Fantasia International Film Festival · 2021
111 films · 67 reviews
Putting Covid-19 in a monster movie context is psychologically significant: it gives us the power to imagine its defeat.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Shunji Iwai; Writer: Shunji Iwai, based on the story by Shinjo Higuchi; Stars: Shinji Higuchi, Moeka Hoshi, Non, Takumi Saitoh, So Takei)
Reece is very much an actors’ director and he draws out splendid performances from his cast.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Mickey Reece; Writer: Mickey Reece, John Selvidge; Stars: Molly C Quinn, Sean Gunn, Hayley McFarland, Chris Browning, Rachel True)
Nothing is taken too seriously - there's plenty of teasing within the group itself - but respect is shown for the effort that has gone into all this.
(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Danielle Kummer; Lucy Harvey.)
Beautiful to look at, as well as anarchic and contemporary.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2001; Director: Shunji Iwai; Writer: Shunji Iwai; Stars: Hayato Ichinara, Shugo Oshinari, Ayumi Ito, Yu Aoi, Takao Osawa, Miwako Ichikawa, Izumi Inamori)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Igor Legarreta; Stars: Haizea Carneros, Itziar Ituño)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Kazutaro Nakamura; Stars: Kazutaro Nakamura)
Full of rough edges and unexpected moments, Baby, Don’t Cry! captures life in the raw.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Jesse Dvorak; Writer: Zita Bai; Stars: Boni Mata, Zita Bai, Troy Musil, Vas Provatakis)
A crime thriller whose lead characters are influenced by crime thrillers, caught up in a fantasy which repeatedly smacks up hard against the real world.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Mikhael Bassilli, Luc Walpoth; Writer: Mikhael Bassilli, MJ Palo; Stars: Danay Garcia, Joey Kern, Taja V Simpson, Michael Drayer)
(Country: China; Year: 2020; Director: Li Xiaofeng; Stars: Zhang Yu, Song Jia, Wang Yanhui)
Cummings and McCabe want to have it all - and go a fairly long way towards getting it.
(Country: US, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Writer: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Stars: Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe, Kevin Changaris, Olivia Grace Applegate, Jessie Barr, Christian Hillborg, Malin Barr, Jacqueline Doke, Wilky Lau, Grant Rosenmeyer, Keith Powell, Monroe Cline, Laura Coover, Boni Mata)
High concept films like this can easily go awry, but Makoto Ueda’s script somehow manages to stay on the ball throughout.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Junta Yamaguchi; Writer: Makoto Ueda; Stars: Aki Asakura, Riko Fujitani, Gôta Ishida, Yoshifumi Sakai, Kazunari Tosa)
This is a decent little thriller which benefits from very strong design.
(Country: Russia; Year: 2021; Director: Anna Zaytseva; Writer: Anna Zaytseva; Stars: Anna Potebnya)
The film is pretty hit and miss.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Julien Knafo; Writer: Julien Knafo; Stars: Iani Bédard, Roy Dupuis, Marianne Fortier, Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Claudia Ferri)
Timely in its exploration of how we determine what’s real and how easy it is for what seems like legitimate research to become unbalanced and lead to strange places.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Jacob Gentry; Writer: hil Drinkwater, Tim Woodall; Stars: Harry Shum Jr., Kelley Mack, Chris Sullivan, Jennifer Jelsema, Arif Yampolsky, Justin Welborn, Michael B. Woods, Steve Pringle)
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Paul Andrew Williams; Writer: Paul Andrew Williams; Stars: Tamzin Outhwaite, Neil Maskell, David Hayman)
It’s astonishing to realise that this is Reis’ first screen role.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Josef Kubota Wladyka; Writer: Kali Reis, Josef Kubota Wladyka, Josef Kubota Wladyka; Stars: Kevin Dunn, Kimberly Guerrero, Lisa Emery, Daniel Henshall, Michael Drayer, Jonathan Kowalsky, Gerald Webb, Isabelle Chester, Tiffany Chu, Peter Johnson, Samantha Stack, Bill Smith, Jonathan Wilde, Christine Lauer, Elisabeth Manente)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Tôya Satô; Writer: Yukiko Manabe, based on the story by Kazuki Kaneshiro; Stars: Haruka Ayase, Rei Dan, Fumiyo Kohinata , Atsuko Maeda)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Park Jung-bae; Stars: Lee Jehoon, Jo Woo-jin, Shin Hye-Sun, Im Won-hee)
Coming Home In The Dark takes us to familiar places and renders them strange.
