2021 had no shortage of musical events – another Kanye/Drake face-off, a new Adele record, and an ABBA reunion to boot. We even saw the return of live music, something we seemed to lose sleep over if we’d never heard the likes of again. And like the film world, music is forever evolving, which the…
What makes a filmmaker exciting? It means that their best work is still ahead of them. There are amazing filmmakers coming out of the woodwork every day, each one better than the last. But if we had to bet on one filmmaker as the most exciting filmmaker on the planet, it’s Paul Thomas Anderson. Paul…
“Please don’t write that down,” confesses Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović. I had asked about cinematic influences on her debut feature film, Murina, which premiered in the Director’s Fortnight category the previous night at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Murina follows Julija (Gracija Filipović), an athletic teenager who rejects the obedience her…
Gaspar Noé always aims to divide. Enter the Void, Irreversible, Climax… The dividing line for these films lies between people who are frustrated by them and hate being frustrated by them, and those who are frustrated by them but seem to enjoy being frustrated by them. Vortex, however, will push one of these sides to…
This world is hard enough to live in as it is, but to add the limitations of pre-conceived notions about who we are, it makes it nearly impossible. Sean Baker continues his use of first-time actors (he objects to the term “non-actors”) with Red Rocket, a film about past love and old relationships, even though…
This year’s Palme d’Or winner didn’t just “premiere” at Cannes – it burst into the festival ecosystem like a thousand barrels of renegade crude, polluting everyone and everything around it. Centering around sleaze, sex, metal, blood, and fire, Titane is almost pornography for cars. Or maybe it’s just a porno, I’m still not entirely sure….
Censorship is a scary thing, but it could be particularly dangerous when it involves assimilation and heritage. Nadav Lapid has been tackling these subjects for ten years now, straddling the line between sensitivity, morality, and justice. Ahed’s Knee is his latest, confronting the subject of censorship head on. Winner of this year’s Jury Prize at…
A Hero begins with a long-tilting shot as our lead Rahim (Amir Jadidi) climbs a rickety set of construction stairs that look like they could collapse at any moment. This image, in essence, encapsulates A Hero, the newest film from acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. Having been granted leave from prison in order to relieve…