Abigail Stevens

Sketch is adventurous and thematically finely-tuned. The chalk explosions of monsters are weirdly delightful, even if the magic system is awkwardly not justified or explained. It isn't just another movie that touts the value of wonder and imagination (a moral I admittedly love), and it's unlike anything else in how it depicts coping and healing.

Unicorns is fascinating for such a simple movie, largely due to the testaments of a struggling single parent trying to make ends meet, as well as the references to the sometimes harrowing experiences of being queer and South Asian, all set against the backdrop of a casually evolving romance that feels so very real.

It is focused on its small-scale story about the main characters who are burdened by pain and dead-ends, but carefully works in the broader injustices it wants the audience to see.

Before We Forget (originally titled Duino) is a refreshingly intimate film and a classic gay yearning story. It has some twists that subvert genre expectations for an even more staggering emotional effect.

The Queen of My Dreams depicts complicated love amid familial conflicts and an adoration of classic Bollywood cinema.

The setting and the drama of Bonjour Tristesse complement each other, but the finale is incongruous when the premise and the presentation seem to be on different terms. While the movie has a rich personality, it is moderately aimless and should have better established how it wanted to be different from the original.

The things that are wrong with Our Times make it too wild to pack a punch, but a better version of it certainly exists in one timeline or another.

What could be a basic struggling artist's journey of self-discovery and inspiration has many nuances and idiosyncrasies, making for a thoroughly off-the-beaten-path narrative that provokes thought despite some minor loose threads.

There is some great comedy in this, and the performances go hand in hand with the script and production. With early conversations leaning into the goofiness, it permits us not to take everything else too seriously, leading to being surprised by some oddly genuine moments and decent dramatic acting.

Meanwhile on Earth is an odd blend of genres that distracts from its arguments, even though the unresolved ending isn't really the problem.