CUTE (2026) San Sebastian 2026

This is a troubling film that is not going to play in many places because the subject is not going to sit well with a lot of audiences. I say this up front because the description of the plot may be triggering to some.

The film is the story of a man named Richard who goes to stay with his parents when he realizes that is feelings for his girlfriends young daughter is wrong. Things become complicated when he discovers his mother's caregiver has a side gig as a Lolita model.

I'm not going to lie, this is a tough film. Its a film that doesn't go for sensation, but at the same time it doesn't look away. Its a film with characters who seem to react honestly. Its a film that will make you very uncomfortable.

I do not know how to discuss this film. Part of it is that I don't want to trigger anyone and part of it is I'm still wrestling with it.  This film kicked up a lot of stuff that I don't want to discuss for a number of reasons, including I don't have the words.

This is a really good film. If you want to see a solid film that looks at a serious subject I recommend this film. On the other hand if you don't want to be rattled, stay away.

No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman (2026) Venice 2026

One of the greatest characters in any film.

NO PARADISE IF YOU ARE KILLED BY A WOMAN is quite simply one of the greatest films of 2026. Period, full stop.

The film is the story of Vyan, a Kurdish woman who is acting as a sniper  fighting the Islamic State in the Mosul of 2016. When she gets word that her younger sister might still be alive, she begins a deadly hunt through the city to find her.

I have left a huge amount of details out. I have done that on purpose because you will want to see how this unfolds for yourself.

While the film is a large part a thriller, the truth is this is a film that is really a look at war, what it does to soldiers and more importantly what war and religious fundamentalism does to women and non-believers. What is so stunning about the film is that the film keeps things tense and the audience on the edge of its seat by giving us things to think about while making us wonder who is going to live and who is going to die.

The first 20 minutes of this film is one of the most arresting openings of any film this year. The film opens with Vyan moving through some ruins on the hunt for a target. Its a perfectly constructed series of set pieces that pull us in and drag us along. Its at this point the film changes into something else, before changing again. Its a film that never does what we expect. No turn is exactly as we thought.  Most importantly the film never loses track of the woman at the center of the film. As she goes through the ringer so do we. I wanted to look away but I couldn't leave Vyan at any point in her journey. Vyan is one of the greatest heroes ever to grace the screen and we want her to compete her mission and go home

When the end came I was exhausted and broken because of what I witnessed because the tension was so high.

Based on the stories of several women who fought against the Islamic State and inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, the film is more real than pretty much every other war film. Perhaps it helps that it was filmed in Mosul so what we see is what we get.

I was rocked.  When it ended I jumped on line and sent out emails to people putting the film on their radar.

I can't express just how magnificent this film is. Its an action film that says volumes about warfare and what it does to everyone it touches. Its a film that makes us feel pain as much as suspense.

You absolutely must see this.

This will be one of the best films you will see this year.

Addendum: This film was picked as Iraq's entry for the Oscars

Troll 2 (2025)

This is just brief thoughts on TROLL 2.

Its going to be brief because I’m still looking for the plot.

The film is a continuation of the first film, with the same characters and with the government trying to figure out what to do about trolls. This has some connection to the Second World War where the Telemark raid to stop the creation of a German atomic bomb really had something to do with a sleeping troll that was being studied. The troll gets loose and there are more trolls, and I don’t know. I really don’t. I mean I understand everything once the troll gets loose, but the whole first hour is a big question mark.

Is it bad? Not really (it gets dark and the Star Trek/Iron Giant reference killed me), but its a huge step down from the first film. Frankly if this was the first film there would never have been a second. I would love another, better film.

Worth a look on a slow night.

A pointer toward A SAMI WEDDING - episode 1, 2 and 5 - Toronto 2025

In a small Norwegian village two families, one rich and one poor, whose matriarchs don't get along, prepare for a wedding of two of the kids a short month away.

The Toronto film festival is only running three episodes of the series (1,2 and 5) and while I liked what I saw in the episodes I'm not going to do a real review. As a rule, I don't like to review series unless I can see the whole series or a whole season. I probably would have done a review, but the fact I was missing part of the story makes me uncomfortable reviewing what's here beyond saying it's good see it.

Recommended.

