Regarding European cinema, there are few contemporary filmmakers that interest me as much as Pedro Costa, the great Portuguese filmmaker who has a reputation for meaningful, complex films that show a different side of his country. Not only do I feel a patriotic connection to him based on our shared cultural background, I consider him…

The coming-of-age story is certainly not one that is lacking in terms of literature, particularly cinema. There are few stories quite as resonant as those about growing up, due to the fact that most of us, regardless of our upbringings, can relate to the insecurity, uncertainty, and anxiety of getting older. These kinds of stories…

Over the course of a very prolific career, Steven Soderbergh has made a remarkably diverse set of films, ranging in genre and subject matter, bounding from convention to convention in a filmography that many filmmakers cannot attest to. Personally, I have a contentious relationship with Soderbergh, insofar as I oscillate between considering a true genius…

I’ve recently decided to broaden my horizons slightly and move out of my comfort zone (even if, based on my diverse taste in a wide-range of genres, I don’t have a well-defined comfort zone). One of my resolutions was to explore some unheralded cinema, such as films made in Africa, which have remained shockingly under-represented…

Recently, in celebration of his victory of winning the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, I chose to watch a film by Hirokazu Kore-eda, a filmmaker I have been very aware of but had not had the opportunity to explore for myself yet. The film I opted to watch was Still Walking (Japanese:…

In a contemporary independent cinematic landscape, there are few filmmakers as consistently reliable as Kelly Reichardt, who has gone relatively underpraised throughout her career, despite the fact that she has made some astonishing films that push the boundary of independent storytelling. Films such as Meek’s Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy are exceptional examples of minimalist…

I may be able to understand the secrets of the universe, but… I’ll never understand the truth about you. Never. These haunting lines, spoken by Marlon Brando, ring out like a cacophony of unconventional truthfulness in Last Tango in Paris, a film that left me almost entirely speechless, unable to articulate my thoughts precisely (this…

I’m a connoisseur of roads. I’ve been tasting roads my whole life. This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world” These are the haunting final words of My Own Private Idaho, spoken by the tragic protagonist of the film, Mike Waters (River Phoenix). My Own Private Idaho is a film about…

There are few names that have evoked the concept of “revolutionary auteur” quite like Michael Haneke – throughout his career, Haneke has pushed the boundaries of cinema, making audacious and often extremely shocking films about the human condition, showing the smallest nuances of society and the problems that individuals face within harsh socio-political and economic…

Sometimes the most cathartic way of representing tragedy is through artistic expression, and very few events have inspired people from across the world to express their sorrow and pity quite as much as the Holocaust. For over half a century now, artists have produced novels, non-fiction works, artworks and films to try and convey the…