William Repass

The Kidnapping of Arabella stages a tug of war between Hollywood’s dream factory and Italian neorealism, and the latter appears to have the final say.

The influence of Brecht and Godard is plain to see, but any distancing effect is counterbalanced by Radu Jude’s earthy black humor and especially by the main character, who gives the film its strong emotional core.

With one foot planted in documentary exposé and the other in coming-of-age drama, the film falls short of satisfying the demands of either genre.

Igor Bezinović plays up the farcical side of history in Fiume o Morte!, his innovative docudrama retelling of Italian fascist poet Gabriele D’Annunzio’s short-lived occupation of Rijeka, Croatia, in 1920.

For all its empathy, Late Shift upholds the dubious virtue of self-sacrifice that underpins the Protestant work ethic.

By forcing us to identify with its largely comatose protagonist, By Design arouses resentment in order to shake us out of torpor.

This finely shaded character study of a recalcitrant social pariah feels more than anything else like an existential parable.

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s defense of historical memory couldn’t be more timely.

The film fascinatingly shows how Catholic moral strictures and an underlying paganism where desire is holy are two sides of the same coin.

While The Currents can certainly be read as a portrait of a woman coming apart at the seams, it also offers a more expansive view of mental illness as a sensitivity not wholly pathological, but rather capable of reframing and refreshing the world.