Messy, chaotic and overlong but perverse, thought-provoking and utterly ingenious, the Romanian provoc-auteur channels A.I. in his filmmaking with a humongous smirk on his face, as his meta-film implosively deconstructs ‘Dracula’.
A father, with son in tow, follows a group of ravers to find his missing daughter in the dusty desert of North Africa, in Laxe’s stunning, foreboding road movie about faith and despair, marked by thumping beats, shuffling bodies, and bellowing trucks.
Winner of Best Director at the Berlinale, this assured work about growing up in a Chinese village in 1991 as the winds of modernity begin to change lives, reminds one of a cross between Zhang Yimou’s early rural dramas and Yang’s Yi Yi.
Park channels detestation, deception and anxiety into this slick and entertaining, if somewhat protracted, black comedy about a family man who loses his cushy job and thus must devise a nefarious plan to eliminate his competition to get the new job he so desires.
PTA’s tour de force, operatic long-arc film not only sets a new tone for studio filmmaking but ‘bobbles’ with such incredible airtight momentum that it oscillates between absurdist comedy and high-stakes action-thriller with effortless ease, as a man is haunted by the consequences of his past political actions.
This confirms Aster as one of America’s most provocative auteurs, as he uses a fictional town on the brink of the coronavirus to capture the post-2020 zeitgeist of rage-baiting politics, the toxicity of social media and post-truth nihilism, backed by a sensational turn by Joaquin Phoenix.
This Berlinale Golden Bear winner is one of the best films of 2025, exploring how a teenage girl’s crush on her teacher sparks questions about literary catharsis and ownership of private feelings, as she mulls over publishing her sacred experiences of ‘love’.
The Romanian master is back with this Berlinale Best Screenplay winner as he continues his deeply unique reflection on human folly and irony, about a bailiff who feels extreme guilt after something devastating happens in her line of work.
Boyle returns with a banger in this solid third film of the cult zombie franchise, as he finds another peak, sonically and experientially, with this tense, gory and energetic work that is also surprisingly moving as a meditation on mortality.
A crafty businessman with a death wish concocts a shady scheme in Anderson’s new work that seems to have diminishing returns, though backed by strong performances from Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera.
Eternality Tan 