The Miniaturist is a three-part period piece that demands your attention, not necessarily because of the eloquence of its dialogue or the depth of its characters, but because of the careful intricacy of its set pieces, costumes, and performances. Taylor-Joy is like Vermeer’s Pearl painting come to life, while the dollhouse at the center of […]
This coming-of-age story starts in the present time, where Elle Marja, now a grandmother, reluctantly goes to her sister’s funeral held by her old indigenous Sámi community in Northern Sweden. Understanding her reluctance requires going back to when Elle Marja was 14 and was preparing to go to boarding school with her little sister. These […]
John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are fantastic in this biopic of a comedy double that governed turn-of-the-century Hollywood. The movie stars with a snippet of their success but is mostly focused on their later years. With their big hits behind them, Stan Laurel and Ollie Hardy embark on a disappointing tour across Britain while […]
Unlike the scrappy fighters we’ve seen in other sports films, Ichiko Saito of 100 Yen Love is an unmotivated recluse that does only the bare minimum to survive. Hardly an underdog to root for. Still, when Ichiko spots a boxing gym, the film transforms into something special. In spite of the disappointments that follow, the […]
The title of this chamber drama doesn’t refer to the nightclub, but rather the unfortunate company these Catholic priests are forced to share with each other. That’s because these priests didn’t retire from choice– they’re there because they’re exiled for their scandals. Given the past decade, one can easily guess the reason each priest is […]
This incredibly creative and unique movie is set in a fictional small town in the Brazilian Backcountry. It has a realistic first half but things quickly get crazy. Even in that realistic half, you can clearly tell that something is off about the town of Bacurau. An accident involving a truck carrying coffins turns into […]
This Canadian drama produced by Clint Eastwood is based on the true story of Saul Indian Horse, a famous indigenous hockey player who survived Canada’s residential school system. As recently as 1996, indigenous children were taken away from their families to attend brutal assimilation boarding schools. Indian Horse, by virtue of being based on true […]
Given the prison setting, dialogue-heavy narrative, and not much action, The Trial of Joan of Arc used to be considered a minor work in Robert Bresson’s filmography. It made sense for the time. This particular trial has been portrayed in films before, and unlike the previous iterations, Bresson’s direction took on a more restrained approach. […]
To mere observers, a grudge can seem like just that: a grudge. Shallow, inconsequential, and probably fixable. But for those involved, the cut feels deeper and saltier, despite (or because of) its inexplicable nature. This maddening feeling is what Ryan Murphy both explores and honors in Feud, and boy does he go all in: vicious […]
From The Babadook director Jennifer Kent comes another horror, although this one is more about the horrors of humanity. Set in 1825 Tasmania, The Nightingale follows Irish settler Clare as she seeks bloody revenge on the monsters who wronged her and her family. She teams up with an Aboriginal guide named Billy to accomplish her […]
Originally a novel inspired by real life incarceration, Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite is actually much more optimistic than a prison stay would seem to be. Much of that lighter mood comes from an outstanding performance– Ozan Bilen, who portrays Barış, the precocious boy that lives in the prison with his mom due to […]
Though relatively low on scares, this three-episode Indian miniseries fully believes in horror of a different kind: governments that indiscriminately call anybody terrorists if they try to think for themselves. Set almost entirely in a military interrogation facility, Ghoul wastes no time telling us who the real monsters are, never making the mistake of making […]
Girl won four awards at the Cannes Film Festival last year and was nominated to 9 Magritte Awards. It was also Belgium’s entry to the Oscar for best foreign-language film. When a dance school accepts her, Lara has the opportunity to realize her dream and become a professional ballerina. The dancing takes a toll on […]
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There’s something so delightful about watching Good Morning, the second of Yasujirō Ozu’s films in color. It’s easy to see why– the conflict is relatable, Ozu’s shots are immaculately framed in warm colors, and of course, the pouting children hoping to get a television of their own are just pinch-worthy adorable. But through the neighborhood […]
Go PRO unlock recommendations above 8.5/10.
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This Brazilian drama is about a loving mother of four, Irene, who has to deal with the upcoming departure of her eldest son. This news triggers Irene’s anxiety, who is trying to finish her high-school diploma as well as building a home for her kids. Loveling is about being relentless in one’s pursuit of improving […]
Set in 1970s Italian countryside, this is a quirky movie that’s full of plot twists. Lazzaro is a dedicated worker at a tobacco estate. His village has been indebted to a marquise and like everyone else, he works without a wage and in arduous conditions. Lazzaro strikes a friendship with the son of the marquise, […]
This documentary charts the challenges faced by sailor Tracy Edwards and her 12-woman crew in the wake of their decision to participate in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, the grueling yachting competition that covers 33,000 miles and lasts nine months. Director Alex Holmes recreates their adventure using archival footage shot by the women […]
While imprisoned in a labor camp on account of ethnicity, a group of Jewish inmates were transferred to become The Counterfeiters. This historical drama was inspired by the memoir of a real life forging operation, so the unique perspective is already intriguing. However, rather than just rehashing the story, writer-director Stefan Ruzowitzky focuses on the […]
This funny and charming movie is about a Palestinian slacker named Salam who works on a famous Israeli soap opera. Each day, he has to pass a tough Israeli checkpoint to get to work and in an attempt to make things easier for himself, he agrees to change the ending of the soap opera to […]
Insiang is not an easy film to watch. It’s hard to look at, not because the sprawling slums of Manila itself are ugly– the scenes are excellently blocked, shot, and edited, actually– but because of the way poverty has further degraded the status of women in the area, with the lack of resources keeping them […]
There’s more than a touch of Louis Theroux to this engrossing documentary — fronted by New Zealander pop-culture journalist David Farrier — about an innocuous-seeming Internet phenomenon: the actually-sinister subculture of “competitive endurance tickling”, in which young men undergo “tickle torture” for money on camera. When Farrier unassumingly requests an interview with an American producer […]
Underneath all the action of The Yellow Sea is the despair of not getting one’s life in order. To be fair to the taxi driver protagonist, the odds are stacked against him as an ethnic Korean in a Chinese region. However, it doesn’t help that he resorts to gambling has his vice, the vice that […]
Unfortunately for political activist Pierre Henri Thioune, everything does go wrong for his funeral in Senegalese drama Guelwaar. His body gets mixed up with a Muslim man’s, his family’s reunion turns awry, and his stance against dependence on foreign aid stirs rumors of assassination. But it’s a fitting way for writer-director Ousmane Sembène to lay […]
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Finding a date to a wedding is a familiar romcom premise, so it seemed like A Date for Mad Mary would go the same route. That is, Mary would try to find a date, to no avail, because the one who’s truly meant to be with her was in front of her the whole time. […]
Not to be confused with the American cop thriller with the same name, Shōhei Imamura’s Black Rain is about the atomic bomb, but it’s not really concerned about nuclear warfare. Sure, the film opens with gruesome shots of the day the bomb dropped, not sparing the viewers from the gore and the titular nuclear fallout, […]
James Norton plays a Russian-British banker who has stayed away from his family’s links to organized crime. When his fund is threatened, he accepts a shady investor recommended by his uncle, which introduces him to the world of international crime as a money launderer. It’s very well-made, and successfully juggles many stories at once. However, […]
