Author Archives: philipbrasor

Review: Parthenope

Posted on August 21, 2025 by philipbrasor

Paolo Sorrentino may not be the most characteristically Italian filmmaker, but he’s obviously the most self-conscious one, an attribute that could be extended to his status in post-New Wave European cinema. Many of the themes of his latest film, the … Continue reading →

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Review: Land of Bad

Posted on August 15, 2025 by philipbrasor

Not as awful as its title, this military actioner mainly gets by with the help of Russell Crowe in another of his late career moves into B-movie territory. He plays a U.S. Air Force officer named Eddie “Reaper” Grimm whose … Continue reading →

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Review: Jurassic World: Rebirth

Posted on August 8, 2025 by philipbrasor

I’ve never expected coherence from the Jurassic franchise, and the 7th installment didn’t challenge those expectations at all, though its development is at least linear. Whatever associations its story has with past chapters either don’t exist or flew over my … Continue reading →

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Review: I’m Still Here

Posted on August 7, 2025 by philipbrasor

It’s easy to see why Walter Salles’s adaptation of Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir of the abduction and murder of his father in the 1970s by the Brazilian authorities won the Oscar for Best International Feature. It’s earnest in its outrage … Continue reading →

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Review: The Voices of the Silenced and A Compassionate Spy

Posted on August 2, 2025 by philipbrasor

Co-director Park Maeui worked with her veteran documentarian mother, Park Soo-nam, on The Voices of the Silenced, a detailed review of the latter’s life and work as the former digitizes that work, which was originally shot in 16mm. Both Parks … Continue reading →

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Review: Kneecap

Posted on August 1, 2025 by philipbrasor

Sort of a musical biopic and sort of a piss-take on musical biopics, Rich Peppiatt’s movie about the titular Irish-language rap group messes with the audience’s expectations as he fashions a comedy of ill manners to make a point about … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Former maiko reveals a dark side of traditional Japanese arts

Posted on July 31, 2025 by philipbrasor

One of the aspects of the Johnny & Associates sexual abuse scandal that made it even more disturbing was the notion that the media knew for years about the abuse and said nothing. It almost seemed as if most media … Continue reading →

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Review: Until Dawn

Posted on July 31, 2025 by philipbrasor

Another video game adaptation, and this one really feels like one in the way it keeps returning to a starting point. The plot structure, however, is very contrived and not particularly original. A group of young friends drive into a … Continue reading →

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Review: All We Imagine as Light

Posted on July 25, 2025 by philipbrasor

The title of Indian director Payal Kapadia’s Cannes-winning first fiction feature is explained near the end when a character talks about working in a dark place for days on end. It gets to the point, he says, where light is … Continue reading →

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Review: When It Melts

Posted on July 24, 2025 by philipbrasor

Based on a novel, Veerle Baetens’ movie about a young woman who has never gotten over a teenage trauma has an unsettling allure at first, since the source of the trauma remains hidden. That’s not to say it can’t be … Continue reading →

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