Category Archives: Movies

Review: Grace

Posted on October 19, 2024 by philipbrasor

With Russia in the international cultural dog house thanks to its antics in Ukraine, it might be surprising that this art house film has made such an impact on the festival circuit. But not only are there no martial or … Continue reading →

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Review: Joyland

Posted on October 18, 2024 by philipbrasor

In this debut feature by Pakistani filmmaker Saim Sadiq, the protagonist, Haider (Ali Junejo), is introduced playing hide-and-seek with his nieces in the family compound in Lahore. Haider is comfortable with kids in a milieu lorded over by his wheelchair-bound … Continue reading →

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Review: Exhuma

Posted on October 17, 2024 by philipbrasor

A truism about the Korean box office is that it’s mainly supported by mid-budget mainstream fare, which is a bit of a dodge because it’s often difficult to tell where mid-budget movies end and blockbusters begin. This long, incident-packed occult … Continue reading →

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29th Busan International Film Festival: A conversation with Shonali Bose and Nilesh Maniyar

Posted on October 15, 2024 by philipbrasor

Several years ago, Chika Kapadia, an Indian man of many talents and appetites, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and given two months to live. He contacted his long-time friends, Mumbai-based filmmakers Shonali Bose and Nilesh Maniyar, and asked them to … Continue reading →

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Review: Joker: Folie à Deux

Posted on October 11, 2024 by philipbrasor

I’m not sure what to make of this genre of movies and TV shows that exists simultaneously within a superhero universe and without it. In the first Todd Phillips Joker movie the only real narrative connection, besides the setting, to … Continue reading →

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Review: About Dry Grasses

Posted on October 10, 2024 by philipbrasor

Much less tedious than the only other Nuri Bilge Ceylan movie I’ve seen, Winter Sleep, this typically long award-winner proceeds leisurely into a narrative that mostly stays on course aside from a few detours into philosophical muckraking. The protagonist, middle … Continue reading →

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Review: The Great Escaper

Posted on October 9, 2024 by philipbrasor

Reportedly Michael Caine’s last film and definitely Glenda Jackson’s last because she died not long after it was completed, this widely reported true story is further proof that old British actors, male and female, can still not only find work, … Continue reading →

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29th Busan International Film Festival, Oct. 8, 2024

Posted on October 8, 2024 by philipbrasor

I’m sitting in Gimhae Airport now waiting for my flight, which is very early, meaning I’ll get home before lunch. As I think I mentioned last year (the year before?), several years ago the festival stopped providing transportation between the … Continue reading →

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29th Busan International Film Festival, Oct. 6, 2024

Posted on October 6, 2024 by philipbrasor

The high point of my Saturday at the festival was interviewing Shonali Bose and Nilesh Maniyar, the directors of the Competition Documentary entry, A Fly on the Wall, which is about a friend of theirs, Chika Kapadia, who, after being … Continue reading →

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29th Busan International Film Festival, Oct. 5, 2024

Posted on October 5, 2024 by philipbrasor

The assassination of President Park Chung-hee in 1979 has received a lot of cinematic attention in South Korea recently, as if some kind of floodgates were opened. Several years ago there was The Man Who Stood Next, which thoroughly probed … Continue reading →

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