Reviews Berlinale Day 3: No Intenso Agora (2017) 13 Feb 201713 Feb 2017 Brazilian director Joao Moreira Salles wrote and directed this documentary (English Title: In the Intense Now) wrapped around the years 1966-1968 and the intense revolutionary spirit that engulfed certain parts…
Reviews Sour Grapes (2016): Schadenfreude 6 Nov 2016 I don't even drink wine, so my understanding of the collector's impulse is bound to be limited. Nonetheless, the themes flowing through Sour Grapes, smoothly prepped in the movie equivalent…
Reviews Pozitia Copilului (2013): People at its Heart 13 Oct 201610 Jan 2017 Upon its release, I happened to catch a screening of the film (English title: Child's Pose) attended by the director and some of the actors, followed by a short Q&A. This…
Reviews Sieranevada (2016): A Winter Wonderland 16 Sep 201610 Jan 2017 Although Romanian cinema has been 'mainstreaming' of late, this year has brought some old-school/new-school movies received to widespread critical acclaim, like Cristian Mungiu's Bacalaureat (Graduation) or Bogdan Mirica's Caini (Dogs).…
Reviews The Baby (1973): A Slight Phenomenon 13 Sep 2016 Several months after first seeing it, it feels like The Baby has been an unassuming life lesson. I was in Brussels at the time and as chance would have it,…
Reviews The Myth of the American Sleepover (2010): The Fetish Rises 6 Sep 2016 Everybody fetishizes something. As much as I'd like to convince myself otherwise, I seem to fetishize over the American high school drama/comedy. Give me The Breakfast Club (1985), Dazed and…
Reviews Amy (2015): Discovering Anew 30 May 201630 May 2016 Amy tells a tragic tale, in what amounts to an enthralling documentary that does an exceptional job in humanizing the artist. It's a challenge, because of the disconnect between the…
Reviews The Family Fang (2015): Sibling Togetherness 17 May 201617 May 2016 After 'Bad Words', Bateman the director appears to be heading in the right direction and takes on a more ambitious, layered project. This film deals not only with a dysfunctional…
Reviews An Honest Liar (2014): The Skeptic Inside 22 Apr 201622 Apr 2016 There truly is something mystical about An Honest Liar, that allows it to transcend its flawed structure and be relevant in spite of it. At its core, the ambition of…
Reviews Taxi (2015): A Journey Around Censorship 23 Mar 201624 Mar 2016 Somewhere, in the corner of my mind, the information about Jafar Panahi's predicament was lying around unguarded. His 2010 jail sentence and twenty year ban from filmmaking were a result…