International Reviews
Calgary Underground 2025 Review: BROKEN BIRD, A Beautiful And Muddled Provocation
We meet Sybil confidently applying for a new job as undertaker’s assistant with the sharpest of black bangs, and a fashion sense that is both vintage and arthouse-modern. She is a seasoned pro with several references, and a balm for...
Calgary Underground 2025 Review: TWO WOMEN, A Modern Remake of Quebec Sex Comedy
A tiny camera move during a scene at a Montreal Canadiens hockey game demonstrates what good direction can do: the storytelling happens via the camera itself, revealing the gag (which I will not) and surprising the audience with something possible...
YADANG: THE SNITCH Review: Informant Turns Against Corrupt Cop
Kang Ha-neu, Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-joon, Ryu Kyung-soo, and Chae Won-bin star in director Hwang Byeong-gug's so-so drug thriller.
Calgary Underground 2025 Review: EEPHUS, Where Baseball Contains Multitudes
Eephus, Carson Lund’s wonderful ode to small stakes baseball and gruff Americana, needs its odd title explained: The Eephus pitch is a throw that is so unnaturally slow that it confuses the batter. It makes him swing too early, or...
Calgary Underground 2025 Review: REVERIES: THE MIND PRISON, One Story Ends, Another Story Must Begin
You know that dream where you are running, to nowhere in particular, for no reason, and you trip, fall, and wake up? Reveries: The Mind Prison is the movie version of that dream. Only here, you are walking, and thus...
THE LEGEND OF OCHI Review: Richly Imagined Fantasy Adventure
Helena Zengel, Finn Wolfhard, Emily Watson, and Willem Dafoe star in Isaiah Saxon's family adventure.
THE UGLY STEPSISTER Review: Fairy Tale, Subverted Into Body Horror
Emilie Blichfeldt wrote and directed; Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, and Ane Dahl Torp star.
LIGHT OF THE SETTING SUN Review: How Trauma Shapes Identity, Inspires Poetry
Director Vicky Du peers into the past through the prism of her own family's history. Why did they leave China? Why did they leave Taiwan?
THE SHROUDS Review: Intensely Personal Body Horror
David Cronenberg's new film stars Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, and Sandrine Holt.
INVENTION Review: Grief, Legacy, and Myth Collide in Hybrid Dramedy
Courtney Stephens and Callie Hernandez created a film that intricately blends personal history, archival footage, and fictional narrative to explore themes of grief, memory, and the fine line between reality and fantasy.
JEAN DE FLORETTE / MANON OF THE SPRING 4K Review: Two Films by Claude Berri
Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Yves Montand, and Emmanuelle Béart star, as neighbours turn nasty in the French countryside.
WARFARE Review: In the Belly of the War Beast
Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland directed the anti-war picture from A24 Films.
Series Mania 2025 Review: PUTAIN Captures the Somber Drift of Adolescence
Created and written by Frederik Daem and directed by Deben Van Dam, the series is set against the backdrop of contemporary Brussels, offering a fragmented yet intimate study of adolescence.
Series Mania 2025 Review: MUSSOLINI: SON OF THE CENTURY, Fascism as a Burlesque Theatre
Director Joe Wright gives his Mussolini biopic a 'Les Miz' treatment in a burlesque political miniseries about the rise of fascism.
UGETSU 4K Review: Kenji Mizoguchi's Masterpiece
Our friends at the Criterion Collection continue to be champions of world cinema and film preservation. They recently released the new 4K/Blu-ray combo pack for Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1953 masterpiece, Ugetsu. I reviewed Ugetsu the last time around in 2017, back...
SOME LIKE IT HOT Blu-ray Review: Criterion Re-issues the Perfect Comedy
Some Like it Hot is one of those films that I can't remember not having seen; and yet, every time I watch it, it still feels fresh and funny. There is so much I learned from it for the first...
CHUNGKING EXPRESS 4K Review: Loneliness, Yearning, Loss, Romance, Joy, Bliss
Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and Faye Wong star in Wong Kar Wai's masterpiece.
REVOLVER Review: Character Story in a Smoldering Thriller
Jeon Do-yeon, Ji Chang-wook, and Lim Ji-yeon star in Oh Seung-uk's slow-burn thriller.
Rotterdam 2025 Review: THREE DAYS OF FISH Proves You Can Never Go Home Again
Peter Hoogendoorn debuted very strongly almost ten years ago with Tussen 10 en 12 (Between 10 and 12), a rigidly structured movie set in a limited time-space. In it, a family one by one get told bad news by two...
THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND Review: Delightful Oddball Musical Drama
Win the national lottery once and you’d be considered one of the luckiest people currently alive. Win the national lottery twice and you’d be firmly in a reality-adjacent world where the whimsical isn’t just an abstract idea, but the...
