The contributions Charles Chaplin made to cinema can never be underestimated – whether in his early days as one of the most prominent stars of the early Hollywood era, to his later years as an established filmmaker in his own right, Chaplin’s work was always impeccable and made by someone who had a genuine fondness…
Clerks III (2022)
When looking at the new wave of independent films made by young American directors that started in the 1990s, we tend to gravitate towards the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson as the most pertinent examples of the rambunctious talents that traded audacity for the chance to make films inspired by their own…
Sambizanga (1972)
History was made with the creation of Sambizanga – not only was this one of the pioneering works by a female director working on the African continent, but it was the very first feature film produced by a Lusophone country in Africa, being a shared production between Cape Verde and Angola, the latter being the…
Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)
There is something very magical about seeing a work in progress, especially when it is an interpretation of a play by one of the most celebrated writers of any generation. If we’re not able to witness it firsthand, whatever material remains is often good enough in giving us insights into what made this such a…
Emily the Criminal (2022)
Crime doesn’t pay, but it does help with the bills from time to time. This is the general foundation on which Emily the Criminal is built, which serves to establish this as one of the most unexpectedly fascinating films of the past year. Written and directed by John Patton Ford in his directorial debut, the…
Stroszek (1977)
America – the land of the free, home of the brave, and the country of seemingly endless opportunities. For about as long as the United States of America has been an entity, there have been people from all around the world that have flocked to the nation, seeing it as a safe haven in which…
House of the Long Shadows (1983)
Horror is a genre that has taken countless shapes over the course of its existence, to the point where even just referring to the genre as a whole feels too broad, since it has developed so many offshoots and deviated in several different directions that are impossible to contain within a single category. There is…
Catherine Called Birdy (2022)
There isn’t a clear set of criteria with which we can judge a filmmaker and determine whether they are objectively good at their chosen vocation, since there are too many variables to consider before we even start constructing such a rubric. However, there are certain qualities that every filmmaker, regardless of background or style, needs…
Out of the Past (1947)
Memory is a tricky concept – the events of the past tend to take on more grotesque shapes when it comes to being relayed, especially as time has gone on and we start to subconsciously fashion them to be reminiscent of our own idealistic agenda. For a film that spends roughly half of its already…
The Music Man (1962)
The Music Man was made at a time when we still had films that felt like genuine events. Not to disparage the modern state of the industry (which is still producing films of an exceptional quality regularly), but we’ve gone past the point where standalone films could be considered major moments in cultural history. Much…
The Postmodern Pelican 