In 1960, primatologist Jane Goodall, the 26-year-old secretary of paleontologist Louis Leakey, was chosen to conduct research in Africa for his study of the influence of apes on primitive man. Though she was not a scientist and never attended university, her open mind, love of animals, and the strong support she received from her mother…
In Chinese culture, the number three is considered lucky for its similarity to the character meaning “life” or “to give birth.” As such, Mountains May Depart makes no small use of significant triptychs in telling its story. The film is segmented into three disparate chapters and time periods; its three main characters are caught up…
Mahal (Kelly Lou Dennis, “Three Tutus and a Gun”) is an aswang, an ancient race of vampires derived from Philippine folklore. But that aspect of her being is deeply repressed, and her role in present-day San Francisco is to be a member of an elite vampire-hunter squad. Mahal’s mission is to track down and kill…
For her fun fictionalized memoir of sorts, Greta Gerwig has painted a coming-of-age tale almost entirely in shades of grey. Lady Bird is the writer/director’s gentle, through passionately prickly look at the haze that lies just beyond adolescence, with Saoirse Ronan (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”) playing Christine, the also titular protagonist who must navigate the…
Set in post World War II Mississippi, Mudbound — based on Hillary Jordan’s Bellwether Prize-winning novel — tells the story of Henry and Laura McAllan, a white farming family, and Hap and Florence Jackson, the black sharecroppers who live on and work their land. Both families have — among other similarities and commonalities — relatives…
A sheep in wolf’s clothing — by which I mean a B-movie in Euro-arthouse clothing — The Unseen shoulders its way into the dynasty of slow-burn horror films about middle class parents escaping to some distant place to cope with the grief of losing a child. Writer-director Gary Sinyor has a history of lightweight rom-coms…
Few documentary subjects are more enigmatic than the life and careers of The Beatles. Few subjects have been spotlighted and discussed to the extent of the band’s effect on world culture, with no shortage of films from 1964’s “A Hard Day’s Night” until the present day. Ben Lewis returns to a well-worn director’s chair to…
