Review: The Farewell
In this bittersweet dramedy based on a real story from the writer/director's own family, Billi (Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians) a struggling New York writer discovers that her Grandma (Zhou Shuzhen)…
Review: One Child Nation
Nanfu Wang has made a couple of my favorite documentaries of the past few years. Hooligan Sparrow followed a Chinese women's rights activist's journey and put both the subject and…
Quickie Review: The Third Wife
Set in a remote compound in 19th century Viet Nam, The Third Wife is a beautifully shot story of a young girl's journey from childhood to marriage to motherhood. It…
Quickie Review: Pasolini
Italian poet, philosopher and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini loved nothing more than to push the envelope, to scandalize, to shock the senses. So it's only fitting that Abel Ferrara (Bad…
Review: Non-fiction (aka Doubles vies)
After seeing Non-fiction, I found IMDB's description of it to be kind of bizarre: Set in the Parisian publishing world, an editor and an author find themselves in over their…
Quickie Review: Working Woman
This Israeli #MeToo drama centers on Orna (Liron Ben-Shlush) whose husband's new Tel Aviv restaurant is struggling to get off the ground, so she takes a job with real estate…
Review: The White Crow
“White crow," as the film informs us early on, is a term used to describe a person who is unusual, extraordinary, not like others, an outsider. A Rudolph Nureyev. For…
Review: Dogman
Bullies need enablers and Dogman is all about one such relationship. At the center is Marcello (Marcello Fonte), a diminutive and timid dog groomer, who lives for his time with…
Quickie Review: Girls of the Sun
In our #Girlpower era, a film about battalion of Kurdish women fighting ISIS in North Kurdistan should be a slam dunk. But somewhere between idea and execution Girls of the…
Quickie Review: Ramen Shop (Ramen Teh)
Following in the tradition of a spate of recent foodie flicks, Ramen Shop wraps a slight story in a culinary journey and has you drooling and wishing the film would…
Quickie Reviews: Gloria Bell; Yardie
What’s with all the remakes of decent if not exceptional foreign films lately? In recent months, we’ve seen Americanized versions of the 2011 feel-good French film The Intouchables (remade as…
Review: The Invisibles
There are plenty of films about the Jews who lost their lives to the Nazis, but this is the first I've seen about those who hid in plain sight in…
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Quick Takes: Never Look Away; Transit; Woman at War
With Arty Chick off to parts unknown to direct a documentary, it’s possible her reviews will be fewer and farther between for a while. So I will try and highlight…
Review: Styx
Styx is the story of intrepid German ER doctor Rike who's on a solo sea voyage when she's suddenly sucked into a life or death situation. What begins as a…
Review: I Am Not a Witch
In this odd little satirical film from Zambian-born director Rungano Nyoni, 8-year-old Shula (Maggie Mulubwa) is branded a witch and sent away to the camp where all the other witches…