A 3D film in the vein of Planet Earth, Hurricane traces the natural environment and how hurricanes come in contact with civilization. Focusing on Hurricane Lucy, the film uses a faux-poetic mode to personify the hurricane. A female voiceover allows the makers to film Lucy’s thoughts and ideas. A pseudo-philosophical concept used last year in Wim Wenders…
A coming of age film above love, despair, naïveté, and forgotten youth, My Golden Days depicts a man in remembrance of time passed, and three particular images of his adolescence: childhood, Russia, and Esther. Portrayed by Quentin Dolmaire as an adolescent and Mathieu Amalric as the present-day iteration, Paul Dedalus figures into Desplechin’s…
An exceptionally made silent avant-garde film, Invention uses slow motion and a meticulously controlled camera to channel the beauty of various structures, people, architecture, and roads in three cities: Toronto, Paris, São Paolo. The film’s gorgeous framing and vignette structure transcends cultural tropes, instead focusing on particular objects of artistic…
A comedy relying on a game between six men vying for the title “the best in general”, Tsangari’s Chevalier is a laudable comedic experiment which unfortunately doesn’t surmount anything particularly resonant beyond its novel entertainment. In almost Bunuel-esque form, the film presents a psychological drama which presents each character at…
Exceptionally well shot and directed, Szumowska’s Body unfortunately conveys a weak script and plodding themes which fail to support meaning or any inherent worth. The film details the life of a dysfunctional father and daughter, who still grieve the loss of their matriarch. Expertly portrayed by Janusz Gajos, a celebrated Polish actor known worldwide for his…
A pleasant blue/grey colour palette with light filtration and post produced dimming is the best feature of The Anarchists, a film which only moderately looks and feels of its era. Set in 1899, the film chronicles the actions of a policeman who infiltrates a group of anarchists only to be swayed by their philosophies and seduced by their outspoken…
A sincere evocation of love, between estranged brothers and between man and beloved animal, Rams tells a sullen story of loss and desperation. Rivals for forty years, the brothers herd an ancestral sheep-stock considered the best of the nation. They compete for the honour of breeding the best ram, awarded for the animal’s loyalty and resilience and
Sylvia Chang’s Murmur of the Hearts is a deeply resonant poetic character study of three orphaned children who long for a forgotten childhood. As if a void is in their hearts, these characters wander the world as empty shells, trying to find their place and purpose and the people who will love them unconditionally. Two lovers, a boxer and artist, fail to…
Three Stories of Love shares three dense, heartfelt stories not on love acquired but on love absent, stripped, or pined for. It is simultaneously full of hope while being radically nihilistic. The three characters who love are all either doomed or tricked due to the vulnerability which love induces. A man grieving his lost wife is taken for all his money in the promised…
His first film in eight years, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin is perhaps his most polished and purely crafted picture. Acclaimed for masterpiece upon masterpiece, Hsiao-Hsien expectedly delivers yet another mesmerizing opus to add to the collection. A gorgeously shot and meditatively paced cinematic poem, The Assassin presents Hou at his most confident…