Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter movie review: Minnesota odd-yssey
Weirdly funny and weirdly sad, one woman’s slo-mo nervous breakdown becomes an exercise in pathos that is unforgettably poignant.
non-English-language
Virunga documentary review: no walk in the park
This is not a nature documentary, though there are some beautiful scenes of wild spaces. This is war journalism, tense and upsetting.
Leviathan movie review: you can’t fight city hall
The angry grandeur of its despair over how ordinary people get screwed by the powerful may be uniquely Russian, but it will hit home everywhere.
Tangerines movie review: caught in the crossfire
Slaps an honest emotional sincerity and a dry, almost humorous pragmatism in the face of macho posturing and identity tribalism.
Two Days, One Night movie review: on the coins of a dilemma
A genuine horror story, sweaty with a palpable ring of truth about the unending fear that accompanies life on the knife edge of financial despair.
Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (87th Academy Awards) review
Three of the five nominees are about women, and it’s hardly a surprise that their fresh perspective results in stories that are new and original.
Pelo Malo (Bad Hair) movie review: how to destroy a child
A heartbreaking child’s-eye view of the moment when it begins to dawn that the world is going to be unimaginably cruel to a nonconformist.
Trash movie review: you know, for kids?
This isn’t a children’s movie… and yet it kind of is, too, with its odd mishmash of social realism, action thrills, misplaced comedy, and simplistic drama.
Eastern Boys movie review: pretty boy
Repugnant drama about the tender relationship between a man who pays for sex and the boy he hires. At least Pretty Woman pretended to be a fairy tale.
Pioneer movie review: there will be oil
What is intended to be a suspenseful period drama of paranoia and conspiracy is far too slow-moving and meandering to truly engage.
