There’s a haunting quality to Ecuadorian Oscar submission “Behind the Mist,” Sebastián Cordero’s intimate documentary on scaling Mount Everest. On one hand, Cordero’s twinning of mountaineering and filmmaking reveals spiritual similarities to both endeavors. On the other hand, his visual texture reveals hidden layers through its lo-fi aesthetic — one that emerges by necessity, given […]

A filmmaker burns his clapperboard for warmth. A schoolteacher scavenges to feed his students. A stand-up comedian arrives at a gig to find the venue bombed. In “From Ground Zero,” Palestine’s entry for the Oscars’ international feature film category, 22 directors present cinematic diaries from Gaza, shot in between (and sometimes, during) IDF bombing raids […]

In Bangladesh, the sport of boli khela — or the wrestler game — is a meticulous, methodical affair, a tone Iqbal H. Chowdhury re-creates for his debut feature, “The Wrestler.” Straddling a line between observational and oblique, the film seems designed to fascinate and frustrate in equal measure, gesturing toward masculine boundaries in a rural, […]

An amusing bridal switcheroo, “Laapataa Ladies” (or “Lost Ladies” in some territories) makes effective use of Bollywood’s broad social messaging. This mode of storytelling can be heavy-handed for the sake of mass appeal, but director Kiran Rao deftly combines the literal and symbolic, resulting in a crowd-pleaser filled — for better or worse — with […]

“Bauryna Salu” is a rare, naturalistic gem that one can experience in two wildly different modes. The first involves going in completely cold — no pun intended — and observing the understated drama of its frigid, nomadic setting. The second involves experiencing its intricacies through the eyes of 12-year-old protagonist Yersultan (an impeccable Yersultan Yerman), […]