Category Archives: Festivals&Academy

BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN

Reporting from the Denver Film Festival. It opens with sex: Explicit, hardcore sex in the bedroom. The woman before the camera is Emilia (Katia Pascariu), a teacher at a local private school. The man holding the camera is Eugene (Stefan Steel), Emilia’s husband. Looking to spice up a regular evening of rumpy-pumpy, they pull out […]

BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN

TITANE

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Titane is a complex film, one that doesn’t hold back in its portrayal of unconditional love. The bold and sometimes intense imagery of the human body put on display in the film is an unwavering/uncompromising vision. That is the vision of the director, Julia Ducournau. Released to critical acclaim and even winning the palm’d’or at the […]

‘Titane’ and the Politics of Dancing

‘As in Heaven’ Review: “The Curse of Femininity”

The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off with a rocky start. However, the first films to initiate the festival were anything but disappointing. As in Heaven (Du som er i himlen), Tea Lindeburg’s directorial debut, was nothing short of an artistic dream. On a farm in the 1800s, a young 14-year-old girl named Lise (Flora […]

‘As in Heaven’ Review: “The Curse of Femininity”

TIFF 2021: “Dear Evan Hansen”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 5 out of 5. There are always moments when we think we are misunderstood, blamed and judged for something we had nothing to do with. Also, people think if we are emotional, loud and extremely cheerful or angry from the outside, we are bad and should be ignored. Evan Hansen (reprising his role […]

TIFF 2021: “Dear Evan Hansen”

Agnes

Direct from Montreal’s premiere genre film festival, Fantasia, may I present: Agnes. Sphenisciphobia is the fear of nuns. That’s going to be relevant very shortly. Are you afraid of nuns? I don’t find them particularly scary myself, but there is something creepy about them, stripped of identity and personality, existing outside of society, of culture, of […]

Agnes

Tribeca 2021: “Ailey”

Dancing is an important element that helps tell the story of love, passion, struggle, pain and even death. It also reveals the identity of the one who performs it and of those who watch.

From director Jamila Wignot, “Ailey” is a beautifully crafted documentary that centers around Alvin Ailey, an African-American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Tribeca 2021: “Ailey”

Daniel Kaluuya Unintentionally Summed Up Oscars Diversity the Best: There’s Still a Lot of Work to Do

There were high hopes for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)’ 93rd Academy Awards ceremony. For the first time in history, nearly half of the nominees in acting categories were people of color, and 70 women were nominated across all 23 categories. These were unprecedented numbers for an awards show that has existed…

Daniel Kaluuya Unintentionally Summed Up Oscars Diversity the Best: There’s Still a Lot of Work to Do