film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
Revisionist tale of the Australian folk hero rages against the dark forces that shaped him: emotional and economic neglect and abuse forged in patriarchy and colonialism. Electrifyingly punk and vulgar.
Messy, furious, sometimes at odds with itself, this tale of documenting a powerful man’s sexual intimidation of a vulnerable woman is absolutely necessary, full of a rage that is absolutely vital.
This profoundly empathetic tale of an unlikely spiritual leader is a condemnation of the dogmatism and narrowmindedness of the Catholic Church and a provocative exploration of guilt and redemption.
Based-on-fact drama puts the focus where it rarely is onscreen: on women who are victims of male violence. Yet a terrific central performance and an abundance of empathy cannot overcome its clichés.
So aggressively precisely what you think it is that there’s almost no point in seeing it. Flattens a true story into generic pap that isn’t even that successfully, authentically feel-good, either.
If you like these sorts of movies, you’ll like this one, a solid SJW drama out to condemn, with plenty of evidence, profit-above-all capitalism that embraces willful negligence and corruption.
French New Wave icon Jean Seberg plays an unwitting game of cat-and-mouse with the FBI in a strangled blend of biopic and paranoid thriller. Not even always fascinating Kristen Stewart can save this.
An untold Holocaust story, of Philippine president Manuel Quezon’s fight to take in Jewish refugees, feels like it remains untold: this sluggish, overlong film cannot overcome its low-budget roots.
This true origin story of a literal social-justice warrior is earnest, passionate… and exhausting. We need to keep telling these stories, yet each is but another tiny drop of water in a rough ocean.
Cluelessly simplistic rendering of a 1990s media injustice ignores all the context in which it happened and demonizes the one journalist who acted professionally. Fails even as a conservative screed.
