Life Is A Film Fest

Alexandra Makarová’s thrilling drama PERLA tells the story of a woman who fled the communist oppression in Czechoslovakia to raise her daughter in Vienna.  Rebeka Poláková’s delicate performance as Perla reflects her inner turmoil caused by not being able to let go of her past while trying to provide a better life for her daughter.  […]

Alireza Khatami nods to Buñuel and Lynch in the revenge thriller THE THINGS YOU KILL, one of my favorites among the films I have seen during Sundance 2025 and the first great WTF movie of the year.  It is dreamlike, puzzling, and features breathtaking cinematography and intricate camerawork including a mind-blowing mirror shot that might […]

Sierra Falconer’s SUNFISH (and Other Stories on Green Lake) is a comforting, summery anthology film where the lives of the characters in each segment briefly intertwine.  14-year old Lu learns how to sail a sunfish boat while staying with grandma and grandpa and takes care of a loonlet abandoned by its mother whose story parallels […]

After winning the Directing Award in U.S. Documentary section of Sundance 2022 with his self-portrait I Didn’t See You There, Reid Davenport is back at the festival with the eye-opening LIFE AFTER, which explores the right to die laws for people with disabilities in Canada and U.S.  Davenport starts the film with a suspenseful investigation […]

Anthony Benna’s ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT is likely the funniest movie you’ll ever see about cancer. That does not mean it is not moving and heartbreaking at times. It is also the best advertisement for getting a colonoscopy.  André is a goofball, yet he is somewhat of a genius who reads and absorbs a lot […]

A collaboration between Pavel Talankin, a Russian teacher, and David Borenstein, who co-directed the film using Talankin’s footage, Sundance Film Festival selection MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN brings light to the propaganda and brainwashing that is going on in schools all around Russia.  There are several powerful scenes including one where students are playing with weapons […]

Having a soft spot for NYC movies and humorous relationship dramas, I absolutely loved Rachael Abigail Holder’s Love, Brooklyn.  André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise bring genuine, imperfect characters to life and the scenes they share are full of chemistry.  The beauty of the city is on constant display set to Joel P. West’s […]

Carmen Emmi’s Plainclothes, which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is refreshingly original queer cinema with inventive editing and a thrilling script. Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey, and Maria Dizzia all give strong performances. And what an ending! The last ten minutes are brilliant!  This would make a good double bill with another recent thriller Misericordia, […]

Move over When Evil Lurks, there’s a new Argentinian horror movie in town. Set in the time of Internet cafés, Laura Casabé‘s THE VIRGIN OF THE QUARRY LAKE, based on two short stories by a Mariana Enríquez, looks at teenage desire and obsession and turns it into female rage.  It starts out with a bang, […]

Evan Twohy’s absurd comedy Bubble and Squeak is not quite at the level of the films of Yorgos Lanthimos or Quentin Dupieux, but I was on board with it for the most part.  The comedic acting this type of film requires is not as easy to pull off as some might think. Himesh Patel and […]