White cherry blossoms bloom from the sky as a tragedy is about to change the course of a religious fishing community on the shores of Lake Peipsi, the body of water that separates Estonia from Russia. As relatively familiar as this description might sound, “8 Views of Lake Biwa” by writer-director Marko Rath is more … Read more
December 25, 2024, 8:53 a.m. ET Oscar will return to former club São Paulo. Xiao Tao/VCG via Getty Images Oscar will return to his former club São Paulo on a three-year contract, the Brazilian Serie A club announced on Tuesday. Ancient Chelsea midfielder Oscar, who played 48 matches BrazilThe Shanghai national team between 2011 and … Read more
There’s a haunting quality to Ecuadorian Oscar-nominated “Behind the Mist,” director Sebastian Cordero’s intimate documentary about the climb of Mount Everest. On the one hand, Cordero’s twinning of mountaineering and filmmaking reveals the spiritual similarities between both pursuits. On the other hand, his visual texture reveals hidden layers through a lo-fi aesthetic – one that … Read more
With its long, static shots of domestic life, “Family Time” resembles the “Paranormal Activity” of deranged vacation movies: There’s a sense of spying on people who don’t realize they’re under a microscope. Of course, Tia Kovu’s debut feature film was professionally written, directed and acted. But her style is so simple, you can sometimes forget … Read more
A film director burns his lamination for warmth. A teacher works to feed his students. A stand-up comedian arrives at the party to find the place bombed. In From Ground Zero, Palestine’s entry for the Academy Awards’ Feature Film category, 22 directors present cinematic memoirs from Gaza, shot between (and sometimes during) Israeli army raids … Read more
In Bangladesh, sports Polly horses – or the game of wrestling – is a methodical and precise affair, a tone that Iqbal Chaudhry reinvented in his first film, “The Wrestler.” Stretching the line between observational and indirect, the film seems designed to dazzle and frustrate in equal measure, gesturing toward masculine boundaries in an often … Read more
One of the darkest chapters in South Korean history is chronicled in “12.12: Today,” a dramatic account of the 1979 coup that followed the assassination of authoritarian President Park Chung-hee on October 26. Meticulously written and extremely well performed by a first-rate cast including Hwang Jung-min (“Deliver Us from Evil”), director and co-writer Kim Sung-soo’s … Read more
In Rusudan Glogidze’s winter sophomore film “Vintage,” the title could refer to any number of withered relics: the beautiful, richly antique pieces of furniture that Georgian émigré Medea (Salome Demoria) illegally imports from her home country to Russia to sell; The once large but disintegrating apartment in St. Petersburg that she bought at a discount … Read more
The family is a delicate and often fragile ecosystem. Some can withstand strong winds, while others collapse under the slightest breeze. In Babak Khacepaşa’s In the Arms of the Tree, a couple who have been together for more than a decade must grapple with what their decision to divorce will do, not only to their … Read more
The Thai blockbuster How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is an emotional comedy-drama that blends filial piety and greedy schemes to a multi-faceted conclusion. Filled with family complications, the film revolves around a sluggish young adult who leaves his not-so-prosperous toy-picking career to care for his terminally ill grandmother. The smoothly crafted and leisurely … Read more