Frankie (Isabelle Huppert) is a world-renowned actress, known by audiences for her film and television work that have made her a beloved cultural icon. However, what her admirers don’t know is that Frankie is dying – she has been diagnosed with cancer and is in the last stages of her life. As a response to…
A Hidden Life (2019)
Terrence Malick is a director who knows exactly what he wants to do and has always made sure to get it done his way, regardless of how audiences reacted. His career has been truly enigmatic – his breaks between films can either be decades or a matter of months, without any middle-ground. He has also…
Before You Know It (2019)
Rachel (Hannah Pearl Utt) and Jackie (Jen Tullock) are a pair of sisters living in New York. Their father is Mel Gurner (Mandy Patinkin), an acclaimed actor and playwright who has unfortunately reached a creative impasse with his latest work, and despite being regarded as quite a genius, his audience (or what remains of it),…
Dying to Survive (2020)
There are some films that despite being remarkable pieces on their own, never quite achieve the worldwide recognition they deserve, especially when it comes to foreign films being appreciated by English-speaking audiences. One such film is Dying to Survive (Mandarin: 我不是藥神), the incredible true-life dark comedy directed by Wen Muye, who takes on a story…
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
One of my great blindspots in cinema has always been The Talented Mr. Ripley, a film that has always lurked omnipotent as something I knew I’d get around to eventually, but never felt much urgency to watch, as so much has been said about this film, despite the praise compounding with every passing review or…
Spider Baby (1968)
Bruno (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is the mild-mannered chauffeur and caretaker for the Merrye family, who live in a large mansion in the countryside. He’s dedicated his entire life to serving the family, which has recently entailed being the guardian of the three Merrye children, Virginia (Jill Banner), Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn) and Ralph (Sid Haig), who…
Bombshell (2019)
When it comes to timely topics, films tend to either be profusely inappropriate, having very little tact as they approach contemporary issues without any filter, or innocuous social dramas that avoid any in-depth discussion, hoping that a surface-level summary that somewhat softens the situation at hand will be enough. Bombshell is a film that classifies…
Tone-Deaf (2019)
Olive (Amanda Crew) has just been fired from her job, which comes almost simultaneously to the end of her most recent relationship, and in response to the crushing pressure of her modern millennial life, decides to pack up and leave, going on a solitary weekend excursion into the countryside, where she rents the house of…
Little Joe (2019)
In a near-future, the overlap between technology and biology have developed so much that the genetic composition of plants can be manipulated to the point where they can be used to do nearly everything. This has been the latest project of Alice (Emily Beecham) and Chris (Ben Whishaw), a pair of scientists working for an…
Nevia (2020)
Right from the start, I’ll mention how Nevia is one of the most astonishing pieces of contemporary filmmaking I’ve seen in quite a while – there have been many works that took a daring approach to representing existence over the course of the past few months, but not many of them were as effective as…
The Postmodern Pelican 