chilling moral drama/thriller where dining table political disagreements become life or death dilemmas. lots of pleasing metaphorical setups. shows how theocracy self-produces by inducing paranoia and morally poisoning any person aspiring to upward mobility (like an invasive fig tree strangles its host). the parents ultimately value the ostensible stability of a system even when it has caused them suffering, even when their position of relative privilege perches precariously, at risk of collapsing with even the most arbitrary lapses of judgment.…
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllRecent reviews
More-
-
Love Is a Gun 2023
the released prisoner premise unfortunately lacks the biting social lens of the many recent films with a similar setup (black dog, ash is purest white, absence). at least some of the cinematography is cool though, can always trust taiwan to have nice art film aesthetics
Translated from by
Popular reviews
More-
Việt and Nam 2024
languid, folkloric and spiritual southeast asian cinema with magical realist elements - sounds like Apichatpong, but is unmistakably Vietnamese in its concerns. reminded me also of watching long day's journey into night: characters being haunted by a mysterious past, dream sequences that play with subjectivity, the nonlinear, elusive plot structure that slowly reveals its meaning.
while not formally flashy, produces some striking and surreal imagery (any of the mine sequences, the war museum where statues give the impression of time…
Translated from by -
The Buriti Flower 2023
mesmerising hybrid ethnography about the Krahô people of northeastern Brazil, and their fight against land encroachment and to preserve culture. whether any given scene is observational or staged, we viewers are often not entirely sure. seems like it tries to obscure our position as observers, although there are multiple scenes where this illusion falls apart. regardless, it's absolutely transportive, devastating in certain parts, and tracking a single family helps in holding our attention. was never bored despite being over two…
Translated from by
