drama
Haifaa al-Mansour’s Mary Shelley, helped along greatly by Elle Fanning’s powerful performance, will summon up all of one’s righteous feminist anger and make one appreciate the accomplishments of Mary and those like her all the more.
Lacking emotional honesty, Disobedience from director Sebastián Lelio fails to create believable, organic tension between its characters and translate an understanding of the films primary cultural focus and subject matter.
Obey is a compelling watch anchored by visceral, emotional performances by Rutherford and Miller, and a well-crafted script by Jones.
Compared to other teen classics that have covered the same ground before, The Kissing Booth comes across as amateurish – and a tiny bit problematic.
Orbiter 9 recalls independently minded sci-fi films such as Sunshine and Moon – but lives in the shadow of its very obvious inspirations.
With a severe lack of thrills and a shortchanged main character, Breaking In fails in nearly every regard.
Inspired by Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Terminal is visually and thematically strong, despite its over-simple script and occasional over-acting – all in all a promising directorial debut for Vaughn Stein.
Beast is a gritty psychological-mystery with a brilliantly dark, pulsating and atmospheric heart, with an exceptional lead performance from Jessie Buckley. Michael Pearce delivers a brilliantly assured and confident feature-length directorial debut.
Kristy Strouse reviews her final batch of films from Tribeca Film Festival, including Zoe, In a Relationship, and Woman Walks Ahead.
Hagar Ben-Asher’s Dead Women Walking creates the opportunity for conversation and examination while humanizing those individuals that society has locked away without a further care or thought of.
The Seagull is a gorgeous adaptation of one of the world’s most beloved plays. The characters are not always likable, but what the film has to say about love, art, fame, and other human desires remain powerful even in the age of Internet celebrity.
Asghar Farhadi’s Everbody Knows is a melodrama that takes itself too seriously – one that pulls in each and every direction to try and find some thematic footing, and ends up not saying too much about anything.
Despite Baker’s adept directional skills, and solid performances from the whole cast, Breath feels inconsequential, and the sombre visual and thematic tone feels like every other Australian social realist drama.
Director Claire Denis is choosing a more diverse range of film projects than any other time in her career – and it’s best exemplified by Let the Sunshine in, a romcom that subverts genre expectations on the hunt for true love.
David Fontana discusses four films directed by women that show transitional periods of life, from an adolescent teen to an immigrant mother attempting to make it in America.