SPERMAGEDDON (2024) Annecy 2024

The story of sperm waiting to be shot out into the world.

A film seemingly aimed at kids, its very much not a kids film dealing with sex in all of its forms.  It's a musical comedy about sperm waiting to win the big race as well as some humans looking to get lucky. 

How is it?

Amusing for a while, but there is point where it kind of runs out of steam. Sure it remains clever to the end but at the same time a little goes a long way and despite being clever it feels like it was going in certain directions to fill time. Think of it as INSIDE OUT but with graphic sex jokes.

Despite my feelings the film is most certainly going to have a long life as a cult film.

Worth a look.

Punishment (2024) Slamdance 2024

Four inmates in Norway take part in a three week silent retreat.

This is one of the best films playing at Slamdance this year. It's also the first feature film to go into my notes as something to revisit at the end of the year.  

Simply put I love this film. I love the people. And I love the ideas it throws up. It's an unexpected journey into our hearts of darkness and out again.

What makes the film so powerful is that the film never really looks away. We are with the men as they sit and think and contemplate what they did and where they are going. Working with some Jesuit priests they have come to a place where they are willing to do the work that could very well change their lives. All is laid bare, and we are moved both emotionally and intellectually.  

By the time the film ended all I could do was lean back and go wow. The quiet power of the final moments haunts me still some three weeks after I saw the film.

You will forgive me if I don't do a great deal of discussing of the film. It is not that there is nothing to say, but rather there is too much. The film kicked up a great deal in me and I have been wrestling with things that the film forced me to think about. I have tried several times to write this piece but each time any lengthy discussion ends up with a lengthy digression. That is not fair to you or the filmmakers, who have made one hell of a film that forces us to engage with ourselves, our pasts and our future.

Highly recommended, this is one of the must sees at Slamdance.

SICK OF MYSELF (2022) Boston Underground Film Festival

Narcissistic woman insists on one uping her equally self-absorbed and on the rise artist boyfriend in an effort to get more attention. As the game of one upmanship escalates to takes some unexpected and disturbing turns.

Pitch black comedy is going to be a laugh right for anyone who likes uncomfortable humor or who takes delight at the pain of others. However while this film has characters you really dislike at its center, you kind of feel bad for the boneheads since what happens to them is really unpleasant.

A pitch perfect commentary on the YouTube and Tic Tok generation particularly those whose lives are so incredibly empty that they do stupid stuff just to get noticed and feel loved by people who wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire (They’d just film them), SICK OF MYSELF is a film for today.

I liked the film but honestly, I was done about half way in. There is only so much pain and unlikable people I can take.

Worth a look for those who enjoy that  sort of a thing.

Titina (2022) NYICFF 2023

The story of Titina, the dog who traveled with Umberto Nobile in his two trips to the north pole via airship.

Visually  arresting film looks like a mix of Chuck Jones, Sylvain Chomet and Italian Brutalism. It’s a film that delights the eye in every shot and has some of the most dropping sequences you’ll see all year (The trippy penguins and the whale). I am so glad I saw his on a big screen because despite seeing some of this on line, seeing it big just blew me out of the water.

As a film on it’s own terms TITINA is pretty good. While the narrative tries to do too much, it still manages to hang together by remaining focused on the POV of the puppy himself. It also gets points in my book by not sugar coating that people died on the expeditions.

As history the film is a mess. Knowing the story of the expeditions, TITINA fudges a great deal. Details are softened or not addressed and bits are made up, Nobile seeing Amundson’s rescue plane and not signaling it for example. I mention this because too many people think the movies are gospel truth and in this case its not the case. (If you want a film closer to the truth see THE RED TENT)

Regardless this is so viusally amazing that if you can remember this isn't wholly true this is a good time at the movies that will occasionally blow your mind.

TROLL (2022)

I absolutely love TROLL. It is a loving giant monster film that just seeks to be good story and nothing else and ends up be entertaining as hell. (Its one of my favorite films of 2022)

The plot has a giant troll being released by the construction project. Officials are certain what it is since there is no good footage of what is causing the mayhem. They bring in a paleobiologist who doesn’t want to believe her crazy father, who always talked of Trolls, was right. Very quickly she learns father knew best. As the military tries to stop the troll, they also are trying desperately to keep the [public from learning about the beast. Meanwhile our heroine realizes that modern methods aren’t going to work and tries to come up with a method to stop the rampaging monster.

