854 Contributions by: Isabella Endrinal (Page 18)

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Lucrecia Martel, Maeve Jinkings, Rubens Santos, Sônia Braga

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho

One of Studio Ghibli’s overlooked gems, My Neighbors the Yamadas is a charming anthology film about a modern-day Japanese family. The film sets itself apart from other Ghibli films through its unique doodle-like watercolor animation and its short piano themes. While the vignettes may just depict regular family conflicts, the scenes still feel compelling due to the Yamadas’ imagination of the metaphors that they use. Exaggerating the metaphors keeps the audience breathless in certain strategic moments - most notably in the wedding day speech of the mother of the bride. While not as fantastical as Ghibli’s other offerings, the completely digital My Neighbors the Yamadas finds humor in and celebrates the mundane.

Genre: Animation, Drama, Family

Actor: Akiko Yano, Chôchô Miyako, Hayato Isohata, Kosanji Yanagiya, Masako Araki, Naomi Uno, Tamao Nakamura, Toru Masuoka, Yukiji Asaoka

Director: Isao Takahata

Rating: PG

Aggressive, grungy, and rebellious, writer-director Fruit Chan’s debut film captures teen nihilism amidst abandonment in uncertain times. Immediately, the first look of this film is reminiscent of Wong Kar Wai with its use of character narration, hazy green scenes, and over-exposed film. However, Chan pairs these aesthetic techniques with the storyline of a revenge film mixed with an us-against-the-world mentality. While the protagonists Autumn Moon (Sam Lee), Ping (Neiky Yim Hui-Chi), and Sylvester (Wenders Li) start the film with teenage concerns like dealing with wet dreams, dating, and bullying, it’s clear that they go through them aimlessly, without the guidance of their fathers, almost as if with no hope at all due to their specific circumstances. In Chan’s hands, how every kid reacts to each change feels like an outburst against the adults in their life, and of the life outside of the film. It’s as if the words “fuck you” were made into a movie.

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance

Actor: Doris Chow, Sam Lee, Wenders Li Tung-Chuen

Director: Fruit Chan

Rating: Not Rated

Genre: Horror

Actor: Adam Batt, Christopher Kirby, Clare Chihambakwe, David Dastmalchian, Elise Jansen, Fayssal Bazzi, Gaby Seow, Georgina Haig, Ian Bliss, Imaan Hadchiti, Ingrid Torelli, John Leary, John O'May, Josh Quong Tart, Laura Gordon, Michael Ironside, Miles Brown, Nicole Chapman, Paula Arundell, Rhys Auteri, Rik Brown, Steve Mouzakis, Tamala Shelton

Director: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes

Rating: R

We’re familiar with dick jokes from stand-up comedians, especially male stand-up, but Jacqueline Novak’s 90-minute show about the blow job feels completely new. Get on Your Knees feels like casual storytelling from someone experienced yet distant enough to be a cool authority on it (say, your best friend’s older sister’s best friend), but funnier. It’s like a gossip session about a first experience, except the breathless, dizzying stream of thought is peppered with philosophical thought and points out the absurdity around the language and common attitudes about sex. And as she does so, and as she talks about self-conscious fumbling and unanswered questions, she strides back and forth, in an easy, self-assured way, the way we’d like to feel going into the act.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Jacqueline Novak

Director: Natasha Lyonne

Rating: R

Surreal, off-putting, and extremely disturbing, Infinity Pool plays with the concepts of cloning and the death penalty to craft an examination on colonial tourism. It’s a thematically rich horror film, with hazy neon-lit sex scenes and absolutely terrible behavior, enabled by their wealth and advanced technology that could have been put to better use. Mia Goth, in particular, is strikingly unhinged, as Gabi taunts and lures James into bigger and more terrible crimes, crimes that he can only pay off with the wealth of his father-in-law. And Alexander Skarsgård as James believably gets sucked into this extremely libertine lifestyle, fuelled by the nepotistic anxiety of not living up to his own potential. The film presents a scary notion that pushed by wealth and playground tactics, one will willingly kill their own conscience, again and again, to belong to their cohort.

Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller

Actor: Alexander Skarsgård, Alexandra Tóth, Amanda Brugel, Amar Bukvić, Caroline Boulton, Cleopatra Coleman, Gergely Trócsányi, Géza Kovács, Jalil Lespert, Jeff Ricketts, John Ralston, Kamilla Fátyol, Mia Goth, Roderick Hill, Romina Tonković, Thomas Kretschmann, Zijad Gračić

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

Rating: R

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Romance

Actor: Arnaud Vachon, Félix-Antoine Bénard, Madeleine Péloquin, Marc Beaupré, Marguerite Bouchard, Marie Brassard, Micheline Bernard, Noémie O'Farrell, Patrice Dubois, Patrick Hivon, Pierre-Luc Lafontaine, Sara Montpetit, Sarianne Cormier, Sébastien Beaulac, Sophie Cadieux, Steve Laplante, Sylvie Lemay

Director: Ariane Louis-Seize

When people think of football, they think of teams, and if not teams, they think of individual goalscorers. Higuita: the Way of the Scorpion focuses instead on a single goalkeeper from Latin America. To be fair, this goalkeeper is René Higuita – even just checking his Wikipedia is bound to pull some curiosity. But the documentary does a great job in introducing the man and his life story, starting with his fantastic scorpion kick before delving into the more personal and sensitive aspects of his life. With the wild gameplays and crazy controversies linked to the man, it’s actually unbelievable how a documentary like this hasn’t been made yet.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: René Higuita

Director: Luis Ara

Rating: R