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: James Ashcroft; Writer: James Ashcroft, Eli Kent, Owen Marshall; Stars: Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell, Matthias Luafutu, Frankie Paratene, Billy Paratene)
Its Jurassic Park style themes concerning failed Utopias passed through the prism of Sixties politics and activism have a certain childlike simplicity to them and, as such, are likely to prove more endearing to some audiences than others.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Dash Shaw; Writer: Dash Shaw; Stars: Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Angeliki Papoulia, Zoe Kazan, Peter Stormare, Grace Zabriskie)
It’s not a straightforward attempt to track down the spy. Lenay is more interested in exploring the question from a phenomenological point of view.
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Alice Lenay; Writer: Alice Lenay)
(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury; Writer: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury, Julien David; Stars: Camille Rowe, James Jagger, Eric Savin, Carolina Massey)
Directed by Masashi Ando, this is absolutely gorgeous... For all its beauty though, it labours.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Masashi Ando, Masayuki Miyaji; Writer: Taku Kishimoto, Nahoko Uehashi)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Lee Won-tae; Stars: Cho Jin-woong)
Director Rueben Martell also makes great use of the snowy forest setting.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Rueben Martell; Writer: Rueben Martell, Gerald Wexler; Stars: Sera-Lys McArthur, Samuel Marty, Julian Black Antelope, Tom Carey, Madison Walsh, Griffin Powell-Arcand, Catherine Gell)
This is one film about pursuing a dream that might actually be useful to people thinking of doing so themselves.
(Year: 2021; Director: Philippe McKie; Writer: Philippe McKie)
(Country: US; Year: 1989; Director: Stephen Sayadian; Writer: Stephen Sayadian, Jerry Stahl; Stars: Madeleine Reynal, Fox Harris, Laura Albert, Jennifer Balgobin, John Durbin, Gene Zerna)
The way that director Lee Haven Jones frames male and female characters is intriguing, with classic gendered shots reversed.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Lee-Haven Jones; Writer: Roger Williams; Stars: Anne Elwy, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Lisa Palfrey, Rhodri Meilir)
(Country: Republic of Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Jéro Yun; Stars: Lim Seong-mi, Baek Seo-bin, Oh Kwang-rok, Lee Seung-yeon)
A sweet tale which explores the precariousness of late childhood, as young people take on more responsibility for the world around them and come to carry more secret pain.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Yoichi Narita; Writer: Yoichi Narita, Yû Sakudô; Stars: Tsubasa Nakagawa, Itsuki Nagasawa, Rina Ikoma, Tarô Suruga, Toshirô Yanagiba, Tsubasa Nakagawa, Itsuki Nagasawa, Rina Ikoma, Tarô Suruga, Toshirô Yanagiba)
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko has a unique charm.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Ayumu Watanabe; Writer: Kanako Nishi; Stars: Shinobu Ôtake, Cocomi, Natsuki Hanae, Ikuji Nakamura, Izumi Ishii, Atsushi Yamanishi, Yûichi Yasoda, Hiro Shimono, Matsuko Deluxe, Riho Yoshioka, Karen Takizawa)
Bursting with creative energy.
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Jesse Blanchard; Writer: Jesse Blanchard; Stars: Jerry Bell Jr, Aaron Booth, Randolph F Christen, Chris Henry, Johnny Huang)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2000; Director: Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichiro Miki; Writer: Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichiro Miki; Stars: Andrew Alfieri, Hideaki Anno, Moyoco Anno)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Natsuki Seta; Stars: Nene Ohtsuka, Jin Suzuki, Anna Yamada)
Stefania Tortorella makes a delightful heroine, with Gloria switching overnight from sweet but downtrodden store assistant to a woman with the kind of glow that makes everybody want to be near her.
