SUNDANCE22 REVIEW: Master [2022]

You can’t get away from it. There’s a great comical interlude about halfway through Mariama Diallo‘s feature debut Master wherein a practically all-white New England university puts together an advertisement for a newly formed “alliance for inclusion.” In it are the only two Black teachers at the school and two or three POC students that we’ve never seen until that moment. They talk about the initiative as if it’s some grand idea that will stop racism in its tracks despite a literal cross burning occurring mere days earlier. They talk…

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REVIEW: Jinn [2018]

I don’t know what it means to be a believer. Religion is sacrifice. I don’t think there’s another way to truly describe what it means to give yourself to faith so completely that you’ll allow it to control your life. It’s always fascinated me that so many ascribe to a God in this way. Whether it’s tithing, hijabs, prayer, diet, etc., worshippers grab hold of the comfort and community religion provides and willingly change (or ensure not to change depending on when their faith was chosen) to earn its sense…

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