The Parent Trap: Sang-soo Takes Sideways Swipe at Social Etiquette
A constant purveyor of how subtle social cues are obliterated by the lowered inhibitions of alcohol, Hong Sang-soo unveils his meatiest narrative in years with What Does That Nature Say To You. The set-up is familiarly threadbare, with numerous lackadaisical interactions between some sort of creative type confronted by new people whose orbits slowly circle one another as they engage in an eat/drink/be merry scenario. But it builds to a surprisingly weighty climax in a third act which is more confrontational about duplicitous human behaviors than most of his past works.… Read the rest
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people,” said Eleanor Roosevelt. Dipping its irreverent toes into each of these camps is The Safe House, the latest film from Swiss director Lionel Baier, adapted from the novel by 
Despite reflecting the distressing normalization of wartime on an entire generation of Ukraine’s youth, there’s a semblance of hopefulness in Kateryna Gornostai’s Timestamp, a documentary which was shot across 2023/2024 throughout the country as Russia’s continued aggression re-shapes day-to-day experiences. What’s hopeful remains in the resiliency of ongoing education for children who aren’t able to attend in-person classes, either because of ongoing air raids or, in some cities, where school houses have not yet been rebuilt. A self-professed mosaic presentation, the film drifts between various Ukrainian cities, confirming their status as liberated or destroyed, as well as their distance from ongoing war zones.… 
Ownership is an unsaid key word in Kontinental ’25, the latest perambulating spasm from Romanian director 
For his sophomore film Yunan, intended as the second chapter in a thematic trilogy following 2021’s The Stranger, director 
With his latest film Dreams (Sex Love) (aka Drømmer), the final installment in his thematic trilogy, Norwegian director 
