It may be ambitious and sprawling to a fault, but Chazelle’s bravura direction and the top performances all-round keep this largely fictional tale of ‘20s and ‘30s Hollywood brimming with infectious energy.
It doesn’t reach the gleeful heights of the first ‘Knives Out’ mystery, and somewhat suffers from a regressive narrative structure that privileges explanations more than sleuthing, but it is still fun to see Daniel Craig being amused by it all.
An Iranian doppelganger thriller exploring themes of identity and anxiety that is bursting with tense, moody atmosphere as a married couple encounters another couple that looks just like them.
Cote goes for a more naturalistic style in this meandering and ultimately inconsequential attempt at humanising nymphomania, as three hypersexual women reside in a rest home guided by a therapist and her assistant.
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.
A somewhat oblique and unconventional courtroom drama about the intersections of legality, spectres of neocolonialism and the plight of immigrant mothers which will require some patience, but Diop shows that she is not afraid to take narrative and stylistic risks.
With typical dark vibes set against the spectre of war and fascism, this stop-motion animated take on ‘Pinocchio’ from Del Toro impresses most with its strong writing and characterisations.
No doubt ahead of its predecessor both visually and technically, with compelling stretches of action and world immersion, but its storytelling depth and character development are unexpectedly shallow.
You would expect no less than a meta-filmic experience from Panahi where he slyly—and sometimes angrily—comments on the shackles of traditions and laws in relation to freedom, but for once he overreaches with his creative approach.
Aronofsky puts his lead character (this time Brendan Fraser in an extraordinary performance) through the wringer again in this superb chamber piece about a severely obese man hoping to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Eternality Tan 