#Raindance2017: Black Hollow Cage, Stuck, Mukoku
Quick takes from the 25th Raindance Film Festival, with public screenings in London through October 1st, 2017.
non-English-language
My Pure Land movie review: meet a real-life heroine in a land that really doesn’t want her
Behold a modern-day feminist western set in deeply patriarchal Pakistan. Stark and spare, with a heroine full of mean grace, it’s even a true story.
Pilgrimage movie review: faith in a time of weaponized religion
Moody, atmospheric, even beautiful in its grimness; a medieval adventure unlike any we’ve seen before, with a sharp attention to psychological and moral realism.
La Soledad movie review: life and beauty among the ruins
An extraordinary blend of documentary and fiction, a strikingly intimate, humane tale of a family, a house, and a nation. Like nothing you’ve seen before.
Shin Godzilla (aka Godzilla Resurgence) movie review: big in Japan
Toho’s reboot of its most famous kaiju is, amidst intense monster action, a bitter satire on bureaucracy and a cautionary tale about humanity’s collective folly.
Scribe (La mécanique de l’ombre) movie review: all tapped out
This would-be faux-70s paranoid thriller piles on too-obvious intrigue and embarrassing clichés, and lacks suspense, thrills, and a protagonist to care about.
City of Ghosts documentary review: how to tell a story that some don’t want told
A devastating portrait of Syrian citizen journalists, of the sacrifices they make to tell of ISIS occupation, and a cautionary tale for Western culture, too.
The Women’s Balcony movie review: men, cross women at your peril
A slyly wise, hugely entertaining portrait of an Orthodox Jewish community that loses its joy when a newcomer sows discord. You don’t have to be religious to love it.
The Midwife (Sage femme) movie review: the birth pangs of midlife renewal
The chemistry of two formidable actresses fuels an extraordinary yet subtle clash in a nuanced, unsentimental story about how women’s friendships shape our lives.
Lost in Paris (Paris pieds nus) movie review: French kicks
An exquisite miniature puzzle-box pop-up-book of a movie. All is color and light and exhilaration here, a fantastical lark that is sheer mischievous joy.
