a long-running infatuation with thrice Oscar-nominated director Norman Jewison, producer-director-editor Daniel Raim, an Oscar-nominated (for the 2001short subject The Man on Lincoln’s Nose) documentarian […]