TIFF INTERVIEW: ‘Medusa’ Director Anita Rocha da Silveira
In Anita Rocha da Silveira’s sophomore feature Medusa, a group of chaste young women split their time between church services and beating up shameful sinners in the name of the Lord. When watched through the lenses of Bolsonaro’s Brazil, the film feels like a cautionary…
REVIEW: Medusa (TIFF 2021)
In April of 2016, Veja, one of Brazil’s most prominent magazines, published a profile on Marcela Temer – the young wife of president Michel Temer – titled (in literal translation) “Marcela Temer: beautiful, demure and a homemaker.” The article took the country by storm, igniting…
REVIEW: Hellbender (Fantasia 2021)
In Stephenie Meyer’s famous teen saga Twilight, a vampire is at their most powerful when young – but also at their most dangerous. Since a similar concept is employed in occult coming-of-age tale Hellbender, it is fitting that Zelda Adams – who gives life to…
REVIEW: King Car (Fantasia 2021)
Brazilian cinema has surprisingly flourished under the inhospitable conditions imposed by the Bolsonaro regime. Well, not quite surprisingly, since political turmoil has fuelled cinematic production in the country for decades, from Glauber Rocha’s Aesthetics of Hunger to Eduardo Coutinho’s sharp, groundbreaking documentaries. The current government,…
REVIEW: Here After (2021)
There is no good way to start this one, I’m afraid, as one could turn Here After back to front and still not find much worth highlighting. Cristina Ricci comes to mind, being the promotional team’s royal flush, but is barely in it for more…
REVIEW: Pig (2021)
Nicolas Cage running on a wild-goose chase after his beloved truffle-hunting pig. Standing on its bonkers premise alone, Pig would have already been something. Alas, what starts as yet another genre film unravels into a moving exploration of how perpetuated patterns of masculinity stand in…
REVIEW: A Perfect Enemy (2021)
“Why would I go to a therapist when airports exist?” asks a cheerful Tessel (Athena Strates) to a gloomy Jeremiasz (Tomasz Kot). The duo met only a few moments before when the young woman stopped the man’s car as a last attempt to make it…
REVIEW: Flashback (2021)
Comfortably settling into adulthood, recently landing a prominent corporate job and planning the next steps with longtime girlfriend Karen (Hannah Gross), Frederick Fritzell (Dylan O’Brien) finds his seemingly perfect life plagued by buried memories of a highschool colleague. Fred remembers her name, Cindy (Maika Monroe),…
REVIEW: Paper Spiders (2021)
When the signs first begin to appear, they are seemingly trivial. The new family next door reverses their moving truck into Dawn’s (Lili Taylor) tree, causing the woman to angrily shout through the window. Her daughter, Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen), shrugs the whole thing off…
ROAD TO OSCARS: The Documentary Shorts (2021)
A Concerto is a Conversation ★★★★ In preparation for the opening night of his concerto titled For a Younger Self, Oscar-winning composer Kris Bowers reflects on someone else’s youth: his grandfather’s, Horace. As the man’s health deteriorates, Bowers feels the urge to make the most…
REVIEW: Horatio (2021)
Stuck in a hideout in the company of his hostage daughter Petula (Maria Luísa Mendonça) and his butch bodyguard Milton (Marcelo Drummond), Horácio (Zé Celso) can comfortably say he has seen better days. A prominent cigarette smuggler, clearly involved in many other shady yet never…
REVIEW: The Fever (2021)
In 2020, Amazon deforestation in Brazil increased by almost 10%, the highest number in twelve years, with over 11,000 square metres gone. Since taking office at the beginning of 2019, president Jair Bolsonaro has consistently made a mockery of environmental enforcement laws, prioritising the interests…
SXSW INTERVIEW: ‘Executive Order’ Director Lázaro Ramos
Lázaro Ramos is a Brazilian actor, presenter, producer, director and author who, over the last 20 years, has received more than 70 awards, played almost one hundred characters in cinema, theatre and television, and has published five books. He has been a UNICEF ambassador since…
