Animated animals that finally don’t talk are the stars of this Latvian Oscar submission for Best International Feature, as a Noah’s Ark-type flood envelopes the world in this compelling and communal survival-adventure.
A narratological and tonal detour from his earlier output, Yang’s biting satire exposes the anxieties and hypocrisies of several young adults living in a modernising Taipei that has conditioned its people to celebrate the transactional and exploitative aspects of work, relationships and life.
It may be mid-tier Ridley Scott with standard-fare storytelling, but this sequel is boosted by Denzel Washington’s scene-stealing supporting role and a gleefully gorier treatment of violent spectacle.
Humans and bugs are out to exterminate each other in Verhoeven’s much-maligned ‘fascist’ blockbuster that has enjoyed a cult resurgence, with its nonchalance and irreverence towards the pleasures of gory violence and media brainwashing satirically relevant.
Rankin’s sophomore feature feels like Kaurismaki meets Kiarostami as his surreal, and at times perplexing tale brings us through a hybrid Canadian-Iranian space marked by quaint shophouses and bustling highways.
Herzog’s take on the Count Dracula story may not offer any narrative surprises, but as a moody work of restrained horror marked by an oddly calm sense of foreboding, it exudes an earthier and organic feel.
With generous doses of horror and comedy, though with some way-too-sappy scenes of melodrama, this ‘zombies-on-a-train’ flick is no doubt a crowd-pleasing marker of Asian blockbuster success.
A wild, zany, and sometimes, indulgent meta-film in the hands of Kim Jee-woon, about a tormented filmmaker hoping to reshoot an alternate ending that won’t go down well with the authorities.
An unusually weaker stab by Morita in this mystery within a mystery, as his uneven and unnecessarily convoluted film about a murderer with a split personality explores the intersection between law and psychology.
Hong’s trademark stylistic minimalism and meditation on the meaning of art and life remain intact if nondescript, featuring two seemingly unrelated stories connected by a shared fondness for eating ramyeon with pepper paste.
