REVIEW: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery [2022]

I gave you the truth. Even world-renowned private detectives like Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) get restless during lockdown. Just as Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out put some tongue-in-cheek gags a la Trumpism and the rise of fascism under the façade of politics, his sequel Glass Onion injects a bit of COVID pandemic fatigue in much the same way. Whereas that window dressing continued throughout the former via juxtaposing a Latina lead against her affluently entitled white employers, it ends here quite early so that the mystery itself can take center stage.…

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REVIEW: Nocebo [2022]

What isn’t in the mind? Christine’s (Eva Green) perfect life comes crashing down with a phone call on what should be the best day of her professional career. A children’s clothing fashion designer, her latest catwalk is proving an immense success once the buzzing pushes her into the next room to learn horrible news for which we can only hypothesize from the word “bodies.” Shock and horror wipe the smile from her face as she hangs up with a quietly distraught attempt to pretend none of it had happened. That’s…

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REVIEW: Holy Spider [2022]

Keep your eyes open. Saeed Hanaei’s (Mehdi Bajestani) compulsion has grown to uncontrollable levels. So, it’s only a matter of time before he’s caught—if Mashhad’s police want to catch him. That’s the question Tehran journalist Rahimi (Zar Amir-Ebrahimi) asks upon arriving at the holy city. Nine women (all prostitutes) had already been strangled to death and dumped in and around the same area with no leads or suspects to be found. Either the department is inept, the so-called “Spider Killer” is a genius, or the crimes aren’t something the public…

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REVIEW: Okul Tirasi [Brother’s Keeper] [2022]

If you sleep, so will the black trees. In a display of authoritarian punishment, the principal (Mahir Ipek) of the Turkish boarding school where Ferit Karahan‘s Okul Tirasi [Brother’s Keeper] is set seeks to remind the eleven-year-olds under his care that they should feel lucky to be there. They get a stellar education (while having the Kurdish beat out of those who come from the Kurdistan region). They get three square meals a day (consisting of a pitiful ladleful of three creamy liquids and half a bread loaf to dip).…

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REVIEW: Old Man [2022]

There’s all kinds of death and beauty out here. Some wounds don’t heal. Not with time. Not with a mythical lake of water with the power to mend all ailments. And while we can try to forget, the mind will always keep a little bit of the truth in reach to ensure the cause of the pain is never far away. It therefore makes sense that we would ultimately meet and leave Stephen Lang‘s character at the center of Old Man asleep on his bed with thumb in mouth like…

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REVIEW: Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon [2022]

Forget what you know. Everyone asks Mona Lisa Lee (Jeon Jong-seo) if she has any friends. It’s the first question that comes to mind when confronting a stranger who looks lost and out of sorts with their surroundings because you want to help them find a safe place and the care of people they can trust. Unfortunately, Mona Lisa can do nothing but shake her head “No” because she’s been locked in a juvenile care facility for a decade: catatonic and in a straitjacket due to “violent tendencies” upon arrival…

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REVIEW: To the Moon [2022]

You want to breathe from your gut. The word Dennis (writer/director Scott Friend) uses to describe his estranged brother Roger (Will Brill) is malevolent. That’s quite the adjective without context, but one that quickly seems to fit as more details begin to surface. There’s a medical book in their parents’ old home—which now belongs to them both equally—that Dennis’ wife Mia (Madeleine Morgenweck) finds defaced with a child’s drawings that make it seem Roger wasn’t happy to be getting a brother. Talk about where the elder sibling has been gleans…

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TIFF22 REVIEW: Autobiography [2023]

It can turn rage into blessing. General Purna (Arswendy Bening Swara) never had a son, so returning to his mansion to ready for a reelection campaign (the days of military dictatorship in Indonesia might be over, but the power structure surely isn’t) makes him grow sentimental at the sight of young Rakib (Kevin Ardilova). The boy is the youngest son of Amir (Rukman Rosadi)—a man Purna calls a “friend” despite their relationship truly being one of employer and employee. It’s been that way for three generations with Amir’s father serving…

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TIFF22 REVIEW: Alice, Darling [2022]

What are the chances? Everything you need to know about Alice’s (Anna Kendrick) state of mind concerning the abuse inflicted by her boyfriend Simon (Charlie Carrick) are the words, “It’s not like he hurts me.” We feel Sophie’s (Wunmi Mosaku) wince in our bones because “hurt” doesn’t only become noteworthy when wrought by a physical altercation. Alice is glued to her phone to ensure she doesn’t miss a call or text. She wakes up super early to apply make-up and style her hair to Simon’s preference. Parrots all the soundbites…

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TIFF22 REVIEW: Sanctuary [2023]

I am a person who wins. How well do you know your regular sex worker? How well do they know you? What Hal (Christopher Abbott) and Rebecca (Margaret Qualley) share may have begun as a source for fun, but it’s obviously evolved into something much deeper since. It’s akin to therapy now and they both know it to be true. The problem, however, lies in how they interpret what these sessions actually provide. Does Hal need Rebecca to come and validate his fetishized insecurities so he can achieve orgasmic release?…

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TIFF22 REVIEW: How to Blow Up a Pipeline [2023]

If the law will not punish you, then we will. Logan (Lukas Gage) meets Shawn (Marcus Scribner) holding a red covered book within a section of a bookstore that both men are trolling for likeminded individuals. Our assumption is that the color means he’s leafing through Andreas Malm‘s nonfiction How to Blow Up a Pipeline in which the author argues for sabotage as a legitimate form of climate activism while also criticizing the pacifism and fatalism that has otherwise dominated the conversation instead. It makes sense then why Logan smirks…

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