Featuring good effects and a great cast of characters TROLL is a great deal of fun. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it simply tells a good story. I like that it doesn’t  hit every expected plot point, there are some nice variations. I also like that there is some attempt late in the game to understand that they are killing the last of their kind.

I loved the films low key approach and it’s sticking close to reality by not going for over blown effects sequences.

I know several friends who were disappointed in the film, and I understand that, but I think their displeasure comes not from the quality of the film but from expecting something else, something bigger and groundbreaking, which TROLL is not. I hope that they will see the error of their ways with a second viewing where they can just take the film for what it is.

And what it is is a wonderful care free popcorn film.

Highly recommended

Burial (2022) CIFF 2022

Meditation on how we are going to handle dealing with hiding away the nuclear waste we produce. Focusing on a reactor that is a large twin of the one at Chernobyl which is being cut apart and buried we are left to ponder the enormity of the project and what the future brings.

This is a haunting film about the dangerous garbage we create.  Focusing on making us see what the places look like where we mine uranium and turn it into electricity, we are forced to wonder what we are doing to our environment.  Not much is said, we are simply told things by titles on the screen. This is a film focused on making us feel and think.

I've seen several films on what to do with nuclear waste over the years, indeed one of the first films I covered for Unseen at Tribeca was INTO ETERNITY about trying to design a storage facility that would remain safe for millennia. Most of the films faded from my head not long after seeing them. That isn't the case with BURIAL. In the 24 or so hours since I saw the film before I wrote it up I was haunted by it. The images came back to me and I wanted to revisit it not just because I wanted to reengage with what it was telling me but because the visuals are so striking.

Highly recommended, especially if you can see it on a big screen.

The Tower (2018) Animation First 2022

 

I never lost hope. You were my hope.

THE TOWER kicked my ass. It left me staring at the screen weeping and wondering why it has taken me three years to have the film placed upon my radar.

The film is the story of Wardi a young girl living in a Palestinian refugee camp. Over the course of a day she connects to the story of her family and friends as they relate to her the story of how they ended up in the camp and express to her their hope and dreams for the future.

Told in a mix of stop motion (the present) and 2D animation (the past) the film quietly tells the story about how Wadi‘s family and the other people in the camp came to be there.  Through the telling of the story we see the dreams and hopes of everyone. We see how despite it all how we humans still hope and dream despite being  in dire situation.

What makes the film work is that the film doesn’t play anything except as a straight forward expression of life. There are no stereotypes. The characters (which are based on real people) are really just people.  There is no real effort to heighten  the emotion. Even the Israeli soldiers are not demonized even as we see the bad things they did. This insistence of keeping it low key adds and not preaching emotional power. We truly feel  for everyone on screen because they truly our us.

I especially love the way director Mats Grorud uses animation to kick our butts. The 2D images allow for an expressiveness the stop motion doesn’t have, while the stop motion figures allow for a moment of magical realism that completely wrecked me.  It’s a moment that would never have worked in any other way and it is completely perfect.

I love this film to death. It is a glorious celebration of life and humanity.

Highly recommended.

For more information go here

AMUNDSEN THE GREATEST EXPEDITION (2019) in virtual cinemas and VOD April 2

 

AMUNDSEN THE GREATEST EXPEDITION is a complex portrait of the legendary explorer told in flashback. As the film opens Amundsen has gone missing. He had taken his plane up in what would be a vein effort to save Italian explorer Nobile who had crashed over the North Pole in a dirigible. Where Nobile would find his way back to civilization Amundsen and his co-pilot would disappear into the frozen void. In his home his brother and fiancé discuss the man and his complexities.

Amundsen was man driven to explore. He pushed himself and others hard and while he made it to the South Pole first and achieved many other feats, he was not an easy man to get a handle on. The result was a man that most people who liked and loved him didn’t really know.