(Country: Uruguay; Year: 2021; Director: Marcela Matta, Mauro Sarser; Writer: Mauro Sarser; Stars: Stefania Tortorella)
Beneath the kitsch visual language of 1950s advertising, a sharp intelligence is at work
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Theodore Schaefer; Writer: Patrick Lawler, Ted Schaefer; Stars: Annie Parisse, Rachel Resheff, Jessica Pimentel, Cesar J Rosado)
One of the most tightly plotted and sharply observed pieces of science fiction to grace our screens for some years.
(Country: South Africa; Year: 2021; Director: Kelsey Egan; Writer: Emma Lungiswa De Wet, Kelsey Egan; Stars: Jessica Alexander, Hilton Pelser, Brent Vermeulen, Adrienne Pearce, Kitty Harris, Anja Taljaard)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Takashi Miike; Writer: Yûsuke Watanabe; Stars: Kazuki Kitamura, Hana Sugisaki, Sakura Andô, Namako Matsushima, Nao Ohmori, Ken'ichi Endô)
(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 2020; Director: Chan Kin-long; Writer: Chan Kin-long, Ling Ryan Wai-chun; Stars: Lam Ka-tung, Bipin Karma, Singh Hartihan Bitto, Chin Siu-ho, Aaron Chow)
(Country: Philippines, US, Brazil, UK, Taiwan; Year: 2020; Director: Avid Liongoren; Writer: Manny Angeles, Avid Liongoren; Stars: Angelica Panganiban, Robin Padilla, Sam Milby)
Mostly played out as a two-hander, this is a film which combines ambitious world-building with an intimacy and specificity that draw the viewer in.
(Year: 2021; Director: Toby Poser; Writer: John Adams, Toby Poser; Stars: John Adams, Toby Poser, Zelda Adams)
A charming film which will appeal to viewers of all ages.
(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2020; Director: Kethsvin Chee; Stars: Charlie Yeung, Run-yin Bai, Akio Chen)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Akiko Ohku; Writer: Risa Wataya)
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Stefan Lernous; Writer: Stefan Lernous; Stars: Tom Vermeir, Ruth Becquart, Anneke Sluiters, Tania Van Der Sanden, Dominique Van Malder)
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: John Swab; Writer: John Swab; Stars: Frank Grillo, Deborah Ann Woll, Josh Hartnett, Melissa Leo, Mark Boone Jr)
Taute favours real stunts over CGI and puts his team through their paces with some serious challenges, adding a certain frisson to the film which just doesn’t exist when only pixels are at stake.
(Country: South Africa; Year: 2021; Director: Travis Taute; Writer: Travis Taute; Stars: Jarrid Geduld, Gail Mabalane, Andre Jacobs, Nicole Fortuin)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Sôshi Masumoto; Writer: Sôshi Masumoto, Naoyuki Miura; Stars: Marika Itô, Daichi Kaneko, Yumi Kawai, Kirara Inori)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Kim Jong-kwan; Writer: Seiko Tanabe; Stars: Hwang Do-Yun, Han Ji-min, Nam Joo-Hyuk)
Production designer Eri Sakushima and costume designer Atsuko Shiraishi have done a magnificent job of bringing the manga's striking imagery to life.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2019; Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa; Writer: Tsutomu Hanabusa, based on the manga by Homura Kawamoto; Stars: Minami Hamabe, Mahiro Takasugi, Aoi Morikawa)
Hamabe is impressive in a role which is more challenging this time around because most viewers will already know what Yumeko is capable of.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa; Writer: Tsutomu Hanabusa, Homura Kawamoto, Tôru Naomura, Minato Takano; Stars: Minami Hamabe, Elaiza Ikeda, Ruka Matsuda, Sayuri Matsumura, Natsume Mito, Aoi Morikawa, Yurika Nakamura, Natsumi Okamoto, Akira Onodera, Mahiro Takasugi, Yûma Yamoto, Miki Yanagi, Minami Hamabe, Elaiza Ikeda, Ruka Matsuda)
There’s a huge amount of ambition in Renata Pinheiro’s film.
