Throughout the month of February, Japan Society and Agency of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Japan are presenting the inaugural ACA Cinema Project online film series, 21st Century Japan: Films from 2001-2020. This selection of 30 films, celebrating the past 20 years of Japanese cinema, is streaming online throughout the U.S. on the Japan…
Who doesn’t love a bit of satirical horror? Horror is a genre that is able to provide a violent lens through which societal issues can be examined and discussed without sacrificing the entertainment value of a film. Director Ivo van Aart attempts just this with The Columnist, a bloody, entertaining thrill ride that tackles feminism,…
Located near the River Derwent is the quirkiest tourist attraction in the Lake District. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStanding around 29 feet (nine meters) high and 49 feet (15 meters) in diameter, there is some debate over whether this massive rock is a glacial erratic from Scotland or a huge piece of…
★★★ Directed by: Dhanush S Nair Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Dhanush S Nair, Anand Manoj Film Review by: Jason Knight Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’A man develops a very sinister perspective towards sex and women. The film begins by showing the…
Situated right outside this train station is a life-sized bronze statue of steam railway innovator George Stephenson, often known as the “Father of the Railways.” Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStephenson lived in Chesterfield at nearby Tapton Hall during the latter part of his life. At the time, he was working on…
If you’d driven along Pittsburgh’s Webster Avenue decades ago, you may have caught a glimpse of Black suffragist and civil rights activist Daisy Lampkin at her home. The red-brick building on the corner stretches three stories tall, with ornamental cornices and rows of windows. It was Lampkin’s house for four decades, when she wasn’t traveling…
Celebrated filmmaker and stage director Pamela Sherrod Anderson will be hosting a virtual workshop on filmmaking Saturday, February 27th, at 10am CST. This exclusive virtual event is open to all as part of the No Malice Film Contest. The contest is currently inviting young filmmakers who are residents of Illinois between the ages of 11 and 21 to create short films…
This impressive two-level bridge spanning the canyon of the Tounjčica is also historically important. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe first level of the bridge was inspired by Roman architecture. It was constructed in 1775 to honor the Austrian emperor and Croatian king Joseph II. In 1836, with the renovation of the…
As a follow-up to his 2018 directorial debut for Tracey, Jun Li has yet again created a compelling piece of contemporary Hong Kong cinema with Drifting. The film examines homelessness and addiction in the region and does so with both honesty and warmth. Drifting had its world premiere at the 2021 edition of the International…
At first glance, this structure appears to be an enigma. It’s a bridge between two granite monoliths, an above-ground tunnel, and an aqueduct carrying water over a creek. This structure is actually part of an elaborate water system. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe Feather River Canyon is a scenic wonder. Sheer…
During the early 20th-century, several violent and controversial Iron Workers’ Union (IWU) strikes, protests, and a lengthy, but largely victim-free bombing campaign enraged Harrison Grey Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe IWU had a rare stronghold in Los Angeles and the two were on a…
★★★ Directed by: #SrinathRao Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #SrinathRao Starring: N/A Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Theo Rintoul Unscripted, unearthly, and undeniably pretty; photographer Srinath Rao has created a beautifully framed and composed documentary. This first episode is filmed…
The tension in Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.‘s Wild Indian is palpable to say the least, and the film’s illuminating score by Gavin Brivik helps cement the cinematic experience as one that is both dark and enthralling. Having started off his musical career as a guitarist, a wrist injury re-directed Brivik to music composition classes during…
In a Youtube video, entitled A Tale of Two Fritters, Ozoz Sokoh is in her kitchen making both akara, a Nigerian bean fritter, and acarajé, the Brazilian equivalent. As she reviews the ingredients and aromatics—black-eyed peas, Thai and Scotch bonnet peppers for heat, tomatoes, ginger, and orange-red palm oil, it’s easy to see that the…
“You didn’t tell me this was church camp?!” Netflix has released an official trailer for A Week Away, a big summer camp musical teen love story film from music video director Roman White. Launching on Netflix in March, for those interested in something extra sweet and cheesy. Troubled teen Will Hawkins has a run-in with…
Gina Carano won’t bow to bullies, then or now. The MMA groundbreaker turned actress opened up to Ben Shapiro about her shocking dismissal from “The Mandalorian.” Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonCarano described what she called “bullying” tactics Disney deployed to make her apologize for Tweets she said were neither mean-spirited nor…
Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers. Also, don’t forget to buy your Queerly Ever After merch right here. Akron, which, as you may have guessed, is set almost entirely in Akron, Ohio, opens on a woman,…
What a weird, wild, and sometimes wonderful virtual Oscar season this has been. And it is far from over, given that we are about two months out from the 93rd ceremony that will take place on April 25—the latest date ever. With some film productions having to shut down due to the coronavirus epidemic, the…
The concept of ‘love at first sight’ is strange and dubious, yet it always makes for a compelling and sumptuous cinematic premise. Hungary’s submission this year for the 2021 Academy Awards Best International Film Category, Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, is a movie with a great title and a great…
The county of Norfolk contains the world’s greatest concentration of medieval churches, with over 650. Since some of these churches date from at least half a millennia ago, some have not survived as well as others. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIn the woods of East Somerton barely stands one such church….
Legend has it that during the reign of King Jinheung of Silla, the county magistrate of today’s Goryongpo witnessed an extraordinary sight, ten dragons soared skyward as a sudden storm raged. A bolt of lightning hit one of the dragons, causing it to fall into the sea. This somehow calmed the storm and the county…