REVIEW: Nr. 10 [2021]

Kamaihi. The best way to watch Alex van Warmerdam‘s latest Nr. 10 is to go in blind. He practically titled it “number 10” to help with that fact—it being his tenth directorial effort taking the spotlight from anything specific that happens within. It’s also the reason why the first half of the runtime unfolds conventionally. If all you’re watching is an actor (Tom Dewispelaere‘s Günter) as his world comes undone due to his director (Hans Kesting‘s Karl) discovering he’s having an affair with his wife (Anniek Pheifer‘s Isabel), you become…

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REVIEW: White Noise [2022]

Family is the cradle of the world’s misinformation. I must commend Noah Baumbach for taking on Don DeLillo‘s White Noise because it is nothing like his other films. Where they are all in some way a projection of his life and that of those around him, this satirical tale of one family’s (in)ability to cope with their impending mortality is on an entirely different tonal level. Because while Baumbach’s worlds are obviously heightened realities delivered through an affected aesthetic lens, the dialogue and interactions coming from the Gladney family have…

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REVIEW: EO [2022]

May all your dreams come true. Since it’s an homage to Au hasard Balthazar, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find myself just as unenthused by Jerzy Skolimowski‘s EO as I was to Robert Bresson‘s cinematic touchstone. That’s not to say their comparisons and contrasts exist on a one-to-one basis, however. They’re actually very different films altogether. But for every improvement (letting the titular donkey be the lead character rather than merely a voyeur destined to return to his darling Marie) comes the realization that even less is being…

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REVIEW: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery [2022]

I gave you the truth. Even world-renowned private detectives like Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) get restless during lockdown. Just as Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out put some tongue-in-cheek gags a la Trumpism and the rise of fascism under the façade of politics, his sequel Glass Onion injects a bit of COVID pandemic fatigue in much the same way. Whereas that window dressing continued throughout the former via juxtaposing a Latina lead against her affluently entitled white employers, it ends here quite early so that the mystery itself can take center stage.…

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REVIEW: Au hasard Balthazar [1966]

The road cured him. I was told that Robert Bresson‘s Au hasard Balthazar was a heartbreaking story that could stir the emotions of even the most jaded audience member. By the end, I guess I proved them wrong since it left me cold for the duration. I get it, though. This metaphorical depiction of Christianity by way of the seven deadly sins is constructed in such a way to demand a reaction. Tragedy after tragedy occurs as men refuse to see the error of their stubbornness and villainy before ultimately…

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REVIEW: Causeway [2022]

Then what the hell was the point of all this? All Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence) wanted to do growing up was get away. From her junkie brother (Russell Harvard‘s Justin). From her unreliable and selfish mother (Linda Emond‘s Gloria). From the house that reminded her of both. So, she enlisted in the army and went to Afghanistan. She kept busy. Excelled. Ensured that her mind was finally free of that past. Then her convoy was hit with an IED. While appearing unscathed on the surface, Lynsey suffered brain damage and trauma…

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REVIEW: Bardo, falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades [Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths] [2022]

Slivers all knotted together. Our minds have a funny way of protecting us when events outside our control threaten to derail objectivity, comprehension, and even sanity. In the case of Silverio (Daniel Giménez Cacho) and Lucia Gacho (Griselda Siciliani) losing their first-born child Mateo thirty hours after his birth, the inability to let him go manifests as farce. They obviously know he’s gone—a metal urn in the shape of an egg holds his ashes. But the pain of that loss and the desire to watch him grow weaves a fantastical…

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REVIEW: Tár [2022]

There’s no glory for a robot. Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is an icon. A genius. Listen to a lecture introduction given by The New Yorker‘s Adam Gopnik and you’d be hard-pressed to refute someone hailing her as the second-coming of Jesus Christ. She’s a God amongst men that everyone in the classical music scene wants to either work with or become and she gives back to them with fellowship programs, mentorships, and her position as lead conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. With an EGOT on her shelf, a wife…

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REVIEW: Call Jane [2022]

Everyone hangs up the first time. We can assume Joy (Elizabeth Banks) and Will (Chris Messina) didn’t plan on having another baby. Fifteen years between child number one (Grace Edwards‘ Charlotte) and two doesn’t scream intent. That fact doesn’t, however, mean that they didn’t want the new baby. They were happy about the pregnancy. They were looking forward to doing it all over again. Unfortunately, Joy’s body couldn’t comply. She started growing faint around ten weeks and ultimately passed out in the kitchen before finally seeing her doctor. He told…

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REVIEW: Holy Spider [2022]

Keep your eyes open. Saeed Hanaei’s (Mehdi Bajestani) compulsion has grown to uncontrollable levels. So, it’s only a matter of time before he’s caught—if Mashhad’s police want to catch him. That’s the question Tehran journalist Rahimi (Zar Amir-Ebrahimi) asks upon arriving at the holy city. Nine women (all prostitutes) had already been strangled to death and dumped in and around the same area with no leads or suspects to be found. Either the department is inept, the so-called “Spider Killer” is a genius, or the crimes aren’t something the public…

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REVIEW: The Woman King [2022]

Relentlessly, we will fight. Nine times out of ten when a white actor visits Africa, learns a “cool” historical detail, and returns to Hollywood pitching it as the “next big thing” logline, disaster strikes if a finished product even gets produced. Maria Bello is therefore the lone exception considering she did exactly that here. A 2015 trip to Benin—former site of the Dahomey kingdom—brought with it an education on the West African region’s famed all-women warrior regiment known as the Agojie. It went around town, got passed over or lowballed…

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