The musician biopic is such a distinctive and strange genre of American film, one so formulaic that it by-and-large may as well be the one film. It simply shifts race, class, and gender from one release to the next. Each … Continue reading REVIEW: Respect (2021)
A boy named Sen (Wu Zhi-Xuan) struggles to cope with the recent death of his older brother. While his mother works each night at a local convenience store, Sen rides his bike around their suburb. He does homework in a … Continue reading REVIEW: Sen Sen (2017)
In a moment of rage, a man destroys his entire life. Now destitute with three children to care for, he struggles to make ends meet in this Taiwanese melodrama from director Hsin Chi. And what a melodrama it is. There … Continue reading REVIEW: The Rice Dumpling Vendors (1969)
Despite being a feature debut for both its director and star, Zhang Yimou’s Red Sorghum is both an excellent, award-winning drama and a landmark in Chinese film history. China was one of the earliest nations to embrace cinema, thanks to a visit … Continue reading REVIEW: Red Sorghum (1987)
There is a perilously fine line in most arthouse-oriented pictures between generating eye-opening epiphanies and inviting eye-rolling groans. What is worse, it is a line that is not only narrow but largely invisible. What works for one viewer does not … Continue reading REVIEW: The Falling (2014)
We can argue the relative merits of adapting true events into fictional entertainment forever, and it is unlikely that we would ever reach a consensus. When we argue over adaptations of true events that involve death, tragedy, and murder, the … Continue reading REVIEW: Nitram (2021)
Nobody really talks about children’s films. In fact, I would go so far as to claim it is the most misunderstood and under-appreciated form of popular cinema that there is. For one thing, it is difficult to persuade an adult … Continue reading REVIEW: Waiting for Anya (2020)
Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer who, between 1978 and his arrest in 1991, raped, murdered and dismembered at least seventeen young men. He is now the protagonist of a dramatic feature film, My Friend Dahmer, directed by Marc Meyers … Continue reading REVIEW: My Friend Dahmer (2017)
Bonnie (Stephanie Beatriz) is a successful New York architect who lives with her boyfriend Matt (Michael Stahl-David) in an upscale Bushwick apartment. One night she is sexually assaulted just three blocks from her home. Over the following four weeks she … Continue reading REVIEW: The Light of the Moon (2017)
There was a time when the late writer-director John Hughes was widely praised as the voice of American youth, thanks to a string of popular teen comedies and dramas. That reputation has dimmed somewhat over the past decade or so, … Continue reading REVIEW: Pretty in Pink (1986)
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