Ninja Thyberg‘s feature directorial debut, Pleasure, is the kind of cinematic experience that shakes you at your core in a way that only good filmmaking is able to do. With a breakout performance from newcomer, Sofia Kappel, the film uses the adult entertainment industry as a vessel to explore society’s often fractured understanding of ambition…
At the biannual Genting World Lion Dance Championship in Malaysia in 2018, a series of 21 poles, ranging from four to eight feet in height, lined the arena. On top of each one was a platform 12 inches in diameter. Suddenly, a pale blue Chinese lion with a white fur trim jumped up onto the…
In the opening sequence of Pleasure, we linger on a black screen as intimate sounds from a porn set play in the background. This is followed by an operatic choral interlude, which so perfectly ascribes the duality of Ninja Thyberg’s striking examination of the adult entertainment industry. Bouncing between the idea of business versus pleasure,…
As Sundance wraps up, I was able to watch four more films that are completely unlike one another. Not just in story, but tone and presentation. In this report, I was able to watch a sweet dramedy, a truly spectacular drama, and a strange documentary that makes you question reality. Lastly, I finished with a…
Filmmaker Interview by Chris Olson Your film, Princess, has been selected for the BFI Future Film Festival. Why did you want to be a part of this event? EK: The opportunity to showcase princess alongside other young filmmakers – we’re only 16-25 for a while! I’ve also had a couple of friends screen their film…
A bad sequel feels like an act of betrayal. The question isn’t ‘why did they make this (the obvious answer — money)’ but, ‘how could they make something so rotten?’ Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIt’s been 25 years but I’m still smarting over Tim Pope’s “The Crow: City of Angels,” easily…
If you’re a fan of mind-mending science fiction, then you should probably know writer/director Mike Cahill. Part of a trio of filmmakers to emerge from Georgetown University, their unusual and quite frankly cloistered development means their projects don’t follow traditional Hollywood formulas. Cahill himself burst onto the scene with 2011’s Another Earth, a movie co-written…
The exterior of this indie theater is eye-catching enough, a multicolored marquee attracts visitors, but it’s the inside that’s truly an exceptional work of art. The walls are decorated to resemble a Mayan temple, complete with glyphs and native-themed patterns as far as the eyes can see. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho…
“Do you see where we are? We’re in hell right now!” Gravitas Ventures has released an official trailer for Necropath, a deranged maniacal horror from filmmaker Joshua Reale. The award-winning film, created with the thought of what happens to the movie monsters who wander freely during extreme pandemics, is available to watch on VOD services…
The Carnforth Coke Ovens, are a group of five beehive coke kilns alongside the Lancaster Canal in Carnforth. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonDuring the 1800s, coal was brought up the Lancaster Canal from the Lancashire coalfield by barge. Once put into the kilns, the coal was converted into industrial coke. These five beehive-shaped…
There are lots of reasons to move a rhinoceros. In Namibia, where one-third of the world’s 5,500 black rhinos live, conservationists must strategically relocate the animals to sustain local populations and encourage genetic diversity. Sometimes rhinos are moved to national parks, where they can be protected from poachers who relentlessly pursue their valuable horns. Others…
Japan is often intolerant of vandalism, making it a harsh environment for street art to survive. Although some graffiti can be found in alleys across Tokyo, more or less, those that stand out are quickly removed by the authorities. Even works by world-famous artists such as Banksy and Invader are no exception, but one piece has…
For many, running errands like picking up milk or posting a letter is a quick pop to the shops. Want to get a coffee afterward? Sure. Need to order a new fridge because yours is on the fritz? Don’t worry, delivery won’t be a hassle. In director and co-writer Farah Nabulsi’s short film The Present—alongside…
Platform 17 is no regular train station platform. Today, it stands as a Holocaust memorial just outside Berlin. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe first deportation train departed from Platform 17 on October 18, 1941. By the end of World War II, more than 50,000 members of the German Jewish population from…
A short trek from the small town of Raiano, in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the narrow gorges of the Aterno river carve their way through the rugged mountains that rise above. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonNestled on a rocky outcrop and partly built across the gorges is a medieval hermitage…
Out of the dozens of grottos that populate Portugal’s southern coastline, there’s one that stands out, the Benagil Caves. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonJust like any other sea cave in the Algarve region, this one was shaped by the pounding Atlantic waves. Yet, unlike other grottos, the Benagil cave bathes in…
An unrivaled master of the macabre, John Carpenter is best known as the man behind horror classics like “Halloween,” “The Thing,” and “Assault of Precinct 13.” Rightly hailed as masterpieces on the strengths of their sharply unnerving stories and muscular direction, Carpenter’s best films—also including “Escape from New York” and “They Live!”—benefit from his pioneering…
Jack Hampshire could never say no to a pram. Dozens of prams—otherwise known as buggies or baby carriages—hung in rows from custom-built racks on the walls of his barn. In his large 15th-century manor house, complete with a moat, you couldn’t walk without tripping over a Victorian push-chair or an Edwardian baby carriage. He had…
In Jakub Piatek‘s first feature film, he takes us back to 1999, right on the eve of the new millennium. All the angst and uncertainty of that time period gets infused into a hostage situation, where a lone gunman (Bartosz Bielenia) enters a local television station in Poland with eery intentions. Prime Time premiered at…
The Boston Cream Pie is a simple dessert: two golden sponge cakes with pastry cream between them and a thin layer of chocolate ganache on top. But the cake—and it’s definitely a cake, not a pie—has become so legendary during its more than 150-year history that it’s now the official state dessert of Massachusetts. This…
When individuals in a group of elephants have been separated, even for the briefest of moments, they get rather excited upon reuniting. “They’re sort of like dogs who’ve come back to their owners after being separated for 15 minutes. Super excited, they’re saying, ‘Where have you been, it’s so good to see you again,’” says…