Shadowplay (Bebjak, 2022)
Prison is a kind of boxing ring, Michal opines to Jan (Milan Ondrík). All life is a boxing ring. That sort of tell-don’t-show writing doesn’t necessarily disqualify a film from… Continue reading "Shadowplay (Bebjak, 2022)"
Prison is a kind of boxing ring, Michal opines to Jan (Milan Ondrík). All life is a boxing ring. That sort of tell-don’t-show writing doesn’t necessarily disqualify a film from… Continue reading "Shadowplay (Bebjak, 2022)"
My film year was sandwiched by a pair of disappointments. It was marked on the front end by the release of The Batman, a reboot of a beloved character that… Continue reading "Living (Hermanus, 2022)"
Movies about strangers that insinuate themselves into domestic spaces are numerous and have been approached in many ways. The situation has been played for humor (The Man Who Came to… Continue reading "The Man in the Basement (Le Guay, 2021)"
There is a stage-setting scene at the beginning of Kitchen Brigade in which sous chef Cathy Marie (Audrey Lamy) clashes with her celebrity chef boss about what seasoning will elevate… Continue reading "Kitchen Brigade (Petit, 2023)"
Episode 8 of Paris Police 1900 provides viewers that survived the tumult of season 1 with some interesting resolutions to many of the show’s enduring conflicts. The episode also ties… Continue reading "Paris Police 1900 (S1, E8)"
Borrowed is one of those gay films that avoids using the word “gay” too frequently in its press materials but which announces its orientation pretty clearly in its opening scenes.… Continue reading "Borrowed (Betancourt and Ortega, 2022)"
Food and Romance tackles some weighty themes, and it is to be commended for sidestepping some of the most clichéd plot points of the genre. But it is ultimately too… Continue reading "Food and Romance (Appelin, 2022)"
I once wrote an essay (since turned into a chapter in Inconspicuously Christian Film Criticism) asking whether Christian films were judged by a double standard.. I thought about that essay… Continue reading "The Sound of Violet (Wolf, 2022)"
The documentary, the directorial debut of Kirk E. Kelleykahn, might sound from the title as though it is exclusively focused on a crusade to get Juanita Moore a star on… Continue reading "A Star without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story (Kelleykahn, 2022)"
As The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry drew to a close, I found myself pleased with it. While the film was familiar with its eccentric characters and self-conscious literary references,… Continue reading "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (Canosa, 2022)"