A love triangle between two friends. A seduction trap went awry. A chance encounter between two ex-lovers. These are the stories of love, anger, and loss that fill the screen in Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s anthology Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, released in the USA by Film Movement after an acclaimed festival run. The film opens with…
Category: 2021
Death of Nintendo
Living in the shadow of Mt. Pinatubo in the early 1990s, there is only one thing on the mind of Paolo (Noel Comia Jr.) and his friend Kachi (John Vincent Servilla); the new Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda. Unfortunately, due to blackouts from earthquakes and the soon-to-erupt volcano, the boys are unable to play…
The Medium
In the mountains of Thailand is a shrine to an ancestral spirit, Bayan, and her shaman, Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), who works as a seamstress in the nearby town. As is tradition, Bayan selects a female in the family line to possess and fill the role of the spirit’s shaman, but the process causes a lot…
The Feast
Glenda (Nia Roberts) enlists the help of Cadi (Annes Elwy) in preparing a rich feast for her family and associates at their country estate. She wants to make a good impression of a happy successful family despite their perceived shortcomings: her husband Gwyn’s (Julian Lewis Jones) questionable skill as a provider, their older son Gweirydd…
The Worst Person in the World
Julie (Renate Reinsve) is a young woman who feels stuck as she drifts through life trying to find out who she wants to be. Through multiple relationships, jobs, and friendships, she slowly begins to find her path, but it does not come easy. She has to leave some people behind her in order to grow,…
The 94th Academy Awards
Looking back at 2021, it was a roller coaster for the industry. Theatrically, the films struggled to find a screen due to many locals shuttering or capping attendance at the cinema. Those markets that were open, oftentimes, found audiences cautious to make that drive into town when for the last year they had been able…
CODA
Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is the only one in her family that is not deaf. As such, she often takes on many of the interfacing duties in the family fishing boat, captained by her father, Frank (Troy Kotsur), and her older brother Leo (Daniel Durant). The early morning work hours leave her tired for school…
I Was a Simple Man
As Masao Matsuyoshi’s (Steve Iwamoto) health continues to disintegrate under the strain of cancer coursing through his body, his family gathers around to celebrate his life and see the patriarch for possibly the last time. The doctors, nurses, and family-turned caretakers are not the only visitors the dying man has, though, as ghosts from his…
Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin
Margot (Emily Bader) was abandoned at the hospital as an infant. She meets Sam (Henry Ayres-Brown) online, and they discover that they are related. Margot decides to meet Sam in-person and make a documentary about the experience with cameraman Chris (Roland Buck III) and sound tech Dale (Dan Lippert). When the crew arrives at the…
The Marquee Topic 