The Wave (Bølgen) movie review: disaster, Scandinavian style (LFF 2015)
The traditional Hollywood disaster flick goes to Norway, and is grim and gripping around all the time-honored ridiculous clichés crammed into it.
non-English-language
Run movie review: all the unrest of Ivory Coast, all in one man (FilmAfrica festival)
Prophecy and politics are intertwined in a realm where strange and beautiful imagery takes on dark meaning, and violence and male posturing rules all.
Difret movie review: reshaping the world for women
An earnest and passionate film, based on a true story that is enraging yet inspiring, that is essential viewing for anyone concerned with women’s rights.
Dukhtar movie review: giving voice to women who have none
A gripping story from a place where women are less than second-class citizens that insists that they are, in fact, people who deserve to live as they please.
The Second Mother movie review: cleaning house
Sharply observant and always surprising; mixes dry humor, aching drama, and stinging social commentary in its clashes between classes and generations.
Of Girls and Horses movie review: wishes are horses
A lovely film with a compassionate appreciation for how teen girls can often find a sort of comfort in clinging to their woundedness and pain.
13 Minutes (aka Elser) movie review: the ultimate what-if
This intense dramatization of the true story of a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in 1939 is an unpleasant experience but a provocative one.
The Salt of the Earth documentary review: photographing the human condition
“Everyone should see these images to see how terrible our species is.” Yet there is hope in this portrait of photographer Sebastião Salgado, too.
2015 Sundance Film Festival Award-Winning Shorts review: the best of the best
The highlight is the absolutely astonishing “World of Tomorrow,” which crams in more SF ideas than you’ll find in a decade’s worth of summer blockbusters.
In the Name of My Daughter movie review: suspenseless Riviera
Not even Catherine Deneuve can save this dramatically inert soap opera of corruption and obsession, which does not even resolve its central mystery.
