Even when it falls back into a kind of televisual style, Kwek’s work is always engaging as it tackles the thorny local LGBT issue with a kind of reactionary bite that is rare in Singapore cinema.
Meditative yet at times tonally dissonant, Liao’s work about the shifting temporalities of identity and memory is ultimately elusive.
Largely satisfying as a personal-political journey of an Italian sailor trying to escape his working-class background by dreaming about being an intellectual writer.
Touzani’s sophomore feature, a Moroccan queer drama, continues her penchant for a cinema of delicateness, centering on a middle-aged couple whose lives are subtly reinvigorated when a young apprentice joins their tailor shop.
The Venezuelan director’s sophomore fiction feature is so unrushed and assured that one immediately feels at ease immersing in a solid narrative about mistaken identity and the plight—and fate—of migrant workers in Mexico.
This exceptional documentary deals with the threat of ugly eco-politics in the most personal and risk-taking way—by following a group of brave Filipinos who volunteer to be ‘land defenders’ trying to protect the environment despite facing death threats from corrupt authorities.
There is nothing very cinematic about this standard-fare investigative journalism piece, but it tackles the exposé of Harvey Weinstein and the topic of sexual assault effectively and without fuss.
A brave broadcast journalist warns of widespread nationalistic propaganda on television news in this powerful indictment of the sorry state of media and hate politics in India.
A man falls in love with the portrait of a lady but refuses to be romantically involved with the real person in this incredibly gorgeous Turkish film, though it does rely too much on repetition and fatalism to work.
A promising and polished debut feature, this Singapore-Korean co-production has earnestness in abundance even if the storytelling doesn’t quite offer anything markedly revelatory.
Eternality Tan 