The South African film industry is complete with pristine production, creativity, and thoughtfulness. To my surprise, my American friends are only familiar with Darrell Roodts’ “Sarafina” and have yet to explore South African films beyond it. As a former resident of South Africa, I have been enamored with its storytelling abilities for ten years. Now,
Fairytales do come true. For “Anora,” it came five times with wins for the film itself, Sean Baker (a record-breaking four himself for Picture, Director, Editing, and Original Screenplay) and leading lady Mikey Madison (Best Actress). The 97th Annual Academy Awards kicked off and was full of magic, showing love for the City of Angels
What if minorities helped billionaires become better people? That’s a tad reductive, but the basic premise of “Running Point,” a fictionalized take on the life of Los Angeles Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss, is little more than a combination of “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” (with a tiny dash of “Arrested Development”), only, this time, the rich
No matter how dragged-out Oscar season can seem, I’m a fan of this time of year—mostly because the focus is on the quality of films, not how much they make at the box office. But there is one aspect of these months of build-up that can be really wearying: Once the Academy Award nominations are
As he sits on the throne as the King of the Streaming Era, writer/director Taylor Sheridan has sometimes been accused of being pretentious and even misogynistic. Whatever criticisms can be levied at his output, he is arguably the creator who has most earned the right to his pretensions today. He is more of an industry
In a time of great international anxiety, the television ground seems fertile for a bit of soapy escapism. Enter NBC’s highly-promoted “Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” which may not exactly wither and die, but struggles to grow in its four episodes sent to press, lacking in most of the key departments needed to make a network
Before we’re introduced to the characters and concept of Hulu’s new series “A Thousand Blows,” we’re told that “The following is inspired by real characters who lived and fought together in London’s East End.” These characters, despite the slight differences between them, all harbour a darkness within them, ranging from childhood traumas to the murder
After nearly two years, Showtime’s hit series “Yellowjackets” is finally back for its third season. Though Season 1 was critically acclaimed, the second suffered from an unraveling narrative that oftentimes felt too chaotic for the grounded show this once was. (A classic example of a bloated sophomore season that didn’t understand that the languid pace
As disorienting as it is delightful, Matthew Rankin’s “Universal Language” takes its avant-garde filmmaker’s irreverent approach to history—previously on display in “The Twentieth Century,” his ersatz reinterpretation of former Canadian prime minister William Mackenzie King’s rise to power—in feverishly fresh, surprising directions. Imagining a surreal interzone between Tehran and Winnipeg where the official languages are
Excess is sorely needed in today’s cultural landscape. Maximalism in American cinema today is often regulated to a muted kind of spectacle, rendered in ugly computer-generated action sequences and amorphous color palettes that soften the impact of blockbuster films. There is a distinct absence of the kind of work Joel Schumacher mastered and brought to