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Renata Pinheiro; Writer: Sergio Oliveira, Renata Pinheiro; Stars: Okado do Canal, Jules Elting, Matheus Nachtergaele, Luciano Pedro Jr)
If this hits the spot for you, you’ll probably be in stitches throughout, caught in a repetitive cycle of laughter – but if it doesn’t, you’ll be a bit lost.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Richard Bates Jr; Writer: Richard Bates Jr; Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Matthew Gray Gubler, Angela Sarafyan, AnnaLynne McCord)
It disappoints a bit on the monster front and it’s extremely uneven, with a dose of political satire that’s too broad for most adults and will bore most kids, but when it hits the mark, younger viewers will love it.
(Year: 2020; Director: Rasmus Merivoo; Writer: Rasmus Merivoo; Stars: Ivo Uukkivi, Jan Uuspõld, Mari Lill, Juhan Rodrik, Roland Treima, Marek Tammets, Nora Merivoo, Venno Loosaar, Paul Laasik, Mari-Liis Lill, Elise Tekko, Harri Merivoo, Jaanus Mehikas, Ivo Uukkivi, Jan Uuspõld)
Edoardo Vitaletti packs his frames with detail, even when the decoration is relatively sparse.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Edoardo Vitaletti; Writer: Edoardo Vitaletti; Stars: Rory Culkin, Isabelle Fuhrman, Stefanie Scott, Carolyn McCormick)
(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2020; Director: Joann Sfar; Writer: Sandrina Jardel, Joann Sfar; Stars: Camille Cottin, Louise Lacoste, Jean-Paul Rouve, Claire de la Rue de Can, Alex Lutz)
A sort of freefall trip through both the director’s subconscious and the Cambodian underbelly.
(Country: Finland; Year: 2020; Director: Sadri Cetinkaya, Joonas Neuvonen; Writer: Sadri Cetinkaya, Joonas Neuvonen, Venla Varha; Stars: Pekka Strang, Jani Raappana, Antti, Joonas Neuvonen, Pekka Strang, Jani Raappana, Antti, Joonas Neuvonen)
Not only are there goldfish emblems absolutely everywhere, but the lives of fish and humans sometimes blur.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Yukinori Makabe; Writer: Asumi Tsuchi, based on the manga by Noriko Otani; Stars: Nicole Ishida, Hayato Kakizawa, Naoki Kawano, Masuyasu Kitayana)
At first glance, one can feel the enormous amount of work, heart and effort put into the completion of this epic animation.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Phil Tippett; Writer: Phil Tippett; Stars: Alex Cox, Niketa Roman, Satish Ratakonda, Harper Taylor, Brynn Taylor)
An exquisitely crafted piece of work.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ruth Platt; Writer: Ruth Platt; Stars: Denise Gough, Steven Cree, Anastasia Hille, Hannah Ray)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Kwon Oh-seung)
(Country: Philippines; Year: 2020; Director: Dodo Dayao; Writer: Dodo Dayao, Carljoe Javier; Stars: Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Glaiza de Castro, Anthony Falcon, Dino Pastrano, Bing Pimentel, Soliman Cruz)
(Country: Italy, France; Year: 1960; Director: Giorgio Ferroni; Writer: Remigio Del Grosso, Giorgio Ferroni, Ugo Liberatore; Stars: Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Wolfgang Preiss)
It’s shock comedy with no sense of impact or context, because before you can let the shock set in, the movie is running full steam ahead toward another disgusting episode.
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Harpo Guit, Lenny Guit; Writer: Harpo Guit, Lenny Guit; Stars: Harpo Guit, Maxi Delmelle, Claire Bodson, Mathieu Amalric, Habib Ben Tanfous)
Ambiguity lurks in the shadows and there's a doubling up and a doubling down.
