AwardsWatch

‘Steve’ Review: Tim Mielants and Cillian Murphy Redefine Empathy in the “Troubled Student” Genre [B+] TIFF

Brandon Lewis September 6, 2025

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

‘Left-Handed Girl’ (左撇子女孩) Review: Shih-Ching Tsou’s Solo Debut is a Vibrant Mother-Daughter Miracle [A-] TIFF

Kevin L. Lee September 6, 2025

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

Erik Anderson September 6, 2025

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

Director Watch Podcast Ep. 115 – ‘Early Summer’ (Yasujirō Ozu, 1951)

Ryan McQuade September 6, 2025

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of... Read More

2025 Venice Film Festival Awards: ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ Wins Golden Lion, Benny Safdie Named Best Director Amidst Jury Turmoil

Erik Anderson September 6, 2025

Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother has won the Golden Lion for Best Film of the 82nd Venice Film Festival from a fractured jury headed... Read More

‘Back Home’ Review: In Barely an Hour Tsai Ming-liang Asks ‘What is a Home?’ [B] Venice

Martin Tsai September 6, 2025

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

Kevin L. Lee September 6, 2025

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

Brandon Lewis September 6, 2025

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

Mia Pflüger September 6, 2025

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