Category: Film Festivals

With Yellow Letters, Ilker Çatak delivers another pressure cooker following The Teachers’ Lounge. This time, working with an all Turkish cast, he shoots Hamburg as Istanbul and Berlin as Ankara. The film may not try to give you a heart attack as its predecessor did, but the anguish facing its protagonists is no less intense. Özgü […]

In Kilian Armando Friedrich’s Dardennes-influenced I Understand Your Displeasure, we witness cleaning manager Heike’s daily balancing act, as she navigates mounting pressures between her bosses, demanding clients, and the workers caught in between.  It is chaotic and intense, and never loses its realism, thanks in part to the non-professional actors, lead by Sabine Thalau, many of […]

Beth de Araújo’s heart-rending psychological thriller Josephine, which explores trauma from the viewpoint of a child, instantly makes her a director to watch.  She keeps nothing back and the film relentlessly takes hold of you. Miles Ross’ score is utilized exceptionally. The camerawork and the editing are wonderful as well.  This would not be the […]

2026 Sundance Film Festival takes place January 22 to February 1, 2026 in Park City, Utah for one last time before moving to Boulder, Colorado next year. You can also stream some of the selections online from January 29 to February 1. Here are some of the highlights of this year’s lineup: THE INVITE, Olivia […]

David Michôd’s Christy is one of the strongest conventional dramas I’ve seen this year. There’s nothing conventional about boxer Christy Martin however, a trailblazer in female boxing.  Sydney Sweeney and Ben Foster transform into Martin and her coach Jim, a genuinely abhorrent character that would rival any other screen villain in recent memory. Merritt Wever […]

Kristen Stewart goes for the poetic in the harrowing The Chronology of Water with mixed results.  The highly fragmented non-linear editing used in depicting the deeply traumatic upbringing of the teenage character and her resulting toxic behavior towards others made the first half of the film a tough sit for me.  It later finds its […]

Is This Thing On? is dramatically satisfying while providing plenty of laughs, some of which come from the standup material. Bradley Cooper is working on a smaller scale than his previous two films, achieving excellent results.  Will Arnett and Laura Dern complement one another wonderfully as a couple on the rocks. It is strange to have […]

Marty Supreme is a loud, wild, and chaotic hustler story that is a distant relative of Uncut Gems with shocking, stressful, and riotously funny Safdie moments throughout.  Timothée Chalamet continues his streak of performances where he completely inhabits his character. Odessa A’zion is exceptional, and Abel Ferrara has a couple of insane scenes.  The way […]

Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value is the most compelling drama of the year so far. He is able to bring out career-best performances from the talented ensemble cast of Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning.  He and his writing partner Eskil Vogt have crafted a tight, pitch-perfect script, containing little details such […]

In a career full of noteworthy performances, Ethan Hawke’s turn as lyricist Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon still stands out. It is one of his most remarkable yet.  The single location narrative by Robert Kaplow is something you’d expect to see on stage, but Linklater transforms it into a talky, funny, and melancholic […]