From a cinematic standpoint this gives us a main character that we like more than love.  I personally admire him but I don’t know beyond that.  Normally this would doom a film in my eyes, but in this case we like the people around Amundsen so we are willing to give him a pass of sorts. Actually in my case it made me lean into the film a bit more. While I know why his brother hung around him, I was curious about Bess Magids, his fiancé. What did she see in him that she went along with his self-centered isolation? While I don’t know if I have answers I know that the film gave me a great deal to ponder.

I’ve always been curious about Amundsen since I saw Sean Connery in The Red Tent  at the drive-in in 1973 (when it played with Snoopy Come Home). I had to know who this person that James Bond played.  AMUNDSEN THE GREATEST EXPEDITION at least gives me a some cinematic answers. Or if not answers some kick ass and frightening sequences of the trials and tribulation s of the great explorer. If he was one of a kind, his adventures clearly made him that way.

I really liked AMUNDSEN THE GREATEST EXPEDITION. It’s a wonderful atypical biopic that gives us thrills , chills and lots to ponder.

Recommended.

The Crossing (2020) NYJFF 2020

 

In Norway, Gerda, a young girl obsessed with the Three Musketeers is living blissfully with her parents and her brother. When the Nazis arrive and arrest her parents she must spring into action and get the Jewish children hiding in the basement to safety in Sweden. While complications arise Gerda must become  like her heroes and save the lives of people in need.

If you can ignore the opening narration THE CROSSING might be the first great film you see in 2021. A grand adventure that is going to keep you on the edge of your seats, its a perfectly formulated film that will work for kids as well as parents. It beautifully doesn't rely on nastiness in order to keep you glued to the screen. Rather the film simply tells it's tale and lets the details carry the day.

I loved this film a great deal. While I went into the film thinking it might be a nice minor distraction I came out finding that it is a spectacular fil on its own terms capable of standing up to the best Hollywood has to offer. To be perfectly honest it is finding films like this that makes the New York Jewish Film Festival the most important festival to start any film year.

And please forgive the lack of details I don't want to clue you into the twists lurking with in this gem.

THE CROSSING begins screening virtually January 14th. For more information and tickets go here.

Gunda (2020) NYFF 2020

Black and white observational portrait of animals living on a farm focusing primarily a sow named Gunda. We begin watching not long after Gunda has given birth to a brood of piglets. We then revisit her and the piglets over the intervening months.

Before I start to talk about the film I should day this is not your typical nature documentary. There is no narration. There is no music. This is simply life in a couple of moments. I say this because I know some people are going to go in looking for a BBC or PBS documentary. This in't it. This is the camera watching events as they transpire without any sort of imposition stories by unseen voices.

The film begins with Gunda being woken up by her kids. She wants to sleep, they want to eat and they fight to get a shot at the milk bar. It's a charming sequence that illustrates that life isn't a bowl of cherries, mom might roll over on you.  From there we cut between other animals, some chickens and some cows and then back to the pigs.

The images are striking. I would love to have many of the images on my wall.

What really rocks about GUNDA is the soundtrack. A gorgeous and aggressive natural soundtrack puts you right in the thick of things. Its so stunning that if this was in color you would swear you were on the farm- hell while watching the film with headphones on I closed my eyes at one point and drifted off to somewhere green. (I'm uncertain how this is going to play as a drive-in film)

I really liked GUNDA. It was one of my top three must see films on the New York Film Festival Main Slate and it didn't disappoint.

Recommended.

Two Tribeca shorts about photography: ECHOES IN THE ARCTIC and UNNUR

ECHOES IN THE ARCTIC
I know Ariela already reviewed this but I wanted to throw my two cents in.

Stunningly beautiful documentary about the partnership between scientists and photographers to record information on the orca (killer whale) population in the Norwegian Fjords. It seems the oil company wants to use methods for finding and drilling for oil that would harm the whales and their food.

The amazing and haunting images in this film should be seen, on a huge screen if possible since they make you connect with the animals before you.  The images will change the way that you see the whales and life, and if you want proof that the stills and moving pictures taken of the whales moved people that the Norwegian government went from allowing the drilling to declaring the fjords protected sites.

A stunner.

UNNÚR
Portrait of Elli, an Icelandic photographer, surfer, and kayaker who changed the way he interacted with the world once he was in a kayaking accident and had a child.

