Leap Year (2010)
Leap Year (2010) — A Journey Through Love, Timing, and the Chaos of Control At the onset of 2010 and the arrival of the movie Leap Year, most audiences were ready for the predictable romantic comedy, complete with the clichés of comedy, fabulous scenery, and a happy, tied ending. They did not expect a film […]
Hotel Desire (2011)
Hotel Desire (2011), a German short film by Sergej Moya, highlights the themes of intimacy, loneliness, and the difficulties of connecting to one another. In the narrative, the summer heat of Berlin swelters as Antonia, a single mother and hotel maid, meets Julius Pass, a blind portrait painter. Their fleeting, hotel-room encounters examine the issues […]
Picture of Beauty
The first frame that invites you to take a second look. Opening with a faded image of a photograph coming to life — not the big glossy kind, but one that is a little frayed, with sunlight caught in the corner, tucked away in an old diary. The camera scanning faces, textures, and the little […]
My Mistress
When Desire Meets Grief — The Story Behind My Mistress I remember when My Mistress was announced in 2013. It was an odd announcement. Australian cinema was not producing Australian dramas that featured teenage boys infatuated with dominatrixes. The concept was strange but the composition of the title — the lonely leather of the BDSM […]
Fidelity
The Transformation of Fidelity from a Title to Something Else Conventionally, Fidelity is referred to as a quiet storm, yet beneath the surface, the film is of a woman who grapples with unbridled passion, devotion and the searching of a fractured self. For many, the movie is emblematic of something much larger, giving the viewer […]
Vernost
Anticipation Prior to Release Prior to Vernost (2019) debuting in Russian cinemas, there were discussions in the art-house community predicting this would not be another ‘run of the mill’ local drama. This was also the first feature for director Nigina Sayfullaeva (given that her first feature was the highly acclaimed Name Me (2014) produced by […]