Ralph Fiennes is exceptional as a cardinal who must oversee the selection of a new Pope as skeletons in the closet threaten to derail the voting process, in Berger’s taut ‘mystery-thriller’ that some might feel too highly calibrated in its storytelling.
The first of Kaurismaki’s ‘Proletariat’ trilogy is where it all crystallised very close to the fullest form and style of the Finnish director’s subsequent films as a garbage truck driver meets a supermarket cashier.
With virtuoso filmmaking on display, Ruizpalacios’ mesmerising fourth feature creates explosive drama out of the inner workings of a busy F&B kitchen in Times Square.
A past-present diptych by Bellocchio that isn’t always tonally executed well, but it remains intriguing as a work about “how we got here” and “where do we go”, as the story of the sinful nun Benedetta and another about an old, vampiric man haunt its similar locale.
Almodovar’s first English-language feature doesn’t quite strike gold, but Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore give riveting performances as two friends who haven’t seen each other for a long time, exploring themes of mortality and morality.
Things go terribly awry after a jewellery store heist in this visceral and gritty film that is a serious contender for the zeitgeist-iest HK crime-actioner of the ‘80s, made with the kind of masculine gusto that seems rare today.
Although its overlong slow-cinema style may alienate some audiences, the filmmakers’ control of mise-en-scene feels assured and reassuring as undocumented migrants face moral questions and exploitation eking out a painful existence in the mountains of Taiwan.
Michel Piccoli and Anouk Aimee deliver Cannes award-winning performances in one of Bellocchio’s finest films, as severe psychological problems afflict a brother and sister who detest but need each other.
Raw and intimate, Lou’s latest is a meta-filmic, time-travelling chronicle back to the COVID-19 pandemic as he reflects on the angst and helplessness of not being able to complete a film, yet it is also surprisingly an emotional work of gratitude.
An ambitious but overdrawn affair, Yang’s debut feature attempts to make meaningful non-linear connections across decades of a person’s life, as a woman reconnects with a friend from the past.
Eternality Tan 