Author Archives: philipbrasor

Review: Àma Gloria and Strange Way of Life

Posted on July 11, 2024 by philipbrasor

The process of parental imprinting is an easy to comprehend miracle, but it’s rarely been explicated as effortlessly as it is in Marie Amachoukeli-Garsacq’s second feature, Àma Gloria. The parent, in this case, is not biological, but rather a nanny … Continue reading →

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Review: Smugglers

Posted on July 10, 2024 by philipbrasor

It’s easy to see why Kim Hye-su is the most popular female actor in Korea. In a culture where a certain beauty standard dictates how women who spend their time in the public eye (not to mention men) are supposed … Continue reading →

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Review: Richland

Posted on July 6, 2024 by philipbrasor

For those who found Oppenheimer less than forthcoming about its subject’s real feelings toward the use of his terrifying invention at the end of World War II, this documentary on the town created by the U.S. government to produce the … Continue reading →

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Review: Bleeding Love and Scrapper

Posted on July 5, 2024 by philipbrasor

Someday, maybe soon, there is bound to be a special section on Prime Video or even the Criterion Channel dedicated to movies starring real-life parent-offspring acting teams ideally playing parents and offspring. Though Ethan Hawke has directed his daughter Maya, … Continue reading →

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Review: Ferrari

Posted on July 4, 2024 by philipbrasor

No pun intended, but Michael Mann has always been a man’s director. His protagonists deal in conflicts that seem particularly masculine in nature, which is why, I suspect, he likes stories set in a past where gender distinctions were more … Continue reading →

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Review: The Moon

Posted on July 3, 2024 by philipbrasor

Last year, this big-budget production was the whipping boy of the failed post-pandemic Korean box office, whose unexpectedly low numbers were initially blamed on a movie-going public still stuck on streaming. Actually, the crappy performance of The Moon, the flagship … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Will the new bills make their own existence unnecessary?

Posted on July 1, 2024 by philipbrasor

On July 3, the Bank of Japan will start circulating new paper currency, which is something it does every 20 years or so. The ostensible reason is to check counterfeiting, a Sisyphean task since the fact that the bank has … Continue reading →

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Review: Walk Up

Posted on June 28, 2024 by philipbrasor

Hong Sangsoo’s newest Japan theatrical release could have been titled Quitting, just like Zhang Yang’s criminally overlooked 2001 feature about an actor on the verge of actually cracking up. It’s one of the few Hong movies of recent memory where … Continue reading →

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Review: Anselm

Posted on June 22, 2024 by philipbrasor

Wim Wenders’ portrait of Anselm Kiefer sketches in several biographical details of the septuagenarian Austrian-German multimedia artist, but for the most part dwells on his work and what that work means in the world. Consequently, there are holes in my … Continue reading →

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Review: Bad Boys: Ride or Die and The Watchers

Posted on June 21, 2024 by philipbrasor

Since the last installment in this bombastic comedy-action franchise practically determined that its two heroes, the buddy cop team of Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowery (Will Smith), were on the retirement track, this fourth episode feels kind of … Continue reading →

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