Movie Reviews, Old and New
These two dramas premiering in this year’s San Sebastián International Film Festival‘s New Directors category both tackle relationships, albeit in very different shades: Lu Po-Shun’s Will You Still Be My Friend, a safe but tender portrayal of adolescent male friendship crumbling under outside influence, and Marlene Emilie Lyngstad’s bold and controversial Cute, which deals both […]
Read More SSIFF 2026: “Will You Still Be My Friend,” “Cute”Premiering in the Platform section at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, these two films tackle women growing up and confronting their changing feelings, whether it’s a contentious friendship in Irene Dionisio’s Italian drama IDDA, or a young girl’s newfound romantic yearnings for her childhood friend in Yoon Dan-bi’s Korean drama The World Before. While […]
Read More TIFF 2026: “IDDA,” “The World Before”These two films, blending drama with shades of black comedy, premiering in this year’s Toronto International Film Festival‘s Discovery section tackle current trends, with varying degrees of success: Ghasideh Golmakani’s self-reflexive film about filmmaking and the oppressive restrictions imposed on women in Iran, Head to Head, and Tom Nicoll’s anxiety-inducing study of the dark side […]
Read More TIFF 2026: “Head to Head,” “Salvation”The burden of expectations- those of family, culture, and society- permeate these three films screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, tackling the topic in very different stories across different continents. All first features, Katharina Rahl’s Memories of a Forest and Joaquín Ruano’s Nosotros, make their international and world premieres, respectively, in the festival’s […]
Read More TIFF 2026: “Ah Girl,” “Memories of a Forest,” “Nosotros”The Venice Film Festival‘s Orizzonti section- which typically spotlights new voices in international cinema- has been particularly exciting this year (the delightfully quirky Diane in the Loop, which I also recently reviewed, just won the category’s prize for best film). Loneliness, whether in love or family or community, has been a common theme I’ve picked […]
Read More Venice 2026: “Lovers in the Blue Night,” “What Belongs to Others”At first glance, Lina (Isabel Aimé González Sola) appears to have it all. A comfortable life with her husband Pedro (Esteban Bigliardi) and daughter Sofia (Emma Fayo Duarte) in Argentina. A successful career as a fashion designer. So successful, in fact, that she travels to Switzerland to accept an award for her work. The opening […]
Read More Review: “The Currents”I generally enter biographical documentaries— especially ones centered on Hollywood figures— with arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, but I thought both of the industry docs I watched at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this week, programmed as part of the festival’s Special Screenings sections— Robert Richardson: The White Devil (the thrice Academy Award-winning […]
Read More KVIFF 2026: “Robert Richardson: The White Devil,” “The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld”This year marks my first time attending the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and I’ve been amazed not only by the beauty of the Czech spa town where it takes place, but the diversity of its programming, which has been exciting to experience whether I’ve gelled with a film or not. The three films reviewed […]
Read More KVIFF 2026: “Tycoon,” “Five Years, Four Months,” “Against Nature”Kris (Hannah Einbinder) has just settled into her room in a sleepy hotel in a rural town, bordering a forest that’s blanketed with snow. If that remote environment sounds rather too quaint for a seemingly savvy young person, know that this trip isn’t purely for pleasure. At 29 years old, Kris is a Sundance wunderkind […]
Read More KVIFF 2026: “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma”The White Nights are a natural phenomenon like no other. For a brief period over the summer, the sun barely dips below the horizon in high latitude areas, meaning that daylight sticks around for a full 24 hours. It’s a sight that Marina (Tanya Shahova) has yearned to witness for the last 30 years. Sixty […]
Read More KVIFF 2026: “Black Money for White Nights”
