Tag: review
Melbourne 2021 Review: THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER, Purposely Pretentious Chamber Piece Still Captivates
The second film in a loosely planned trilogy about 'human togetherness', The Girl and the Spider begins with the literal construction of a contemporary chamber piece, a very busy apartment move-out and later a similar apartment's move-in. The first film...
Busan 2020 Review: LIMECRIME, Tone Deaf Hip-hop Biopic
As a self-confessed Korean hip-hop ‘stan’, Limecrime is a dismal disappointment. This is Directed by the actual former Limecrime duo LEE Seunghwan and YOO Jaewook, who moved on from performing together in the early aughts and are no longer part...
Busan 2020 Review: THE PREDATORS, Stylish Italian Dark Comedy Debut
Twenty-eight year old newcomer Pietro Castellitto debuts with this assured, sharply scripted black comedy about class, wildly different families and the individuals that comprise them. It was frankly shocking to learn the Director of this film is so young, as...
Busan 2020 Review: GOOD PERSON Compels With Its Dizzying Morality Play
With confident direction in the first few frames alone, this debut feature from JUNG Wook is a masterful mystery. Good Person draws comparisons to European cinema; epic yet intimate portrayal of ethics, morality and human nature in the contemporary. These...
Busan 2020 Review: HAPPY OLD YEAR; Minimalist Design, Maximalist Selfishness
The philosophy or art of letting go; the artifice of such a belief or methodology questioned in a purposely staged environment is how Happy Old Year introduces its jaded protagonist Jean (Chutimon Chuengchar, Bad Genius). She is interviewed by a...
Review: THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW, Smalltown Mania And Murder By Monster
The Wolf of Snow Hollow is a damn entertaining film, forget the typical tropes of werewolf creature features, this is neither a slowburn nor an exploitive gore fest. Actor and director Jim Cummings steers the plot forward through the negative...
Fantastic Fest 2020 Review: BLOODTHIRSTY Lacks Its Titular Desire
This year there has been no slow-down of low budget, singular Indie horror films set in an isolated cabin, holiday home or retreat surrounded by the elements. Bloodthirsty does nothing to differentiate itself, this is a watchable yet uncompelling feature...
New York 2020 Review: ON THE ROCKS, Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray Reunite
Sofia Coppola’s films are imbued with a bratty strained independent punk rock aesthetic that often riffs on generic genres and themes with a strong focus on characters that refuse to conform. On The Rocks is a distant memory of this...
Review: THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME, Post-war Pulp Haunts Compelling Rural Noir
Antonio Campos excels at making damaged or heinous characters front and centre, getting under the skin of a socio-psychopath (Afterschool, 2008 or Simon Killer, 2012) or delving into mental health issues and depression (Christine, 2016), Campos finds entertaining ways to...
Review: I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS By Charlie Kaufman
In director Spike Jonze’s Adaptation, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is in the film as himself played by Nicolas Cage. That character puts his own spin on the book in that film when he is tasked with writing a screenplay for it....
Review: THE ARGUMENT, Trifling Theatrical Experimentation
Robert Schwartzman (Dreamland, The Unicorn), part of film family royalty (brother is Jason Schwartzman, cousin is Sofia Coppola etc.) is relatively new to Hollywood's Indies. His third feature The Argument continues the trend of approachable genre experiments inherent in his...
Melbourne 2020 Review: BLACK BEAR, a Gaslight Meta Nightmare
Black Bear could be a Hitchcock inspired-indie thriller that opens with actor--director-writer Allison (Aubrey Plaza), collecting her towel from a lake’s small dock, making her way inside a cabin where she sits, notebook and pen at the ready; a title...
Melbourne 2020 Review: SHIVA BABY, a Self-serving Schmear of Awkwardness
This acerbic feature, adapted from the short of the same name expands on the original with further complications, but the aesthetic of this chamber-piece remains equally grounded and squeamishly uncomfortable over the course of a socially excruciating afternoon. Uncomfortable in...
Melbourne 2020 Review: WET SEASON, Intricate Drama in the Monsoons
Singapore Director Anthony Chen returns after six years with his sophomore feature Wet Season. His first film Ilo Ilo (2013) is a tender masterfully shot race-class drama set during the 90s Asian recession. It follows a Malaysian native maid and...
Review: DIEGO MARADONA Doco, Director Asif Kapadia's Third Masterpiece
Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy) strikes gold again with the near-perfect biopic of footballer Diego Maradona. The documentary director depicts what many consider ‘the hand of god’ in such a way that highlights both Maradona’s immense skills as a player, and...
L'Etrange 2019 Review: TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG, an Entertaining Farcical Yarn
Based on the fictional Peter Carey novel of the same name, True History of the Kelly Gang is a far-flung reimagining and mythologising of the legacy of the armoured clad outlaw. Although the film is less affecting as a result...
Melbourne 2019 Review: MATTHIAS ET MAXIME, Xavier Dolan's Intimate Epic
French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan (there is no other word to describe him) has had a busy year. He has two films releasing in 2019, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan with a top-billed cast, and this far more...
Review: LUZ, A Stylish Experiment in Seduction and Possession
A demon or some kind of evil entity travels from a Chilean boarding school to a German Police station to ensnare the woman it desires to possess. The simplicity of this basic story kernel belies the stylish and convoluted manner...
Review: SWEET PAIN, Near-Silent Giallo is a Rare Find
In his first feature in more than 10 years, Gonzalo López modernizes the true and salacious story of 16th Century composer Carlo Gesualdo, whose music and life is inexorably linked to the shocking murder of his wife and her lover...
Toronto 2018 Review: LET ME FALL Is Sublimely Harrowing
Stella and Magnea, it feels stressful to just write their names after witnessing the excruciating awfulness of their lives. Let Me Fall is centred on their very intense relationship. An attraction that brings with it chaos, reminiscent of the two...
