Fantasia 2021: Ruth Platt on Directing Horror Film ‘Martyrs Lane’ Without Fear
Director Ruth Platt talks with PopMatters about women filmmakers using the system while subverting it to empower their voice.
Film
Venice 2021: ‘The Card Counter’ Is a Teeth-Grinding Royal Flush
Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter finds Oscar Isaac at his mercurial best and presents yet another triumph of the writer/director’s tongue-in-cheek cynicism.
Fantasia 2021: The Occult Possesses the Drama of ‘The Righteous’
Director Mark O’Brien’s The Righteous, playing at Fantasia 2021, is a quiet and conversationally brooding work.
Director Filip Jan Rymsza on the Descent into Madness in Thriller ‘Mosquito State’
Filip Jan Rymsza’s thriller Mosquito State amps up hyper-reality in a cautionary tale of what the 24-hour news cycle is doing to our brains.
Venice 2021: ‘Spencer’ Is a Majestic Arthouse Farce that Keeps Its Distance
Kristen Stewart embodies the distraught Lady Diana in Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, an audacious chamber piece that fetishizes the woman it seeks to liberate.
Venice 2021: Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Stirs up the Grit
Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ (Venice International Film Festival 2021) looks the part and will not disappoint fans, but it groans under the weight of its world-building.
Venice 2021: ‘The Power of the Dog’ Locks Its Jaws on You
Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance is spellbinding and disturbing in Jane Campion’s taut exploration of identity and family relationships, The Power of the Dog.
Fantasia 2021: ‘Under the Open Sky’ Urges Understanding
Director Miwa Nishikawa’s ‘Under the Open Sky’, playing at Fantastia 2021, honours simple humanity in a redemptive drama.
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘After Life’ Explores What Lingers in the Ephemeral
Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s poignant second feature, After Life, explores the vagaries of memory and the permanence of film.
The Humanist Dilemma in Kobayashi’s ‘The Human Condition’
Kobayashi’s The Human Condition demonstrates the impossibility of realizing the ideals of humanism.
Did the Pandemic Shutdown Change Hollywood for Good?
The entertainment industry had to change when COVID-19 closed almost all its operations. Media scholar Kate Fortmueller considers the lasting effect.