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: David Bruckner; Writer: Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski; Stars: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Stacy Martin, Evan Jonigkeit, Allie McCulloch, Samantha Buck, Patrick Klein, Michael Flores, James W. Meagher, Amy Zubieta, Andy Rich, Laura Austin, Dannielle Rose, Crystal Swann)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Shinji Hamasaki; Writer: Yoshimitsu Sawamoto; Stars: Suzu Hirose, Ryô Yoshizawa, Lily Franky, Yukiyoshi Ozawa)
Kazuaki Seki’s playful satire sticks closely to comic book form.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Kazuaki Seki; Writer: Bakarhythm; Stars: Mei Nagano, Alice Hirose, Nanao, Rina Kawaei, Miyuki Ohshima, Masanobu Katsumura)
(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 2020; Director: Chiu Sin-hang; Writer: Ashley Cheung, Ryan Wai-Chun Ling; Stars: Singh Hartihan Bitto, Hung Cheuk-Lok, Chiu Sin-hang)
Weirdly, this spectacular mess of a film delivers, for those patient enough to get to them, a few moments of brilliance.
(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Daniel de la Vega; Writer: Alberto Fasce, Gonzalo Ventura; Stars: Mariana Anghileri, Arturo Bonín, Diego Cremonesi, Lautaro Delgado, Mathias Domizi)
(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Alain Vézina; Writer: Alain Vézina; Stars: Lawrence Brown, Alain Essiembre, Caroline Gauthier, Patrice Joly, Johnny North)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Shûichi Okita; Writer: Chisako Wakatake; Stars: Yûko Tanaka, Yû Aoi, Munetaka Aoki, Gaku Hamada, Masahiro Higashide, Kankurô Kudô)
One of the cleverest and most entertaining comedies of the year.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Nick Gillespie; Writer: Brook Driver, Nick Gillespie; Stars: Tom Meeten, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall, Alice Lowe, Mandeep Dhillon, Johnny Vegas, Steve Oram, Craig Parkinson, Kevin Bishop, Pippa Haywood)
With a focus throughout on Poly's achievements as a writer, the film makes room for her to speak for herself as much as possible: to be heard, not just seen.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Celeste Bell, Paul Sng; Writer: Celeste Bell, Zoe Howe; Stars: Poly Styrene, Celeste Bell)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Takayuki Hirao)
The landscape within which all this takes place is spectacular: a richly imagined, fully fledged fantasy world.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Yûsuke Hirota; Writer: Akihiro Nishino; Stars: Masataka Kubota, Mana Ashida, Shingo Fujimori)
Despite the whole thing being incredibly messy, it's eye-gogglingly enjoyable at the same time.
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Sion Sono; Writer: Aaron Hendry, Reza Sixo Safai; Stars: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Nick Cassavetes, Bill Moseley, Tak Sakaguchi, Yuzuka Nakaya) , Trailer
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Daigo Matsui; Writer: Daigo Matsui; Stars: Kisetsu Fujiwara, Kenta Hamano, Marie Iitoyo, Ryô Iwamatsu, Kika Kobayashi)
Scott McClellan’s gorgeous black and white photography picks out every detail of the actors’ faces yet masks them in shadow at crucial moments, allowing truths to emerge only slowly.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Mark O'Brien; Writer: Mark O'Brien; Stars: Nigel Bennett, Mark O'Brien, Henry Czerny, Myko Nguyen, Kate Corbett, Mimi Kuzyk)
The sheer quantity of imitable violence in the film is likely to frighten censors around the world.
