The great thing about genre is that it offers fans straightforward and familiar material, but it also allows filmmakers the space to come up with new interpretations within established formulae. This is especially true of horror, and the challenge for the filmmaker is to offer scares within the blend of familiarity and innovation. Bishal Dutta’s…
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly” — Henri Bergson Some people experience maturity at an early age when they are thrust by circumstances into a position of responsibility before they are ready. Some do not experience it until their twenties, thirties, or…
Ben Wheatley is a prominent and potent voice in British cinema. His sophisticated use of practical limitations such as small casts and contained environments have created strong impressions such as the constant menace and discomfort of “Kill List” and the black humor of “Sightseers.” His distinctive use of space in “High-Rise” and “Free Fire” are…
“And you will look with open eyes, And see the world clear, And when your crying is dried up, Then you will feel your heart, And know a new and deeper love” — Alexi Murdoch There are no men in Céline Sciamma’s (“Girlhood”) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en…
Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and awards for cinematography and originality at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s unforgettable documentary Honeyland looks into the ancient tradition of beekeeping, a tradition that has been attuned to the rhythms of nature for centuries. Set among the isolated villages and rocky…
As lazy and obvious a comment as this is, Little Monsters is the Australian answer to “Shaun of the Dead.” From the interweaving of domestic and personal issues with the problems of a zombie outbreak, to the referential rendering of the undead and how they operate, writer-director Abe Forsythe displays a snappy wit, a warmth…
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (“Okja”) says that he always tries to overturn viewer expectations and hopes that his latest film succeeds in this way. Palme d’Or winner at the 2019 Cannes Film festival, Bong’s Parasite (Gisaengchung) does indeed thwart expectations, but the question is — to what end? Defying any strict genre classification, the…
