Social media has been abuzz with debates about Olivia Wilde’s debut, from its marketing campaign to its struggle to make gains at the box office to questions about its diversity (or lack thereof). I want […]
Weekly Spotlight #7: Chronicle of a Disappearance (Suleiman, 1996)
In this weekly series, The Lonely Film Critic highlights an older release of interest, whether it be an oft-overlooked gem or a classic worth revisiting. This week, to mark the conclusion of the Cannes Film Festival, we put the spotlight on Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, whose latest film received both a Special Mention and the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film In Competition.
Black Mother (Allah, 2018)
Black Mother is filmmaker and photographer Khalik Allah’s benediction to his homeland of Jamaica. In his polyphonic and contrapuntal vision, it is a place of many faces and attitudes, with eyes that see the road ahead […]
Weekly Spotlight #6: I Killed My Mother (Dolan, 2009)
In this weekly series, The Lonely Film Critic highlights an older release of interest, whether it be an oft-overlooked gem or a classic worth revisiting. This week, as the Cannes Film Festival continues in France, we take a look at another filmmaker hoping to win the coveted Palme d’Or: French-Canadian provocateur Xavier Dolan, who started his polarizing career with an equally-polarizing film called I Killed My Mother.
Poms (Hayes, 2019)
Anyone who watches Poms will manage to crack a smile a few times, even if they recognize internally that they’re smiling at shtick that isn’t particularly intelligent. It’s humour that’s meant to be broad and instantly digestible, […]
Weekly Spotlight #5: Hotel (Hausner, 2004)
In this weekly series, The Lonely Film Critic highlights an older release of interest, whether it be an oft-overlooked gem or a classic worth revisiting. This week, as the Cannes Film Festival gets underway, we highlight a past feature from one of the filmmakers competing for this year’s Palme d’Or: Jessica Hausner.
Weekly Spotlight #4: Smithereens (Seidelman, 1982)
In this weekly series, The Lonely Film Critic highlights an older release of interest, whether it be an oft-overlooked gem or a classic worth revisiting. This week we recommend Susan Seidelman’s bracing Felliniesque debut, which is set during the waning years of the New York punk scene.
Weekly Spotlight #3: Séance on a Wet Afternoon (Forbes, 1964)
In this new weekly series, The Lonely Film Critic highlights an older release of interest, whether it be an oft-overlooked gem or a classic worth revisiting. This week we unearth a startling mix of crime and horror from the Swinging Sixties, fronted by a memorable Oscar-nominated performance.
Weekly Spotlight #2: Moses and Aaron (Straub & Huillet, 1975)
In this new weekly series, The Lonely Film Critic highlights an older release of interest, whether it be an oft-overlooked gem or a classic worth revisiting. This week, to commemorate the Easter-Passover holiday, we check out the lesser-known Biblical adaptation Moses and Aaron from French directing duo Straub-Huillet.
Hotel Mumbai (Maras, 2018)
I don’t want to write too much about Hotel Mumbai because I got my fill of it in the theatre and thinking about it after the fact is like a PTSD trigger. On one hand, one can […]
Weekly Spotlight #1: Murder by Contract (Lerner, 1958)
In this new weekly series, The Lonely Film Critic highlights an older release of interest, whether it be an oft-overlooked gem or a classic worth revisiting. This week, our inaugural film is Irving Lerner’s jaunty existentialist noir Murder by Contract.
Guava Island (Murai, 2019)
Last year Janelle Monáe released a conceptual “emotion picture” to act as a thematic and visual supplement to her third studio album Dirty Computer. Now Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) is taking a similar approach with Guava […]
Giant Little Ones (Behrman, 2018)
Following on the heels of LGBTQ+ coming-of-age stories like Love, Simon from last year, Giant Little Ones is another film that highlights the struggles queer teenagers face in toxic environments like high school, where latent homophobia and bullying make […]
Dumbo (Burton, 2019)
These Disney live-action remakes are threatening to create more cynics than converts, as we haven’t yet seen one that can stand on its own and make a case for itself. Worse yet, 2019 is going […]
The Upside (Burger, 2017)
I have a dim recollection of The Intouchables, the original film on which The Upside is based. I remember liking it for being both heartwarming and funny, but after many years and several hundreds of films later, I […]
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