When Kolkata-born wildlife filmmaker Ashwika Kapur traveled to rural Bengal, she stumbled upon a disturbing hunting trend being passed on to the younger generations. What she chose to do next sends a powerful message, through her short but strong new documentary.
Read More
Photo by © Akis Bado, used with permission
Locarno Golden Leopard winner 'Toxic' by Saulė Bliuvaitė reviewed
The film, which was awarded top prize by a jury chaired by Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner, was also the winner in the separately juried First Feature Competition.
Read More
Bérénice Béjo and Matheo Labbé in a still from ‘Mexico 86’
Review of 'Mexico 86' by César Diaz: A film with its heart in the perfect place
The fictionalized, yet personal story of the troubled relationship between the filmmaker and his own mother, ‘Mexico 86’ offers a viewpoint into the price women pay when trying to balance motherhood, and a revolution.
Read More
My hacks for learning to love Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Kinds of Kindness' -- a quick review
Hint: it’s a film all about reinvention, rebirth but also the dynamics of control.
Read More
Redefining the Hero: Laura Poitras' 2017 film 'Risk' and the True Julian Assange
This review of the film was originally posted on the HuffPost, in May of 2017 as the film was opening in the US. I felt this film is more poignant than ever, as Assange is finally released and returns to his home country.
Read More
'Being Maria' Cannes Review: A problematic woman or simply someone who dared to call it like it is?
Cinematic, albeit scandalous history was made in 1972 when Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘Last Tango in Paris’ was first screened. Now French filmmaker Jessica Palud, with the help of a book written by Maria Schneider’s cousin, retells the story to finally bring out the heroine in a woman who simply stood up for herself. And, as is often the case for strong women, lost.
Read More
Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' Cannes "review": For the love of cinema (and America)
If you go into Coppola’s opus without a heavy belief in romance and a huge cultural knowledge of cinema, you’ll miss the point. Once you’ve got that sorted, all you need is to sit back, relax and enjoy the show — because what a show it is!
Read More
'Wild Diamond' Cannes Review: A woman's story for the age we live in
Agathe Riedinger’s Competition title shows us the contradictions and pressures of being a modern woman. And the resulting film is a work of the seventh art not to be missed.
Read More
'Taking Venice' review: An art caper documentary that feels like a thriller
When the US wanted to use art to conquer the world, they enlisted the help of an up-and-coming American artist, a Jewish Italian art dealer and a woman with political connections. The result was a victory like no other, the story told in a wondrous documentary which is releasing this weekend in NYC, with LA and other cities to follow.
Read More
Jeremy Xido's 'The Bones' follows CPH:DOX premiere with Hot Docs Surprise Screening
And the film importantly holds proof that in order to understand our future, we must look at the past — the very distant, millions of years ago, dinosaurs and all, past!
Read More
Highest grossing Italian film of 2023 hits UK cinemas this weekend
And no, while it does have pink lettering on the poster, it’s not ‘Barbie’. But it is female-directed and features a woman who proves an inspiration to women young and old…
Read More
Re-evaluating the power of cinema: Amos Gitai's 'Shikun' at Berlinale
If you’d asked me a year ago did I believe cinema could change the world, I would have answered you with an enthusiastic “yes!” Now? Read on to find out…
Read More
Franz Rogowski in a still from ‘Disco Boy’ by Giacomo Abbruzzese
'Disco Boy' -- a US release review
In a hippy, trippy kind of way, filmmaker Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature echoes fellow Italian Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’, as he journeys to the heart of darkness, with the help of spellbinding German actor Franz Rogowski.
Read More
One of Roman Vishniac’s haunting photographs, courtesy of his archives
The documentary 'Vishniac' reminds us why we should never forget
In a haunting documentary film by Laura Bialis, the story of Jewish photographer Roman Vishniac is captured in a way that pushes us to finally revisit the history of the past, in order to never make the same mistakes again.
Read More
Fabrizio Rongione and Lubna Azabal in a scene from 'Amal’
'Amal' by Jawad Rhalib -- US premiere review
Moroccan-Belgian filmmaker Jawad Rhalib tackles Islamic intolerance and the results of forced multiculturalism in Belgian society. The result is a film which will leave you breathless.
Read More
My issues with 'Killers of the Flower Moon' and what I liked about it
I have to say, for a film I immediately disliked, it has stayed with me for a looooong time.
Read More
'Toxicily' -- Festival dei Popoli review
There is no place in Italy as beautiful and as filled with diverse culture as the southern Italian island of Sicily. And yet no place has been abused more — by wars, invasions and more recently, pollution — the latter pointed out hauntingly by filmmakers François-Xavier Destors and Alfonso Pinto in their impressive ode to this modern “wasteland.”
Read More
'Bella' -- a review
In her important, must-watch documentary ‘Bella’, filmmaker Bridget Murnane proves that you can’t keep a good woman down.
Read More
'High & Low: John Galliano' London review
There are so many layers to filmmaker Kevin Macdonald’s film that it would take more than a few hundred words to get to them all. At the core of this stunning must-watch documentary is a fashion hero turned antihero who could be a poster child for explaining our current times.
Read More
Masculinity, fashion and biker culture decoded : Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders' examined
Apart from the great look of the film and the immediate immersion for the viewer into the late 1960’s biker culture of the American midwest, ‘The Bikeriders’ also offers insight into masculine insecurities and strengths and in the process, becomes yet another favorite Jeff Nichols work of seventh art.
Read More