Visually amazing film is kind of a mess narratively. This 18 minute film spends the first half of it having Elli musing about being a father ans whether he is doing the right thing in how he is raising his daughter (she is the Unnur of the title). The problem, and it is a huge problem, is that if you don't know who he is going in you're really not going to have any idea why he is speaking this way or why you should care.  Imagine if someone walked in off the street and just started to talk to you about a random subject. It maybe interesting but after a while you'll stop them to ask who they are and why are they telling you this.

To be honest the long lag time would have worked in a feature but not in a short where the philosophical dad talk overwhelms the contextual portion of the film. There is a good film in the material, I just wish that this was better crafted in such a way to show it off.

Camden 2019 Capsules LOVEMOBIL and WHERE MAN RETURNS

LOVEMOBIL
Portrait of the lives of the woman who work in campers across Germany as prostitutes and the aftermath of the murder of one of them.

Gripping portrait of life on the edge of society works thanks to the filmmakers taking the time to really let us get to know all the parties involved. There are not just random people but people who come to mean something to us.

WHERE MAN RETURNS
Stunningly beautiful portrait o a man living in the wilderness. Steinar lives in a small cabin near the Norwegian and Russian border. We watch as he goes through his days with his dog, hunting, fishing taking phone calls and just getting by.

Shot in breathtaking widescreen, WHERE MAN RETURNS is one of the most beautiful films I've seen all year. While there is very little dialog there doesn't need to be since the images and perfectly integrated music tell us everything we need to know.

An absolute must see especially if you can see it on a big screen.

The Quake (2018)

THE QUAKE is the sequel to Norway's Oscar entry a few years back called THE WAVE. That film was based on an incident where a tsunami went into a fjord and wiped out a village. This film is based on the fact that in 1908 there was a 5.6 earthquake in Oslo.

Picking up from the earlier film our hero is dealing with the emotional trauma of the earlier tragedy. When he hears of the death of a colleague in an underwater tunnel from falling debris he looks into what happened. He soon discovers that despite the insistence that there has been no seismic activity, everyone seems to think recent tremors can be linked to blasting for construction, there is something going on and it seems to indicate that something terrible is going to happen...and with the title THE QUAKE you can be damned certain it does.

While I don't think it is completely necessary to have seen the first film, I do think it will help. While seeing the earlier film will allow you not to need to get up to speed on the characters, the real plus is simply knowing what happened in the earlier film since it's referenced a great deal in the first 20 minutes or so of the film.

The film follows the plan of the first film with our hero investigating the evidence of an upcoming event, it happens and then dealing with the fall out. Where the first film balanced set pieces with character development, THE QUAKE largely deals with characters and plot for much of the film before the big one hits.This allows us to feel for the characters once the worst happens, which helps since the film's major flaw is that it takes about 70 minutes for the earthquake to happen. We need to feel for the characters because waiting over an hour for the promised destruction ends up stretching the suspense either to the last possible second before the tension breaks or past the breaking point. (I've spoken with a couple of people thought it went too long).

Once the quake happens the film goes into over drive as Oslo is destroyed and our hero along with his family and friends are left in danger. The resulting set pieces are incredibly tense, almost impossibly so even if some of them are unrealistic. This is what we all came for and the film doesn't skimp on what happens, keeping it epic in scope even as we remain focused on the characters we have been following from the start.

To be honest I'm not sure what I think of the film. Yes I love the final 35 minutes, but at the same time I'm not sure what I think of the rest of the film. Yes we get characters but at the same time it takes a long time to get us to the good stuff. Do we really need to go that long without a pay off? I don't know. Granted when it comes it blows us away, but I know in a week all I'll be talking about is the quake itself and struggling to remember the rest of it

Do I recommend it? Actually yes. The film is good enough on the whole to warrant seeing it if you can see it on a big screen and/or with great sound. This is disaster filmmaking done right and Hollywood could learn a thing or two from it.

Nate Hood on EXIT (2018) DOC NYC 2018

[This piece was written on October 30, 2018]

Three days ago, an antisemite entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and murdered eleven people, screaming “All Jews must died” as he slaughtered the cowering congregation. The killing has been named the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in American history, and tragically it doesn’t seem to be an aberration. Due to inflammatory presidential rhetoric and the proliferation of social media, hate groups have exploded in both strength and popularity. Perhaps at no point since the Civil Rights Movements has racial extremism been so prevalent in our society. All of which begs the question: what drives human beings into hate groups?

