Difficult to enjoy and too reliant on its theatrical artifice for three overlong hours, this esoteric and inscrutable drama tackles China’s 20th-century history through the memories of a dead theatre troupe member ready to enter the afterlife.
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.
An artistic and personal attempt to produce a film during the Covid pandemic, this meta-cine piece is calm and poetic, told via a playful reverse-chrono structure.
Frammartino’s first feature in more than a decade, this dialogue-less wonder of a film is an immersive journey into one of the world’s deepest caves where Man must treat scientific discovery and human mortality with the same curious brushstroke.
An animated shamisen rock ballad if there ever was one that features stunning visuals but a rather excessive and overlong midsection of performative songs that aren’t exactly musically memorable.
‘Bride kidnapping’ continues to exist in the Hmong’s cultural tradition as this beautifully shot, eye-opening Vietnamese documentary shows us with raw authenticity and empathy the life of a 12-year-old Hmong girl pushed towards the fate of a prospective marriage.
Tonally uneven and tries too hard to be captivating, Panah Panahi’s tragicomic debut feature is a mixed bag of a road movie, despite the picturesque cinematography and some genuine moments of human empathy.
Exquisitely hand-painted frame by frame, this French-language arthouse animation is bleak yet hopeful, about two young siblings who are forced to leave their home in order to flee from war and persecution in Eastern Europe.
This Chadian film, about the taboos of teenage pregnancy and abortion in a restrictive patriarchal society, is an important story to be told, even though it feels too straightforwardly familiar a tale to resonate deeply.
A decent Spanish comedy that pokes fun at the film industry, acting and the creative process, benefiting from the wonderful charisma of its trio of actors.
Eternality Tan 