A big city and its inhabitants are the focus of filmmaker Afolabi Olalekan’s engaging feature debut. Shot on location in the Nigerian capital of Lagos, the film has a palpable understanding of this big metropolis. Its pace is fast like the city, and it follows many characters whose stories continue to converge, as if Lagos were […]

Following Nicole Kidman’s “Babygirl,” another psychologically complex erotic thriller arrives at one of the fall festivals. Unspooling in the Discovery Section at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Argentine thriller “Linda” puts a sexy and mysterious maid inside a household where she wrecks emotional havoc with the family she’s serving. Immediately the tables are turned […]

With the documentary “Sudan, Remember Us,” filmmaker Hind Meddeb gives herself a rather difficult task. She sets out to tell the story of four significant years in the history of this African nation through the faces and words of a few young people. Within that time frame, a 30 year dictatorship was overthrown by a […]

In Jordan Goudreau, a former Green Beret and special forces operative who planned and executed a failed attempt at overthrowing the government of Venezuela, directors Jen Gatien and Billy Corben found a fascinating subject worthy of being the main character in a documentary. He’s full of bravado and hubris, quotes ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus and […]

Early on in “The Wasp,” Naomie Harris provides an elaborate description of tarantula hawks, a species of spiders that feeds on other tarantulas. They paralyze their prey before eating them alive. It’s a gruesome idea that writer-director Guillem Morales clearly intends to circle back around to in his twisty two-hander, which stars Natalie Dormer and […]