International Reviews
SHARDLAKE Review: Secrets and Fears in Not So Merry Old England
Arthur Hughes, Anthony Boyle, and Sean Bean star in the murder-mystery series, set in England's Tudor Era, premiering Wednesday, May 1, on Hulu, Star+, and Disney+.
Calgary Underground 2024 Review: CUCKOO, Delightfully Analog Sensory Overload
Two characters, having barely survived a traumatic and violent ordeal at a hospital, try to leave, only to find the doors locked. But wait, it is one of those situations where one door is locked but the other one works...
Udine 2024 Review: THEIR LAST LOVE AFFAIR, Lee Myung-se's Daring and Dazzling Tale of Illicit Romance
This year's Far East Film Festival is screening a large number of South Korean classics, including a full program dedicated to the country's fascinating 1950s output, such as Park Nam-ok's progressive drama The Widow, the first Korean film ever directed...
Udine 2024 Review: 12.12: THE DAY, Riveting Drama Brings Dark Episode of Korean History Into the Light
One of the final dark closets of modern Korean history gets thrown wide open in Kim Sung-soo's riveting historical drama 12.12: The Day. The film dramatises the coup d'état that took place in the wake of the assassination of President...
Udine 2024 Review: THE ROUNDUP: PUNISHMENT Wins One More Round in a Franchise Clinging to the Ropes
It’s Beast Cop vs Bitcoin in the fourth instalment of Ma Dong-seok’s enduringly popular Roundup action franchise, as his hulking detective goes toe-to-toe with a tech-savvy crime syndicate looking to expand into crypto. Helmed by action director Heo Myeong-haeng, Ma’s...
Udine 2024 Review: CITIZEN OF A KIND, A New Kind of Hero Rises in Delightful Female-Centric Vigilante Drama
If its films and dramas are to be believed, South Korea is a land teeming with vigilantes. They are typically brooding, sharply dressed and very attractive characters with dark pasts who mete out justice with brute strength or elaborate schemes,...
Now Streaming: CITY HUNTER, Lighthearted Fanservice Adventure, Swamped By Blood
Ryohei Suzuki and Misato Morita star in the Netflix Original film, based on Tsukasa Hojo's manga series.
THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED Review: Comedic Discomfort in Millenial Ennui
While ennui and angst are common to many generations, I can imagine it could be much more accute among millenials - anything that might have been considered a 'normal' life gave up the ghost before they came of age. They're...
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DANCING VILLAGE: THE CURSE BEGINS Review: A Spooky Supernatural Chiller
After Mila’s mother falls deathly ill, a shaman tells her she must return a bracelet to the “Dancing Village,” a remote community on the easternmost tip of Java Island. She travels to the island with her cousin, Yuda, and his...
THE KING TIDE Review: The Fable of a Miracle Gone Wrong
Living in a harsh landscape, somewhat apart and isolated, means you make certain choices about how much assistance you will receive, and how much protection you will offer your community. It also means that legends can grow up around people...
Fantaspoa 2024 Review: THE COMPLEX FORMS, How Classic Auteur Cinema Would Be If It Had More Monsters
Strange things are happening at an ancient villa in the literal middle of nowhere. A bunch of men are gathered here, all of them with a peculiar contract. A middle-aged man named Christian (David White) is in the process of...
Calgary Underground 2024 Review: HUMANE, The Family That Slays Together Stays Together
Apocalypses in Canadian cinema tend to occur in slow motion, and have a subversive touch of quiet absurdity. The two undisputed classics of the genre are Don McKellar’s Last Night, and Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool. Caitlin Cronenberg aims for that lofty...
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK 4K Review: Wow. Wow. Wow.
Peter Weir's magical mystery tour from 1975 looks like it was released today in the incredible-looking Criterion Collection 4K edition. This is why Australia is called "Oz."
THE COFFEE TABLE Review: Wallowing in Its Own Original Mess
New parents Jesus and Maria, still in the nesting phase after moving into a new apartment, need a new coffee table. Engaging with, or rather enduring, one of the oiliest, least competent, salesmen imaginable, it quickly becomes clear that the...
Fantaspoa 2024 Review: MASTERGAME (Mesterjátszma), Visually Compelling Thriller with Chess, Trains and Bathroom Fights
It’s November 1956, and Russian tanks have just invaded Budapest, crushing the revolution. A young couple, István (Gergely Váradi) and Márta (Varga-Járó Sára), rushes for the last train that can get them out of the country. When aboard, they are...
IN FLAMES Review: The Supernatural Meets Patriarchal Conditioning
The term 'gaslighting' is now quite ubiquitous, and one which still remains scoffed at by many (usually those who hold power). But if you're a member of a marginalized group, that gaslighting could come not just from one person, but...
Panic Fest 2024: Spanish Shorts APOTEMNOFILIA and FACIES Wow With Extreme Violence and Exciting Ideas
Panic Fest offers up another fantastic selection of shorts this year, but two in particular have stuck with me. Facies and Apotemnofilia both deliver shocking, stomach-churning moments of extreme violence that are memorable enough for the bodily reactions they elicit....
HOUSEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS (Domakinstvo za Pocetnici) Review: Nobody Is Ever Home Alone in Modern Family Dramedy
In a house somewhere at the outskirts of North Macedonia’s capital Skopje lives social worker Dora (Anamaria Marinca from 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) with her partner Sauda (Alina Serban from Gypsy Queen), Sauda’s two daughters, their gay friend...
ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH Review: The Power of Song Will Devour You
Folk horror is often associated with a particular location, or perhaps a physical object that can be held in hands, something concretely tangible. But, especially in an age when the folkiness of this horror, the true human darkness from which...
THE BEAST Review: Lovers Beset By a Sense of Doom
Léa Seydoux and George MacKay star in a film by director Bertrand Bonello.
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