‘Wolfram’ Review: Warwick Thornton Deftly Reframes Painful Indigenous Australian Experience Through the Lens of Classic Western Archetypes

‘Wolfram’ Review: Warwick Thornton Deftly Reframes Painful Indigenous Australian Experience Through the Lens of Classic Western Archetypes

An experienced cinematographer before he turned to directing, Warwick Thornton has a feel for the Central Australian desert and the craggy MacDonnell Ranges that’s both epic and intimate. His refined sense of composition is directly informed by the landscape around Alice Springs where he grew up and his subcutaneous connection to it imbues his films…

Read More
‘Salvation’ Review: Mystical Visions, Folkloric Superstitions and Political Alarmism Combine to Unsettling Effect in Anatomy of a Massacre

‘Salvation’ Review: Mystical Visions, Folkloric Superstitions and Political Alarmism Combine to Unsettling Effect in Anatomy of a Massacre

The title of Turkish writer-director Emin Alper’s Salvation (Kurtuluş) carries a bitter sting, pointing up how a perceived enemy threat can be manipulated to seed survivalist panic that escalates into genocide. Salvation for one side means elimination of the other, and establishing which is the righteous side can be entirely subjective, especially when the aggrieved…

Read More
‘Moscas (Flies)’ Review: Mexican Director Fernando Eimbcke Returns to His Roots With Simple, Sweet, Emotionally Resonant B&W Charmer

‘Moscas (Flies)’ Review: Mexican Director Fernando Eimbcke Returns to His Roots With Simple, Sweet, Emotionally Resonant B&W Charmer

Fernando Eimbcke’s fifth feature, Moscas (Flies), opens with a loose string of vignettes. Teresita Sánchez —  a 2022 Sundance Special Jury Prize winner for Dos Estaciones, also known for her roles in Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid and Tótem — plays Olga, a weary-looking middle-aged woman who wakes up to the insistent buzzing of one of…

Read More
‘The River Train’ Directors on Their Contemplative Argentinian Coming-of-Age Tale (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)

‘The River Train’ Directors on Their Contemplative Argentinian Coming-of-Age Tale (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)

Get ready to watch some Malambo dancing and to board The River Train (El Tren Fluvial) for a trip from the Argentinian countryside to Buenos Aires, on which you will encounter references to the country’s cinematic history! A visceral and mesmerizing coming-of-age tale awaits you. The River Train, celebrating its world premiere on Monday, Feb….

Read More
‘Yellow Letters’ Review: ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ Director Delivers a Modern-Day Political Parable That’s Strongly Acted but Hampered by Vagueness

‘Yellow Letters’ Review: ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ Director Delivers a Modern-Day Political Parable That’s Strongly Acted but Hampered by Vagueness

For his follow-up to the tense and claustrophobic German middle school drama, The Teachers’ Lounge, director Ilker Çatak has attempted something both more ambitious and more mystifying: a tale of authoritarian oppression, artistic strife and family conflict that’s set in contemporary Turkey but was shot entirely in Germany, with no attempts to hide the fact…

Read More