Review: “Blackberry”

Ask most people now, and they probably would consider the BlackBerry a bit of a joke. One of the first iterations of the smartphone, the rapid decline of the company paired with the design of the phone itself—rather clunky, with a keyboard that takes up half of its surface, compared with the sleek all-touchscreen iPhone—would […]

Review: “Resurrection”

Many of us have one thing, one traumatic incident, of which the slightest reminder will immediately cause any semblance of control or sanity we had to fly out the window. For Margaret (Rebecca Hall), that trauma takes the form of a person: David (Tim Roth). When she glimpses him from across the room during a […]

Review: “Watcher”

Julia (Maika Monroe) is outside her comfort zone. The American just moved to Bucharest with her part-Romanian husband Francis (Karl Glusman), who accepted a demanding new job there. With Francis away for much of the day, and not knowing the language or anyone around her, Julia’s isolation soon transforms into paranoia when a serial killer […]

Review: “Paris, 13th District”

The City of Lights and the City of Love serves as the backdrop for a less than swoony romance in “Paris, 13th District.” Directed by Jacques Audiard, who co-wrote the screenplay along with Léa Mysius and Céline Sciamma based on Adrian Tomine’s series of short comic stories, the film’s French title, “Les Olympiades,” is derived […]

Review: “Cow”

Director Andrea Arnold has said of the subject of her latest film, “When I look at Luma, our cow, I see the whole world in her.” Luma is the titular “Cow” of Arnold’s first documentary project, shot over the course of several years at Park Farm in Kent, England. Working with cinematographer Magda Kowalcyzk, Arnold […]

Review: “Huda’s Salon”

There’s something about going to a hair salon that many people find comforting. That feeling doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what hairstyle you’re going to try on a given day, but moreso with the sense of community that comes with regularly going to a place, seeing the same people, and being able to […]

Review: “Bergman Island”

“Bergman Island” is one of those movies that I had to watch twice before I could really start to grasp its intricacies. There’s no doubt that writer/director Mia Hansen-Løve’s movie has a lot for film fans to chew on. Set on Fårö, the Swedish island where the legendary director Ingmar Bergman lived, worked, and was […]

Review: “Falling for Figuro”

The romantic comedy genre has touched almost every imaginable environment or scenario, but I can’t think of one set in the world of opera. Director Ben Lewin’s “Falling for Figuro,” which follows rival opera singers who fall in love, may ultimately adhere to the expectations of the genre, but it also occasionally subverts them, and […]

Review: “John and the Hole”

“John and the Hole” may be billed as a psychological thriller, but it is above all else a fable. The film’s title card isn’t revealed until half an hour into the movie, by which time we’ve met 13-year-old John (Charlie Shotwell) and his family, but have also just been introduced to a unique framing device. […]

Review: “Settlers”

The western and science fiction genres share several similar themes, particularly when the subject of the latter is exploration into the unknown, essentially transporting the frontier from the American West to the edges of outer space. It can be exciting and fascinating and introspective when done right. Unfortunately, writer and director Wyatt Rockefeller’s film “Settlers” […]