By: Danyal Somani In the semi-autobiographical comedy About My Father, co-writer/actor Sebastian Maniscalco portrays a fictionalized version of himself trying to win over his girlfriend’s family in hopes of proposing to her during a Fourth Of July trip. However, when his traditional father Salvo (Robert De Niro) tags along, challenges arise (including class clashes, more eccentric family members, and some interesting pets) making Sebastian’s mission more difficult.
By: Danyal Somani For her latest assignment, documentary filmmaker Zoe (Lily James) wants to chronicle her childhood friend Kazim (Shazad Latif) and the journey towards his arranged marriage, having Shekhar Kapur’s What’s Love Got to Do with It? explore whether one can actually fall in love through this type of matchmaking rather than a traditional Western “love-marriage”.
By: Danyal Somani Book Club: The Next Chapter follows the friends from its predecessor: Vivian (Jane Fonda), Carol (Mary Steenburgen), Diane (Diane Keaton), and Sharon (Candice Bergen). In this next instalment, they travel to Italy for Vivian’s bachelorette party. However, with the sudden inclusion of an old flame (Vincent Ricotta) and a persistent police chief (Giancarlo Giannini), the trip doesn’t go according to plan.
By: Jolie Featherstone From Hereditary to Midsommar, and now Beau Is Afraid, director Ari Aster has dug deeper and deeper into the primal fears and anxieties of the human psyche, while injecting seemingly personal vulnerability into his doomed protagonists’ journeys.
By: Trevor Chartrand Directed and co-written by Canadian actor/filmmaker Koumbie, Bystanders is an exploration of a high-concept ‘what-if?’ scenario; a film which specifically ponders the question of our own accountability and societal responsibility with regards to the actions of others.
By: Jeff Ching ReBroken is an ambitious and unique exploration of grief that qualifies as a thriller, drama, horror and a mystery. It’s an unpredictable puzzle that the audience slowly pieces together. But despite that selling point, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend Rebroken. I will always applaud a filmmaker for taking risks over playing it safe. However, I didn’t enjoy this experience, which could’ve been fixed had the film built an essential emotional connection to the material.
By: Jeff Ching I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a horror movie more relatable than Abie Sidell’s Cram. I also really don’t know if there will be a better horror movie this year. Cram was made for nerds with severe procrastination issues. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re one of those freaks that study for your exams a month in advance, watch this movie and understand the pain of being a procrastinator – this is in…
By: Trevor Chartrand Quirky and surreal, Adult Adoption is the bizarrely unique directorial feature film debut from Karen Knox (star of Letters to Satan Claus). The movie explores its characters with a delicate balance of intrusive empathy, and Knox’s filmmaking is executed in such an uncomfortable way that viewers may feel like they’re trespassing on the intimate details of a person’s private life.
