The Banality of The Zone of Interest
German philosopher Hannah Arendt famously said in her book "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil", which she wrote after covering the trial of the Nazi war…
Concrete Utopia
Korean cinema has long been fascinated by class distinctions. Parasite and Snowpiercer both leaned heavily into the fact that society is unfairly separated by social status. In Uhm Tae-Hwa's dystopian…
Movies about Women Who Leave: Shayda and Priscilla
This time of year, I watch a lot of movies at once and sometimes it seems that two of them are on the same wavelength, despite being very different stories.…
Mami Wata
Nigerian writer-director C.J. Obasi has taken an old West African folktale about a water deity who looks out for her land-lubbing followers through a priestess and crafted an absorbing fantasy-thriller…
El Conde
In this new dark satire from Pablo Larraín (Spencer, Neruda), Chilean general and dictator August Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) is a vampire. It's not a stretch. He did suck the country…
Cassandro
I've been a fan of Gael Garcia Bernal (Y tu mamá también, "Mozart in the Jungle", No) for a very long time. I love that he tackles such a wide…
Between Two Worlds
Juliette Binoche stars in this French drama in what initially seems like an uncharacteristic role for her. Marianne is a down on her luck woman looking for a menial job…
The Owners (Vlastnici)
This Czech comedy written and directed by Jiří Havelka is based on his award winning play, The Society of Owners. Produced in 2019, it is just now making its way…
Men of Deeds
A couple of years ago, I saw a very funny little film from Romania called Two Lottery Tickets that takes place in a little backwater inhabited by odd characters. That film's…
Amanda
Amanda (Benedetta Porcaroli) is 25. She has no friends and doesn't really have much of a life. She lives alone in a tiny, dingy room. Refuses to work in the…
Joy Ride
This gal pal comedy is at its heart a sweet story about identity and friendship. But boy is it wrapped in raunch! Adele Lim's (Oscar nominee for co-writing Crazy Rich…
L’immensità
Set in 1970s Rome, L'immensità is a semi-autobiographical look at one summer in director Emanuele Crialese's youth. In the film, the eldest child in the family is a teenage Adri…
The Future
Set in the not too distant future in Israel, which doesn't feel all that different from right now, The Future is the story of two women, Dr. Nurit Bloch (Reymonde…
On the Edge (Entre La Vie et La Mort)
A body falls onto the tracks in front of a Brussels subway driver as he pulls into the station. It's every subway driver's nightmare, but this time it is his…
The Worst Ones (Les pires)
Set in Picasso, a gritty, working class town in the north of France, The Worst Ones is a film-within-a-film. Belgian director Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh) comes to the town to shoot…