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Busan 2018: Festival round-up
Slowly emerging from the political turmoil and boycotts it had faced the past few years, the Busan International Film Festival 2018 was one of rejuvenation and reunion for the community. This year’s festival saw a rise in metrics all around: attendances, world premieres, market participants and industry meetings. Nestled between the imposing hills and idyllic…
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Film Review: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
★★★☆☆ As cultural curiosities go, they don’t get much more curious than Fred Rogers. A Pennsylvania pastor with a penchant for puppetry, he became the soft-spoken voice of public broadcasting for children over the course of fifty years. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the new documentary from Oscar-winner Morgan Neville, charts the rise (with no…
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Ocean’s 8 and female empowerment
Featuring a star-studded cast of Hollywood’s top actresses, Ocean’s 8 is the all-female take on the Ocean’s series inspired by the male-dominated 1960s Rat Pack film of the same name. Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, the sister of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean, who headlines the previous three Ocean’s movies. Ocean’s 8 follows Debbie as she…
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DVD Review: Anchor and Hope
★★★★☆ While Anchor and Hope’s subject matter will undoubtedly pique the interests of a LGBTQ audience, it’s clear that director Carlos Marques-Marcet isn’t interested in pigeonholing his work, and that the film’s themes of family and unity will strike a chord with all viewers, regardless of their sexual orientation. The director has managed to craft…
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MAMI 2018: Long Day’s Journey Into Night review
★★★☆☆ Bi Gan’s follow-up to Kaili Blues is a stylish noir which drifts through a fluid world of dreams, memories and languid conversations as its protagonist looks for people from his past. A technically ambitious venture, the film’s definite high point is the 59-minute 3D long take that makes up its second half. In Long Day’s Journey Into…
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MAMI 2018: Shadow review
★★★★☆ Famous Fifth Generation Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s latest wuxia tale based in the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history is about power, intrigue and survival, and the common man’s role in the affairs of the mighty. What stands out, though, is the film’s stunning visual style and spectacular action sequences. Yin and yang, the concept of…
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MAMI 2018: Grass review
★★★☆☆ A writer sits in a café listening in on conversations had over coffee and soju about serious and mundane matters. This 66-minute film is shot in simple black and white with Hong Sang-soo’s classic two-shots and zooms. Prolific South Korean arthouse master Hong Sang-soo has made another Hong Sang-soo film – economical in…
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Film Review: Diamantino
★★★☆☆ This debut feature by directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt uses humour, a mix of genres and an insane plot full of topical nods at issues like the refugee crisis and right-wing propaganda. The result is a surprisingly entertaining film which also manages to comment on subjects like gender fluidity and the nature of…
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Czech100: Winter Flies review
★★★★☆ Adolescent delinquents Mára (Tomás Mrvík) and Heduš (Jan Frantisek Uher) are best friends, wiling away the hours by joy riding in old Audis and taking pot shots at passersby with Heduš’ frighteningly realistic-looking automatic BB gun. Told through a non-linear narrative and brimming with warmth, Winter Flies is an effortlessly charming third feature from the director of Family Film and A…
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Czech100: The White World According to Daliborek review
★★★★☆ Dalibor K. lives in a small house with his mother. He works a poorly-paid job in a factory, and spends his free time playing video games and making amateur videos on YouTube. He’s also a neo-nazi. Vít Klusák’s documentary is a chilling, tragic and often ugly examination of a lonely, hateful and very confused…
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