Karen Winther explores possible answers in her new documentary Exit. But more importantly, it asks a second question: what can be done when someone tries to leave? Winther has experience on both sides of the equation. As a disillusioned teenager, she joined a Norwegian hate group. She recalls how at first it felt “like a drug”—the movies, the music, and the camaraderie joined together to make her feel like she had a purpose and family. But after two years she realized this “life” was killing her, both physically and psychologically. Under threat of lethal retaliation, she fled and started a new life.

It’s this escape that dominates the first part of Exit, after which she interviews several other prominent ex-hate group members, including Ingo Hasselbach, one of the founders and key figures of West Germany’s neo-Nazi movement. Though interesting, these segments smack too much of the traditional talking heads documentary. But there’s an incredible sequence near the end where Winther meets with two American women who’ve fled the same kind of extremists that indoctrinated the Pittsburgh killer. As the three discuss their explicit experiences as women in hate groups, they come to an astonishing discovery: they’d all been sexually assaulted before joining their respective communities. In that moment we see three women who’d already been through the hell of escaping hate plunge deep into a shared trauma they thought they’d abandoned long ago. We see them start to heal. These are the moments documentaries are meant for. But it doesn’t last—it soon veers right back into talking heads territory. If the film had just focused on these women helping each other recover, it’d be a masterpiece.

But as is, the otherwise underwhelming Exit is still a vital tool for our tumultuous times.

Rating: 7/10

Brief thoughts on Second Time Around (2018) which I need to see again NYFF 2018

Politics, psychoanalysis, performance and art collide in a film by artist Dora Garcia. Recreating events in the 1960's and 70's in Argentina when there was a military coup the film attempts to show the events in a way how they happened and to discuss their ramifications.

I am not sure what I think of this film or how it is. A unique one of a kind piece of cinema it blends together a variety of styles in order to discuss history both past and present. There is a lot to take in and I know that I am going to have to see the film a second (and maybe a third) time in order to begin to piece it together. Complicating matters is the fact that the film is rooted in Argentine history of which I only have a little knowledge. While I could follow the larger picture I was kind of lost in the details.

Should you see the film? If you are adventurous yes. This is a one of a kind blending of styles and is very much the sort of thing that you need to see to have your horizons broadened. What will you make of it I'm not certain, but there is enough food for thought here to give you a a great deal to ponder.

Thelma (2017) NYFF 2017

Joachim Trier's THELMA looks on the face of it to be a relative of Stephen King's Carrie with a college aged young woman dealing with some sort of psychic power. However while that is superficially true Trier has other things up his sleeve.

The plot of the film has college student Thelma living alone and studying. She has had a very religious upbringing and an almost two close relationship with her parents, particularly her father. When Thelma looks at a young woman who sits next to her in the library she has some sort of seizure  which no one notices coincides with some weird bird activity. As Thelma navigates her being out i  the world including her sexualit, weird things begin to happen.

While it could be called a horror film THELMA is much more interested in other subjects such as religious belief, parental relationships and most importantly our path into true adulthood. While operating in a more or less realistic manner the film is churning underneath with all sorts of discussions of the paths we must take to become ourselves. In a strange way the film is an examination of the teaching "if you meet Buddha on the road kill him" since this is nothing else other than Thelma's path to adulthood and is a giant allegory of the trials and tribulations of getting there.

Intellectually  I like the film a great deal. It is quite possibly one of the best films to be playing at NYFF this year. The trouble or me is that emotionally it's all over thee place. set up like a horror film it also ping pongs around and when it ends it feels more like a character study. While there is tension and some strange goings on, ultimately the film is about Thelma and her growth as a person.  When you get to the far side of the the film I was intellectually delighted but emotionally I was left feeling "is that all?"

Its the sort of feeling that may change upon a second viewing- now that I know how all the pieces fall tgether, but for right now I'm kind of disappointed.

Disappointed or no Trier has some heady stuff crashing around his film and I heartily recommend it for that when the film plays at the New York Film Festival.

For tickets and more information go here.