Raw [2016] – ★★★★ 🥩 A staggering film debut with “unflinching” gore and disturbing atmosphere, reviving the best of what became known as the New French Extremity movement. Julia Ducournau’s debut feature film Raw provoked extreme reactions from critics and audiences alike. However, despite its grim story and graphic imagery, the film still managed to…
Category: World Cinema
“The Handmaiden” Review
The Handmaiden [2016] – ★★★★★ 🖌️ Fiercely intelligent, unapologetically erotic and endlessly stylish, The Handmaiden is a perfect film that toys with the audience’s expectations and formed beliefs. The Handmaiden is an award-winning erotic psychological drama directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy (2003), Stoker (2013)), and based on/inspired by the novel Fingersmith (2002) by Sarah Waters. The film…
“Elle” Review
Elle [2016] – ★★★★ A Dutch director known for Basic Instinct (1992) and Total Recall (1990), Paul Verhoeven has produced his first French-language film to date – Elle, based on a novel by Philippe Dijan (who is also known as a writer behind Betty Blue (1986)). Elle has already competed for a Palme d’Or at…
“Two Days, One Night” Review
Two Days, One Night [2014] – ★★1/2 Two Days, One Night is a critically acclaimed French-language film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (The Kid with a Bike (2011)). The plot is uncomplicated: Belgium; depressed married mother-of-two Sandra (Marion Cotillard) is having problems at work. The management of her solar-panels-making company proposed to make Sandra…
“La Corrispondenza” Review
La Corrispondenza [2016] – ★★1/2 La Corrispondenza or The Correspondence is a film by renowned director Giuseppe Tornatore, the mastermind behind cleverly-crafted La Migliore Offerta (2014), beautiful Malena (2000), and critically-acclaimed Cinema Paradiso (1988). The film, with music from Ennio Morricone, is about astrophysics student Amy Ryan (Olga Kurylenko) and her infatuation with older Professor…
“Tale of Tales” Review
Tale of Tales [2015] – ★★★1/2 Directed by Matteo Garrone, best known for his raw crime drama Gomorrah (2008), Tale of Tales or Il Racconto dei Racconti is a fantasy horror film which comprises three main stories seemingly running in parallel. The first story starts with the Queen (Salma Hayek) and King (John C. Reilly) of…
“Chinese Puzzle” Review
Chinese Puzzle (Casse-tête chinois) [2013] – ★★★★ Chinese Puzzle is the final film in Cédric Klapisch’s travel trilogy (other films are L’Auberge Espagnole (2001) and Russian Dolls (2004)). The film presents Xavier, a French writer (Romain Duris (Populaire (2012)), who leads a confused and stressful life in Paris. When his girlfriend of 10 years, Wendy (Kelly…
“A Royal Affair” Review
A Royal Affair [2012] – ★★★★★ 👑 A masterfully-executed historical drama, showing one of the most important and exciting periods in Danish history. Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category, this critically acclaimed Danish/Swedish film has so far been unable to pass unnoticed in any country. The engrossing story of a young Princess,…
“The Secret in their Eyes” Review
El Secreto de sus Ojos [2009] – ★★★★★ ‘¿Te das cuenta, Benjamín? El tipo puede cambiar de todo: de cara, de casa, de familia, de novia, de religión, de Dios…pero hay una cosa que no puede cambiar, Benjamín… no puede cambiar…de pasión’. (Pablo Sandoval) Praised by critics and audiences alike worldwide, El Secreto de sus…
“Caramel” Review
Caramel [2007] – ★★★★ Caramel is the first feature film of a Lebanese director Nadine Labaki. The film follows the lives of five Lebanese women, three of which are working in a beauty salon Si Belle in Beirut, Lebanon. Each of the five women has her own problem: Layale (Nadine Labaki) has an affair with…
“The Skin I Live In” Review
The Skin I Live In [2011] – ★★★★★ 🥼This artistically gorgeous and unflinching cinematic creation is a triumph of specifically Almodóvarian film-making. Hailed as one of the most provocative films of the year, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In is a bizarre drama about a genius plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) who…
Spotlight on Film 