Moana (2016)
Moana wraps a Polynesian folk tale around a charming children’s film, populated with animal sidekicks and musical numbers. When these two threads are woven together well, the film sings like Disney’s best.
The World of Us: Intimacy and Betrayal in Prepubescent Friendship
The World of Us is a film of childhood friendship, and therefore it’s a film about rituals of social exclusion.
High School DXD BorN
Someone decided that a frothy fanservice anime needed to emulate Neon Genesis Evangelion’s labyrinthine seriousness. Someone was wrong.
Home is Where the Truth Is: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s After the Storm
A gentle, thoughtful reflection on how family punctures our most elaborately-conceived fictions.
Behemoth (2015)
Behemoth’s immensity gives way to wounded specificity, in an elegy aching with pain.
Queen of Katwe (2016)
Disney’s underdog Ugandan chess story digs a little deeper into the difficulties of overcoming disadvantage.
The Alluring Ambiguity of Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper
Personal Shopper offers a challenging reflection upon identity and spirituality, enriched by Kristen Stewart’s extratextual resonance with its themes. Also, there are ghosts.
The Dark Wind (2016)
The Dark Wind tells the story of the Islamic State’s impact on the Yazidi community, a Kurdish group targeted for genocide in 2014.
Burgers and Lies: The Founder Repackages the Corrupt Capitalism Biopic
The movie about a man who achieved success by stealing other people’s ideas borrows liberally from other films itself.
The Bacchus Lady (2016)
Trust South Korea to turn a film about elderly sex workers into a black comedy.
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