When watching “Nawi,” two things quickly become clear. First, a great lead performance carries the film. Michelle Lemuya Ekene plays the eponymous character, a 13-year-old girl who longs to go to high school but instead must confront the patriarchal traditions of her community. She is to be married off in exchange for a large dowry … Read more
It’s a daunting task to direct Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animation legend behind The Boy and the Heron and much more. However, the Pakistani production of The Glassworker goes beyond simply imitating Miyazaki’s signature style. It gets to the heart of the anti-war sentiment that underlies much of his work — and the work of … Read more
History, when told well, is a muddy and confusing thing. There are no elegant narratives or happy endings. Philip Sotnychenko’s “La Palisiada” takes this truism and twists it into a suitably complex form: this 1996 film noir chronicles a pivotal moment in Ukrainian history by focusing on the investigation of a murder. But as it … Read more