‘Steve’ Review: Tim Mielants and Cillian Murphy Redefine Empathy in the “Troubled Student” Genre [B+] TIFF
It feels like we’ve been telling stories of well-meaning teachers and troubled students since the beginning of time. Everyone is aware that public school systems... Read More
Film Reviews
‘Left-Handed Girl’ (左撇子女孩) Review: Shih-Ching Tsou’s Solo Debut is a Vibrant Mother-Daughter Miracle [A-] TIFF
Minutes into Shih-Ching Tsou’s solo debut Left-Handed Girl, I knew I was in good hands. Watching our three female leads sitting at a small cramped... Read More
‘The Choral’ Review: Ralph Fiennes is Pitch-Perfect in Old-Fashioned British Wartime Drama [B] TIFF
Yorkshire, England, 1916. Young Lofty (Oliver Briscombe) has the unenviable task of delivering the bad news to the townsfolk that their loved ones have died... Read More
‘Back Home’ Review: In Barely an Hour Tsai Ming-liang Asks ‘What is a Home?’ [B] Venice
Tsai Ming-liang has become a progressively more esoteric filmmaker since he began his career three and a half decades ago. A lot of his recent... Read More
‘The Ugly’ (얼굴) Review: In Yeon Sang-ho’s Dark Mystery, It’s the Soul That Needs the Surgery [B+] TIFF
Train to Busan’s Yeon Sang-ho returns to the low budget mystery thriller genre by adapting his debut graphic novel (Face) into a feature film. The... Read More
‘Eagles of the Republic’ Review: Behind the Scenes of an Empty, Dull Propaganda Film [C-] TIFF
If a propaganda film is dull, does it make a sound? Probably not, since the whole point of propaganda is to influence perception, which requires... Read More
‘Elisa’ Review: Di Costanzo’s Film is a Story Lost in Its Own Silence [B-] Venice
Leonardo Di Costanzo’s Elisa is a deliberate and methodical exploration of guilt, memory, and the psychology of extreme acts of violence. At the center is... Read More
‘Exit 8’ Review: The Viral Indie Horror Game Stuns on the Big Screen [B+] TIFF
It’s always a fun and exciting exercise to see how a videogame gets adapted or reinterpreted on the big screen. Such is the case with... Read More
‘Driver’s Ed’ Review: Bobby Farrelly’s Middle of the Roadtrip Teen Comedy is Stuck in Neutral [C] TIFF
Driver’s Ed is exactly what you would expect from a Bobby Farrelly teenage comedy — awkward, weird, unfunny, and shockingly tame despite all the swearing,... Read More
‘The Sun Rises on Us All’ Review: Cai Shangjun’s Latest is Often an Aimless Take on ‘Past Lives’ [C] Venice
The underlying theme of the 2025 Venice Film Festival seems to be the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by human beings: the implications of one’s... Read More
Academy Award-winning Filmmaker Steven Bognar Boards Yael Bridge’s ‘Who Moves America’ Doc as Executive Producer [EXCLUSIVE] 
‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Review: What’s Left to Do for the Teens of East Highland High but to Rue the Day [C+] 
Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie on Supporting Each Other Through ‘The Drama’ 
The Oscars Set March Dates for 99th and 100th Academy Awards