THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED Review: Comedic Discomfort in Millenial Ennui
While ennui and angst are common to many generations, I can imagine it could be much more accute among millenials - anything that might have been considered a 'normal' life gave up the ghost before they came of age. They're...
THE KING TIDE Review: The Fable of a Miracle Gone Wrong
Living in a harsh landscape, somewhat apart and isolated, means you make certain choices about how much assistance you will receive, and how much protection you will offer your community. It also means that legends can grow up around people...
ABIGAIL Review: Ballet Gets Bloody Entertaining
It's a juggling act to get an entertaining horror film - one that's fun, funny, yet still scary, with a good share of violence and gore, a decent story with snappy dialogue, and a monster that an audience can root...
WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES Blu-ray Review: The Profound and Desperate Hours
Given the uniqueness and weirdness of the films of Bela Tarr, it's surprising that more of his films are not part of the Criterion collection. Here's hoping that his masterpiece Werckmeister Harmonies is but the first. A stark and deeply...
IN FLAMES Review: The Supernatural Meets Patriarchal Conditioning
The term 'gaslighting' is now quite ubiquitous, and one which still remains scoffed at by many (usually those who hold power). But if you're a member of a marginalized group, that gaslighting could come not just from one person, but...
ABIGAIL Trailer: Don't Let the Tutu Fool You
Ballet might seem like a delicate art, something elegant and high class, rarefied and sweet. But if you've ever seen a ballet dancer's feet, or know some of the stories behind the well-known ballets (Swan Lake, anyone), you'd know that...
ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH Review: The Power of Song Will Devour You
Folk horror is often associated with a particular location, or perhaps a physical object that can be held in hands, something concretely tangible. But, especially in an age when the folkiness of this horror, the true human darkness from which...
WICKED LITTLE LETTERS Review: A Foxy-a••ed Clever Eruption of Suppressed Rage
I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has written - either in their head or possibly on virtual or real paper - a letter that they never sent; the kind of letter that lets out all the anger...
LA CHIMERA Review: Precious Things Left to Bury
Arthur (Josh O'Connor) is not having a good day. He's just got out of prison with nothing but the clothes on his back. His former criminal gang is eager to recruit him; the person to whom he plied his trade...
THE KING TIDE Trailer: A Miracle or a Curse?
Likely many of us would be content with what might be called a simple life, one in which our days were filled with some work required to stay alive, but with the basic needs of survival still guaranteed. Enough food...
YOU'LL NEVER FIND ME Review: When A Stranger Knocks
Relying upon the kindness of strangers (who are very strange indeed) on a dark and stormy night (when it feels like the wind might blow the world down) is a good recipe for a horror film. Add in a somewhat...
SAINT OMER Blu-ray Review: The Divide Between Personhood and Motherhood
When it comes to dismantling discrimination, whether it be by race, gender, or other marginalized identity. does the law follow society, or society follow the law? While the public can often push for changes they want in society to be...
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PURE O: Trying NOT to Say Every Thought in Your Head
I imagine that many of us have found certain 'foibles' (for lack of a better word) that we might have, have turned out to be, or turned into, problems that interfere with our daily lives. Sometimes to the point where...
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS Review: Dykes on the Run
There are times when a movie both needs to be un-serious, and needs to hit its target of cultural critique. There are times that call for some indie b-movie wit and raunchiness, a story that finds its charm in odd...
CONCRETE VALLEY Review: The Quiet Lives of Those Trying to Fit In
Urban parkland can bring both solace and anonymity. For someone who is new to a place, connecting with their environment can be at once daunting and daring - the constructed landscape being one against which an immigrant is often antagonized,...
MCCABE & MRS MILLER Blu-ray Review: Robert Altman's Frontier Western Remains a Masterpiece
Part of both the New Hollywood era and the second wave of Westerns, Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs Miller might have suffered from poor box office on its release, but luckily did not have to wait long to find its...
HOW TO HAVE SEX Review: When The Party Brutally Stops
While partying hard and uninhibited lust is hardly only the arena of the young, there is something particular about how those about 25 years old and younger indulge themselves that is both weirdly admirable, since their bodies can bounce back...
FITTING IN Review: What Even Is a Normal Body?
A woman's body is a battleground: not for her, necessarily (though it can be), but more for a society that wants to keep women narrowly confined and strictly controlled. From the moment that the patriarchy decides that it is convenient...
LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP Trailer & Poster: The Deep Dark Is Not Always Lovely
We might be in the depths of winter, so I'm sure many of us are dreaming about nice, long walks in the woods when we can find peace and quiet, once the snow melts. But as any horror film fan...
CHANTAL AKERMAN Blu-ray Review: Criterion Showcases Early Masterworks
Chantal Akerman left us far too soon. Her work was singular and extraordinary; certainly, it's an incredible achievement to have made one of the greatest films of all time at the tender age of 25. (Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du...
