review
Art College 1994
The big dreams and endless philosophical meandering of an early 20s student.
2023
15 entries tagged 2023
review
Perfect Days
In Perfect Days, an aging restroom cleaner finds daily, fleeting moments of happiness through a mindful awareness of beauty in chance encounters and his temporal surroundings, yet can never truly hide a deep underlying sadness.
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Evil Does Not Exist
Starting of as a slow, contemplative exploration of a small, rural community faced with an ecological disruption at the hands of an ill-planned and predatory development project, Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist is tense, layered and never overexplains itself.
review
Monster
Monster, the newest film by one of Japan's finest contemporary directors, is, as always, another treat in the classic Kore-eda social drama style.
review
Poor Things
Fundamentally a Hero's Journey reimagination of Frankenstein, Poor Things explores themes of the human condition, patriarchy, and ideology through its subversion of the overplayed 'born sexy yesterday' power fantasy trope of oversexualized, childlike women.
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The Boy and The Heron
At times a whimsical adventure, The Boy and the Heron is fundamentally about dealing with grief, trauma and human agency.
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Napoleon and the Lamb Chops of Destiny
The only thing Napoleon has going for it is its indulgence in farcical iconoclasm; a very deliberate depiction of a near-mythological historical figure as a comically inept, less-than-human caricature.
review · TIFF
Full River Red
Zhang Yimou has crafted a wide variety of brilliant films ranging from historical and societal dramas to wuxia action thrillers. This is not one of them. What it is, however, is a fun historical whodunnit comedy thriller with strong nationalist undertones.
review · TIFF
Blue Giant
Blue Giant, an animated adaption of the eponymous graphic novel chronicling the rise of a starting Jazz musician, is a wonderful and sometimes moving love letter to Jazz, elevated by a brilliant soundtrack composed and performed by the ever so talented Uehara Hiromi.
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Killers of The Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese's newest film, the epic true crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, is an absolute highlight in an already unparalleled career.
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Past Lives: Even a Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day
Past Lives, doesn't pack any surprises in its storytelling but there's a kind of melancholic poetry to its visual language that I haven't seen since the 'Before' Trilogy. Quite a strong debut for its director Celine Song, but it doesn't come without caveats.