Annapurna Sriram’s feature debut “Fu*cktoys,” about a sex worker earning a living while undoing a curse, is farce, psychodrama, theological inquiry, softcore, satire, and tragedy, all at the same time. And in an era when nearly everyone has gone digital, it’s been shot on 16mm color film by Cory Fraiman-Lott (another name film buffs should

Women over 50 years young are mad as hell and not taking it anymore. They are tired of being sidelined. They are creating scripts and roles for themselves that allow them to be portrayed as smart, sexy, viable human beings, ones that aren’t sitting at home knitting just because they clicked over into the AARP

On Fri. Jan. 20, 1961, CBS aired the first and only episode of a new game show, “You’re in the Picture.” A week later, the ill-fated show’s host, Jackie Gleason, in an extraordinary post-mortem, explained to viewers “how it was possible for a group of trained people to put on so big a flop.” Show

Horror is a big part of Austin, Texas. It’s not just the wonderful Fantastic Fest that unfolds every September, but the genre has been a major part of every SXSW I’ve ever attended. Even the Headliners here have an adults-only edge to them from the gore of “Death of a Unicorn” to the murderous betrayals

At this year’s SXSW, I’ve found that it’s easier to spot the thematic throughlines across projects. It’s a testament to the programmers for creating a line-up where the films feel in conversation with each other. Where else do you get films like “Together” and “Friendship,”–both of which explore the physical and mental toll of codependency–have

A film finally hit this year’s relatively down SXSW like a bolt of lightning, producing multiple in-film applause breaks and a standing ovation at the end. Andrew Patterson’s “The Rivals of Amziah King” is a crowd-pleasing wonder, a new classic of the American South that hums with earnest adoration for the people of this region,

Since its first season debuted in 2021, Prime Video’s “The Wheel of Time” has suffered from bloated storytelling and worldbuilding that has confused even the most fervent fantasy consumers. Despite reports that it is one of the streamer’s most popular series, it hasn’t fully garnered the attention of general audiences and the respect of devoted

Thirty-four million one hundred eighty-six thousand six hundred ninety-eight minutes is another way of saying 65 years. Over that time span, Ae-sun and Gwan-sik find more than a million ways to express their adoration, but they rarely say the words. Instead, little by little, with acts of care, loyalty, and fierce protection, they weather all

As the director of Disney+’s coming-of-age drama “Out of My Mind,” Amber Sealey was knee-deep for months in preproduction, as immersed in the creative process as she was in the technicalities that come with helming a film. But when it came to the early moments on set with first-time actress Phoebe-Rae Taylor, who plays a

The absurdist drama “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” begins with one of the most indelible images to grace the silver screen in recent memory: a young woman, Shula (Susan Chardy, in a star-making debut performance), donning Missy Elliott’s iconic bejeweled mask and oversized inflatable black suit from her music video for “The Rain,” driving alone