Say what you will about Orson Welles as a person, but you can't deny that the man was a towering force of personality with the cinematic acumen to back it up. Following the standard-bearer for all Hollywood filmmaking thereafter that was Citizen Kane and his highly lauded sophomore effort The Magnificent Ambersons, one can be fully understood in expecting The Stranger to fall under the microscopic umbrella of less-than-significant directorial outings for the infamous auteur. While a great many viewers…

The beginning of any film industry or movement is bound to be characterized by low production value, but it comes down to those behind the camera to make that low budget either a hinderance or an asset. In the case of the first known Jamaican film, Perry Henzell utilizes the limited resources at his disposal to craft a charming crime caper with a tone just as flavourful as the reggae music that populates it.

The Harder They Come rides on…

Perhaps the best way to describe Agnieszka Smoczyńska's directorial debut The Lure, aside from saying it's one neon filter away from basically being a musical Refn film, is by treating it like a feature-length music video accompaniment for a concept album. Think "Pink Floyd's The Lure" or "InterLure 5555" or something. The narrative simultaneously has a lot going on and still feels rather hollow, but if you decided to watch a Polish mermaid horror-musical, it may be safe to assume…

One common thread in most reviews of Edward Yang's final journey into contemplative familial existence is that its beauty and power are impossible to describe in words. Well, challenge accepted!

Yi Yi is indeed so richly enveloping in both scope and intimacy that its poignancy escapes description. Yang's tale of hopeful hardships remains so perfect in every objective measure that even though I still struggle with the director's sense of pacing, there's really no way I can justify giving the…

Jean-Pierre Bekolo's The Bloodettes (or Les saignantes, or Those Who Bleed, or whatever the hell I'm supposed to call it in English...) opens with a sex scene that feels far more like a performative art installation than a scene from an actual movie. That feeling never quite leaves the film, as Bekolo channels all the worst instincts of a student filmmaker; low quality shooting, annoying aesthetic choices and an ambitious plot without the wherewithal or skill to properly unpack it.…

Some films by the likes of Terrence Malick or Nicolas Winding Refn are accused of being visual feasts without much in the way of substance. So how does one evaluate a film that doesn't even make any pretence of having a narrative beyond its visual storytelling? After having seen Koyaanisqatsi, I can confidently say... I still have no idea.

This is the most renowned example of what I'm calling—for lack of a better descriptor—the "film about nothing but also about…