(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2021; Director: Rob Jabbaz; Writer: Rob Jabbaz; Stars: Regina, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Berant Zhu)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Hitoshi Yazaki; Writer: Kanako Nishi; Stars: Tamiyasu Chô, Masaya Katô, Takumi Kitamura, Yui Kobayashi)
(Country: France, Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Pascal-Alex Vincent; Stars: Mamoru Hosoda, Mamoru Oshii, Rodney Rothman, Megumi Hayashibara)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Lee Yong-ju; Writer: Lee Yong-ju; Stars: Park Bo-gum, Gong Yoo, Jang Young-nam, Jo Woo-jin)
(Country: Hong Kong, China; Year: 2020; Director: Ann Hui, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Ringo Lam, Patrick Tam, Johnnie To, Hark Tsui, Woo-Ping Yuen; Writer: Kin-Yee Au, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Ringo Lam, Shiu-Wa Lou, Melvin Luk, Roy Szeto, Johnnie To, Hark Tsui, Nai-Hoi Yau; Stars: Lawrence Ah-Mon, Emotion Cheung, Tat-Ming Cheung, Ho-Cheong Chui, Ian Iskandar Gouw, Timmy Hung, Mimi Chi Yan Kung, Ashley Lam, Suet Lam, Yu-Hin Lam, Shek Yin Lau)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Kôta Yoshida; Writer: Kôta Yoshida; Stars: Manami Hashimoto, Ryô Ikeda, Mukau Nakamura, Honami Satô, Tateto Serizawa, Shogen, Rina Takeda)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Choi Jin-Young; Stars: Kang Jin-ah, Park Hye-jin, Byeon Jung-hui, Hong Sang-pyo Hwang Mi-young)
The central problem here is a common one in fantasy epics: it does go on a bit.
(Year: 2021; Director: Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King; Writer: Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King; Stars: Richard E Grant, Lucy Lawless, Patton Oswalt, Betty Gabriel, Joe Manganiello, Larry Fessenden, Nina Lisandrello, Abby Savage, Tom Lipinski, Patrick Breen)
Its various elements gradually fit together to create something which is unsettling in all the right ways, yet somehow sweet at the same time.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos; Writer: Rob Benvie, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos; Stars: Susanne Wuest, Cara Ricketts, Christian Serritiello, George Tchortov)
Although The Story Of Southern Islet undoubtedly attracts with its remarkable aesthetics, especially beautiful slow shots, emphasising the magical, mysterious atmosphere, it is an hermetic film.
(Country: Malaysia; Year: 2020; Director: Chong Keat Aun; Writer: Chong Keat Aun; Stars: Jojo Goh, Season Chee, Hong Herr Wong, Wei Hern Teon, Ling Tang)
(Country: Uruguay; Year: 2021; Director: Emilio Silva Torres)
Simple tricks like painting sets pink and amassing large piles of low cost everyday objects enable the filmmakers to create a distinctive fantasy landscape on a very low budget.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Kentucker Audley, Albert Birney; Writer: Kentucker Audley, Albert Birney; Stars: Penny Fuller, Kentucker Audley, Grace Glowicki, Reed Birney, Linas Phillips, Constance Shulman)
I didn't hate it, but if I wanted to watch more than two hours of the undeniably weird doing the inexplicable, The Sparks Brothers is also in cinemas.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: James Gunn; Writer: James Gunn, based on the comic by John Ostrander; Stars: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Taika Waititi, David Dastmalchian, Alice Braga, Joel Kinnaman, Mikaela Hoover)
If you're a fan of Three Stooges-style silent slapstick but wish it came with a lot more gore, then, Sweetie, you won't believe what a treat you are in for
(Country: Kazakhstan; Year: 2020; Director: Yernar Nurgaliyev; Writer: Zhandos Aibassov, Yernar Nurgaliyev, Daniyar Soltanbayev, Il'yas Toleu, Anuar Turizhigitov, Alisher Utev)
(Year: 2021; Director: Ricky Ko; Stars: Petrina Fung, Patrick Tse)
It's tightly structured but ambitious in scope and often reminiscent of Soviet cinema in both style and thematic arc.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2020; Director: Seth A Smith; Writer: Seth A Smith, Darcy Spidle; Stars: Anna Hopkins, Simon Mutabazi, Michael Ironside, Amy Trefry, Tim Dunn)
(Country: Singapore; Year: 2020; Director: Bee Thiam Tan; Writer: Bee Thiam Tan, Antti Toivonen; Stars: Thomas Pang, Guat Kian Goh, Jalyn Han, Noorlinah Mohamed)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa; Writer: Ken Wakui; Stars: Keita Arai, Kazuki Horike, Mio Imada)
Though aspects of its story stretch credulity even within the bounds of fantasy and it is at times spectacularly silly, it is delivered with rare style and panache.
