Many of the shorts that are later expanded into a feature film seem to have been designed backwards for this specific purpose: an eye-catching flavor of what is clearly intended to be a larger work, though perhaps not quite as satisfying as a mini-film. Bogdan Muricanu’s critically acclaimed 2018 short film A Christmas Present — … Read more
In his first feature film, Belgian director Michel Blanchardt takes a simple, familiar action movie setting and gives it his own spin by adding relevant social commentary. In Night Call, Maddy (Jonathan Veltri), a young locksmith, spends a violent and eventful evening in Brussels. He tangles with sinister characters, makes influential friendships, and runs against … Read more
In a small way, the small-budget British independent film “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” lured audiences back to theaters two years ago. The concept of Bad Taste and the trailer have generated viral appeal for a guilty pleasure. Then Fathom Events’ theatrical window was so short, there was no chance for word of mouth to spoil … Read more
The slow-motion shots in “Every Little Thing” of hummingbirds captured in flight, beaked deep in a flowering bud, or hovering at 50 beats per second, evoke awe. Director Sally Aitken’s nature documentary comes as a balm in a painful season of uplift. Since 2008, hummingbird sage Terry Masser has run a hotline, answering calls from … Read more
As a movie star, Gerard Butler owns January like Will Smith owns Memorial Day and the Meg movies own August. That Butler’s B-grade thrillers now dominate frozen oblivion at the box office in the first weeks of the year may seem like a Pyrrhic victory, but at least he’s king. Something. And Butler’s gruff, beady-eyed, … Read more
It takes a while on “a beautiful evening, a beautiful day” to reach Baren Island, a notorious penal colony in the former Yugoslavia, where no cells were needed and armed guards counted on the sea to keep the prisoners in line. However, a prison without bars reveals itself early in writer-director Ivona Jukka’s stark and … Read more
In his second theatrical feature, Mehran Modiri, one of Iran’s most beloved satirical TV comedians, turns his hand to the thriller genre, with mixed results. He writes, directs and performs in the intense and increasingly contrived social issues thriller “6 AM,” in which a small incident escalates into a major tragedy. Although this independent feature … Read more
Arguably one of the most insufferable characters in literature is the main character in Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther – a martyr of unrequited love who ultimately commits suicide. The author quickly distanced himself from this early work, despite the fame it brought him. There is no doubt that this is … 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
An entertaining wedding switcheroo, “Laapataa Ladies” (or “Lost Ladies” in some areas) makes effective use of Bollywood’s broad social messaging. This style of storytelling can be clunky in order to draw in audiences, but director Kiran Rao deftly combines the literal and the symbolic, resulting in the audience being filled – for better or worse … Read more