Locarno isn’t a film festival. It’s a pilgrimage. My journey to the legendary festival, which celebrated its 77th edition this year, involved planes, trains, and automobiles to land in Milan, Italy before crossing the border into Locarno. The odyssey felt well worth it when I caught sight of the narrow stone pebble streets, the gelato-colored … Read more
“The Killer That Stalked New York” (1950) Let’s just say after COVID — I use the word “after” very loosely — Earl McEvoy’s pandemic thriller “The Killer That Stalked New York” hits a bit differently. Based on a 1948 Cosmopolitan article by Milton Lehman, it follows Sheila Bennet (Evelyn Keyes) — who has recently returned … Read more
Even with these petty battles, the country house is serene, and the two families appear to genuinely care for each other. So when tragedy strikes at the lake, Tomas playfully throws Ernesta’s niece in the lake, only to see her disappear in the water—it pierces through the film’s breezy rhythm. From that moment on, “Drowning … Read more
“Eight Postcards from Utopia,” co-directed by Jude and Christian Ferencz-Flatz, is a 71-minute long montage of Romanian television commercials. Broken into eight parts with titles like “Money Talks,” “Found Poetry,” and “Masculine/Feminine” (an obvious nod to Jean-Luc Godard) the commercials are situated in the edit with varying intentions. Sometimes it’s simply hilarious to look at the … Read more
This is admittedly a broad comparison, but if you can imagine “The Mosquito Coast” told from Reverend Spellgood’s perspective, you’d probably come somewhat close to “Transamazonia,” South African director Pia Marais’ quiet Amazon-set mood piece. Marais’ film similarly deconstructs godlike figures, questions the reality of miracles, and sees the wiser child learn that their father … Read more