by Martin Kudlac

Rotterdam 2018 Review: KOKO-DI KOKO-DA, Sophomore La-Di-Da

Swedish filmmaker Johannes Nyholm jumped into the limelight of the international arthouse circuit with both feet, sweeping audiences and awards with his feature debut The Giant. It was a touching dramedy, absolved of sentimentality, about an autistic boy separated from...
by Martin Kudlac

Rotterdam 2019 Review: NONA. IF THEY SOAK ME, I'LL BURN THEM, An Intriguing Mocku-Biopic

Chilean filmmaker Camila José Donoso's third feature manifests formalistic experimentation in docu-fiction and reality aesthetics.
by Martin Kudlac

Rotterdam 2019 Review: TAKE ME SOMEWHERE NICE Takes Different Route Than Usual Eastern European Arthouse Fare

The feature debut of Bosnian-bornm Amsterdam-based Ena Sendijarević goes against the conventions of Eastern European dramas.
by Martin Kudlac

Rotterdam 2019 Review: SONS OF DENMARK, The Front Row of Extremism Collides in Neo-Noir Thriller

Emerging Danish director Ulaa Salim debuts with a Scandi neo-noir thriller on the verge of political and social issues.
by Martin Kudlac

Rotterdam 2019 Interview: Fest Director Bero Beyer Talks Independent Cinema and IFFR

IFFR director Bero Beyer talks about the mercurial landscape of contemporary independent cinema.
by Martin Kudlac

Review: BERLIN STATION, Cyber Cold War As Ripped Out of Newspaper Headlines

The spy series Berlin Station returns in the season 3 to investigate emerging Russian invasion and its threat to U.S. and NATO allies
by Martin Kudlac

Tallinn 2018 Review: BAD POEMS, Hungarian Pop-Rom-Dramedy with Flair of Michel Gondry

Emerging Hungarian filmmaker Gábor Reisz hones his film craftsmanship in an idiosyncratic sophomore feature.
by Martin Kudlac

Comics Legend Alan Moore Working on THE SHOW, His Own Radical and Progressive Film

Expect a twilight world of dead Lotharios, comatose sleeping beauties, Voodoo gangsters, masked adventurers, unlikely 1930s private eyes and violent chiaroscuro women in the comics titan's venture into cinema.
by Martin Kudlac

Chicago 2018 Review: X THE EXPLOITED, Nordic Crime Goes Eastern European Style

The Hungarian black comedy Liza the Fox Fairy (read the review) ushered another new talent hailing from the homeland of Béla Tarr, Gyorgy Pálfi and Miklós Jancsó, in the person of the writer-director Károly Ujj Mészáros. After the warm reception and...
by Martin Kudlac

Review: THE SONG OF SWAY LAKE Sings the Tune of Yearning and Legacy

The inter-generational dramedy ponders legacy and memories.
by Martin Kudlac

Locarno 2018 Review: #FEMALE PLEASURE Confronts Patriarchalism One Religion At a Time

Swiss filmmaker Barbara Miller uses the female body as a key to unlock inherent sexism in contemporary society that has been transplanted from religion.
by Martin Kudlac

Locarno 2018 Review: A LAND IMAGINED, a Bleak Realist Drama in Punk Neo-Noir Clothing

The Golden Leopard-winning film re-imagines a social realism drama as a neo-noir thriller.
by Martin Kudlac

Locarno 2018 Review: GENESIS, a Superior, Authentic, Heartbreaking Coming-of-Age Drama

Philippe Lesage delivers an unnerving portrait of first loves and desires and their heartbreaking aftermath in a poignant drama.
by Martin Kudlac

Locarno 2018 Review: M Exposes a Harrowing Spiral of Abuse With a Touching Personal Story

Director Yoalnde Zauberman investigates a shocking, albeit rampant issue in a cloistered community of Orthodox Jews in her latest documentary.
by Martin Kudlac

Locarno 2018 Review: Grief and Past Yield Transformative Experience in A FAMILY SUBMERGED

María Alché´s debut feature has a spellbinding and palpable effect turning the viewing experience into lucid dreaming
by Martin Kudlac

Review: ELIZABETH HARVEST, An Expressionistic Survival Story

The Venezuelan writer-director Sebastian Gutierrez revises the Bluebeard myth for his latest feature-length offering, Elizabeth Harvest
by Martin Kudlac

Locarno 2018 Review: DIANE, Humane and Melancholic Drama About Aging and Mortality

Kent Jones, an American documentary filmmaker and director of the New York Film Festival, who is also behind the bio-doc Hitchcock/Truffaut and the documentary A Letter to Elia, which he co-directed with Martin Scorcese, makes a move to fiction filmmaking. Diane, executive...
by Martin Kudlac

Locarno 2018 Review: ALICE T., Romanian Cinema in Reinvention

Contemporary Romanian cinema has established its steady presence in world cinema after the new wave boom. New talent emerged this year at Berlinale, where Ioana Uricaru introduced Lemonade, while experienced filmmaker Radu Jude netted the top honor at this year's...
by Martin Kudlac

Summer Film School 2018 Review: THE WHISKEY BANDIT, True Story Gets Superstar Treatment

Los Angeles-born filmmaker of Hungarian ancestry Nimród Antal made a name for himself on the international circuit with a debut that turned into a minor cult film, Kontroll. He then returned back over the pond to work on horror Vacancy,...
by Martin Kudlac

Karlovy Vary 2018 Review: Hungarian Punk Road Movie BLOSSOM VALLEY Subverts Stereotypes

Hungarian cinema enjoys a steady presence in the spotlight of world cinema, besides historic pedigree and widely covered heavyweight arthouse offerings such as Son of Saul or On Body and Soul. The director of the latter, Ildikó Enyedi, served as...