film reviews
Explore a range of experiences, from Hollywood blockbusters to art films and indie gems. We offer thoughtful insights, in-depth analysis, and curated suggestions to help you discover both new favorites and enduring timeless classics.
Review by Aaron Jones | Dec 14, 2024
A young woman, Janice, is living with her conservative, working-class parents, who become concerned at her rebellious behaviour, and are shocked when she becomes pregnant. At a time when pregnancy when unmarried was widely considered shameful, they insist she has an abortion, but this has terrible emotional and mental effects on her. The film won FIPRESCI Prize at Berlin International Film Festival.
Review by James Carneiro | Dec 07, 2024
Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled. It premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or. Anora was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by both the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.
Review by Aaron Jones | Nov 29, 2024
A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader. Kinds of Kindness had its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where Plemons won the Best Actor award.
Review by Aaron Jones | Nov 18, 2024
The pain of growing up, as seen by three Turkish youths: Ömer, the son of the local imam, who wishes the death of his father; his best friend, Yakup, who's enamored with the village schoolteacher; and Yildiz, who is forced to balance her studies with the needs of her demanding mother. It won the Best Turkish Film of the Year Award at the Istanbul Film Festival.
Review by Aaron Jones | Nov 06, 2024
Anais is thirty and broke. She has a lover, but she’s not sure she loves him anymore. She meets Daniel, who immediately falls for her. But Daniel lives with Emilie – whom Anais also falls for. This is the story of a restless young woman, and the story of a profound desire. The film was shown in the Critics' Week section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
Review by Aaron Jones | Oct 20, 2024
A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself. The Substance was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere, where it received a standing ovation. The film is the latest addition to the New French Extremity movement.
Review by Aaron Jones | Oct 08, 2024
Following the gorgeous, seemingly liberated Adriana as she chases her dreams in the Rome, I Knew Her Well is at once a delightful immersion in the popular music and style of Italy in the sixties and a biting critique of its sexual politics and the culture of celebrity. In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."
Review by Aaron Jones | Sep 24, 2024
An American travels to Bhutan searching for a valuable antique rifle and crosses paths with a young monk who wanders through the serene mountains, instructed by his teacher to make things right again. It was selected as the Bhutanese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, and was one of the 15 finalist films in the shortlist.
Review by Aaron Jones | Sep 11, 2024
In an English boys’ boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all. The film was the subject of controversy at the time of its release, receiving an X certificate for its depictions of violence.
Review by Aaron Jones | Aug 29, 2024
Following the everyday lives of a group of young theater performers from rural Fenyang, spanning the late 70s to the early 90s in the aftermath of China's Cultural Revolution, the film explores the country's rebuilding and transition. Platform has garnered wide acclaim from critics in the years since its release, and is often named one of the greatest films of the 2000s.