Long before Peter Jackson screened The Lord of the Rings, audiences got a glimpse into the fantasy world of J. R. R. Tolkien through a trio of late-1970s animation projects: two Rankin/Bass animated television specials (of which no “The Hobbit” (still a fairly popular film) is a dark and ominous big picture directed by Ralph … Read more
Looking back seems to offer insight into the future in “The Hungarian Tailor,” Iveta Gruvova’s compelling adaptation of Peter Krzystovec’s novella “Emma and the Death’s Head” set in Slovakia during World War II. At that time, local residents had to navigate uncharted territory of authoritarianism, when the far-right Slovak People’s Party came to power (…)
With Lake George, Jeffrey Reiner makes his first independent film as a writer and director since the 1990s, after a quarter century of directing small-screen projects. The director cited formative viewing of classic film noir on television as an inspiration, but this twisted tale feels more like the late Ross Macdonald’s melancholic fairy tales – … Read more
The plague of missing and murdered indigenous women, long ignored and underappreciated across North America, has become more widely recognized in recent years, thanks to the depiction of awareness in everything from episodic television shows to feature films to award-winning documentaries. Awards. But rarely has barbarism been shown so brutally and poignantly as in “Missing … Read more
I’m perfectly capable of enjoying the Lindsay Lohan Netflix rom-com. Last year, I liked the song “Irish Wish” and had a remix because of it. (I’m on the side of affection.) But “Our Little Secret,” Lohan’s new Christmas romantic comedy, is crumpled tinsel of a different order. I’m inclined to say it achieves the complete … 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
I’m perfectly capable of enjoying the Lindsay Lohan Netflix rom-com. Last year, I liked the song “Irish Wish” and had a remix because of it. (I’m on the side of affection.) But “Our Little Secret,” Lohan’s new Christmas romantic comedy, is crumpled tinsel of a different order. I’m inclined to say it achieves the complete … 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
On a busy shopping street in Belfast, in broad daylight, director Mairead Cartin noticed a woman reclining on a sidewalk bench, her head hidden by a gray hood, her right hand clutching a bottle of red wine. Pedestrians walk by, either ignoring the hunched figure or giving her a fleeting look of concern before continuing … Read more
Initially a magazine short story, then expanded into novel form in 1972, Barbara Robinson’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” has remained a holiday staple ever since. Its delightful central conceit of Roald Dahl-style comic ugliness – the first sentence pegs the main characters as “the worst children ever to have ever lived in the history … Read more