Category Archives: Movies

Review: Sages-femmes (Midwives)

Posted on August 14, 2024 by philipbrasor

“Labor” in all meanings of the word is the subject of this medical movie. Ostensibly centered on the horrifically hectic first weeks of two new midwives at a public hospital in the French city of Toulouse, Léa Fehner’s film, which … Continue reading →

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Review: Tótem

Posted on August 9, 2024 by philipbrasor

Though the Mexican director Lila Avilés has a way of withholding information that gives her domestic drama a touch of mystery, she reveals her thematic hand very early on. The protagonist of Tótem, seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes), is driving with … Continue reading →

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Review: Exterior Night

Posted on August 8, 2024 by philipbrasor

Though Marco Bellocchio’s second film about the kidnap/murder of former prime minister Aldo Moro by radical leftists in 1978 was obviously intended as a six-part TV series, it premiered at Cannes and was featured at other international film festivals before … Continue reading →

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Review: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Posted on July 25, 2024 by philipbrasor

Having only read a handful of short stories by Haruki Murakami, I don’t feel I’m in a position to make informed pronouncements about how faithfully filmmakers have adapted his work. I liked Lee Chang-dong’s Burning and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My … Continue reading →

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Review: The Royal Hotel

Posted on July 24, 2024 by philipbrasor

The last time director Kitty Green and actor Julia Garner entertained us, it was with a clammy study of malevolent male power in the entertainment industry. In The Assistant, Garner played the titular factotum to a faceless Weinsteinian indie producer … Continue reading →

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Review: Despicable Me 4 and Fly Me to the Moon

Posted on July 19, 2024 by philipbrasor

The Despicable Me franchise just became the most successful animation series ever, box office-wise, which is only believable given inflation and the fact that I assume the franchise includes the Minions-focused films. In any case, resistance is futile, and the … Continue reading →

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Review: How to Have Sex

Posted on July 18, 2024 by philipbrasor

The provocative title could be taken two ways, as either a manual or a philosophical contemplation, but the purport of Molly Manning Walker’s script suggests neither. Despite the manic energy displayed by the three British teens as they arrive at … Continue reading →

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Review: La Chimera

Posted on July 17, 2024 by philipbrasor

Josh O’Connor’s most characteristic facial expression is the sheepish grin, a look he made his own when he played the young Prince of Wales in the third season of The Crown, which is odd because Charles in real life never … Continue reading →

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Review: May December

Posted on July 12, 2024 by philipbrasor

Todd Haynes’ latest study of the undercurrents of American notoriety is his most willfully complicated work. It’s based on the 90s scandal involving the late Mary Kay Letourneau, an elementary school teacher who at the age of 34 had sex … Continue reading →

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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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