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International Feature Oscar Race: Read Variety Reviews of Shortlisted Titles and Submissions From More Than 50 Other Countries

20 January 2025 at 18:34
Those who keep a close watch on the Academy Awards’ international feature category probably noticed two things this year. First, the overall number of countries submitting for the award dropped to its lowest number since 2018, the year “Roma” was nominated for best picture. While that number contracts slightly, down from an all-time high of […]

‘Come Closer’ Review: The Real-Life Death of a Brother Fuels a Surprising and Redemptive Take on Grief

20 January 2025 at 16:20
Six years ago, Ari Nesher, the teenage son of Israeli director Avi Nesher, was killed in a hit-and-run accident, while riding an electric bicycle. He died on his 17th birthday. The case attracted international attention at the time not only because the victim — a promising artistic soul with several short films already to his […]

‘Murderess’ Review: Occasionally Intriguing Depiction of Greek Midwife’s Mental Spiral Fails to Cohere

18 January 2025 at 06:30
With a title like “Murderess,” there can be little surprise where Greece’s submission to the Oscar international feature category is headed. The third adaptation of Alexandros Papadiamantis’s acclaimed novella follows the slow psychological unraveling of an elderly midwife as she contends with the ever-worsening patriarchal society she aides. Though director Eva Nathena and screenwriter Katerina […]

‘Disfluency’ Review: Language and Memory Collide in Quiet Drama About Healing

17 January 2025 at 16:00
Joan Didion’s oft-quoted dictum about how we tell ourselves stories in order to live presupposes that you can and will use the tools to tell yourself that very story. But what happens when language fails you? What happens when its breakages risk keeping you from even vocalizing what it is that could help you live? […]

‘Autumn and the Black Jaguar’ Review: Family-Friendly Film Is a Dismaying Bore for Kids and Adults Alike

17 January 2025 at 07:11
After such films as “Mia and the White Lion” and “The Wolf and the Lion,” director Gilles de Maistre’s “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” reinforces the French filmmaker’s dedication to superficial family-friendly movies with an environmentalist cause at their heart. But as his latest shows, noble principles about the protection of wildlife and animals don’t […]

‘Wolf Man’ Review: Blumhouse’s Emo Monster Mash Is a Far Cry From Its Brilliant ‘Invisible Man’ Model

15 January 2025 at 17:00
It’s been said that all monster movies fit into at least one of three categories. Werewolf movies play on the notion that within every man lives a beast waiting to be unleashed. Vampire films tap into our collective fear of the unknown, which can encompass everything from the threat of disease to the perception of […]

‘Hard Truths’ Co-Stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin Pull Back the Curtain on Mike Leigh’s Unique Directing Process

11 January 2025 at 20:30
The title of Mike Leigh’s latest movie, “Hard Truths,” suggests a remarkable, career-spanning consistency, tracing back to the stage and screen director’s 1971 big-screen debut, “Bleak Moments.” For more than half a century, Leigh has been bringing audiences into the lives and homes of British citizens of various backgrounds and classes, developing original projects through […]

‘Birdeater’ Review: Effectively Disorienting Ensemble Piece Handles Friendship and Romance with Razor-Sharp Incisiveness

10 January 2025 at 18:10
In a rare instance of introspection, Dylan (Ben Hunter), a rowdy bro type in his 20s, beams at the possibility that another person might genuinely be offering the kind of friendship he yearns for. A shy smile crosses his face, only for the spell to be immediately broken, leaving him feeling used. It’s a brief, […]

‘Oceans Are the Real Continents’ Review: A Lush and Lyrical Vision of Contemporary Cuba in Black and White

10 January 2025 at 01:30
There is a ravishing kind of beauty in Tommaso Santambrogio’s lyrical triptych of contemporary Cuban life, “Oceans Are the Real Continents.” With black and white cinematography that privileges an exacting formalism throughout, this portrait of the island works hard to defamiliarize the very sun-dappled, colorful image of Cuba that so dominates the cultural imaginary. An […]

‘Every Little Thing’ Review: Tiny Hummingbirds Carry Big Lessons in Nature-Meets-Nurture Documentary

10 January 2025 at 01:05
The slow-motion footage in “Every Little Thing” of hummingbirds captured in flight, or beak deep in a flowering bud or hovering at 50 beats per second are awe-nudging. Director Sally Aitken’s nature documentary comes as a balm in a season aching for uplift. Since 2008, hummingbird sage Terry Masear has run a hotline, answering the […]

‘Algiers’ Review: An Officer and a Psychiatrist Search for a Kidnapped Child in a Fleetingly Tense Social Thriller

30 December 2024 at 10:05
One ordinary night in a working-class neighborhood of the Algerian capital, a suspicious car drives along a street where several children play carelessly. The driver lures a young girl to the window and violently pulls her inside before driving away as the girl’s brother looks on in despair. The unsettling incident, inspired by real events, […]

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