(Country: Spain, Portugal; Year: 1972; Director: Amando de Ossorio; Writer: Jesús Navarro Carrión, Amando de Ossorio; Stars: Lone Fleming, César Burner, María Elena Arpón, José Thelman)
Ultrasound is a slippery little puzzle of a film. It's cleverly put together and really quite neatly tied together, though not every viewer will successfully unravel it or, for that matter, make it to the end.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Rob Schroeder; Writer: Conor Stechschulte; Stars: Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda Wool, Tunde Adebimpe, Rainey Qualley, Bob Stephenson)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Miwa Nishikawa; Writer: Miwa Nishikawa, based on the book by Ryûzô Saki; Stars: Isao Hashizume, Meiko Kaji, Yukiya Kitamura, Masami Nagasawa)
Such a handsomely shot, gloriously stylised piece of work that it can stand alongside the best of the genre proper.
(Country: Switzerland; Year: 1967; Director: Jean-Louis Roy; Writer: Jean-Louis Roy, Gabriel Arout, Pierre Koralnik; Stars: Marie-France Boyer, Ben Carruthers, Jacques Dufilho, Daniel Emilfork, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacqueline Danno, Marcel Imhoff)
One of the most strikingly original Japanese horror movies of its era.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2000; Director: Higuchinsky; Writer: Kengo Kaji, based on the manga by Junji Ito.; Stars: Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Eun-Kyung Shin, Keiko Takahashi, Ren Osugi, Denden) , Official site
Hong Eui-jeong directs with such assurance and such flair that it's hard to believe this is her first feature.
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2020; Director: Hong Eui-Jeong; Writer: Hong Eui-Jeong; Stars: Yoo Ah-In, Yoo Jae-Myung, Moon Seung-ah)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2011; Director: Shunichiro Miki; Writer: Shunichiro Miki, Yuuka Oosumi; Stars: Rinko Kikuchi, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Fumi Nikaidô, Yoji Tanaka)
This film is long overdue.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Jane Schoenbrun; Writer: Jane Schoenbrun; Stars: Anna Cobb)
What Josiah Saw simmers throughout, always potent, always dangerous.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Vincent Grashaw; Writer: Robert Alan Dilts; Stars: Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, Tony Hale)
Blackshear pulls off quite a trick by giving us the impression that things are as bad as they can get and then delivering something still more devastating.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Perry Blackshear; Writer: Perry Blackshear; Stars: Libby Ewing, Evan Dumouchel, MacLeod Andrews, Margaret Ying Drake, Jeff Musillo)
Underscoring this film are potent themes about masculinity, identity and self-expression. There is also a fair bit of action, and not just of the mountain adventure variety.
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2021; Director: Thomas Daneskov; Writer: Thomas Daneskov, Morten Pape; Stars: Rasmus Bjerg, Zaki Youssef, Sofie Gråbøl, Bjørn Sundquist)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2020; Director: Masashi Yamamoto; Writer: Suzuyuki Kaneko, Masashi Yamamoto; Stars: Kaho Minami, Seikô Itô, Soran Tamoto, Mayu Ozawa, Kentaro Okochi)
Rather than trying to establish a thesis of her own, Janisse allows her interviewees to deliver contradictory viewpoints on key issues, and the film is richer for it.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Kier-La Janisse; Writer: Kier-La Janisse)
The action is nicely choreographed and despite the lengthy running time most of the film is nicely paced, with a number of genre in-jokes to help it hold viewer attention.
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Vicente Amorim; Writer: Vicente Amorim and Danilo Beyruth, based on the graphic novel by 'Samurai Shiro' Kimi Lee; Stars: MASUMI, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Kenny Leu, Toshiji Takeshima)
It does its subjects the courtesy of letting them speak for themselves, but this often the equivalent of handing them enough rope.
(Year: 2021; Director: Hayley Garrigus)
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Festival showcasing international and Baltic films
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
French Film Festival
The UK's longest running celebration of Francophone cinema
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