Fun fact: did you know, in 2024, there’s been more films about the holocaust than movies about killer spiders? I suppose this isn’t really an odd coincidence considering audiences don’t often see movies about killer spiders. But also considering Sting is currently playing in theatres and Infested streams on Shudder by the end of April, it’s a bit weird the arachnids are still outnumbered.
Jonathan Jakubowicz’s Resistance comes at a time of surging interest in more action-oriented films relating to the Holocaust, World War II, anti-Semitism, and Nazism. Unlike recent media like Amazon’s Hunters and HBO’s The Plot Against America, Resistance doesn’t participate in any overt historical or genre revisionism, though it is hard to ignore its slight devotion to the thriller genre.
The Accountant of Auschwitz proposes a moral dilemma about whether to follow through convicting a 94-year-old man with crimes against humanity for contributing to the horrors of the Auschwitz death camp. The man in question, former SS guard Oskar Gröning, is physically frail, stoic, and would undoubtably live out his final years in prison, but are these current details relevant when discussing justice for 300,000 people who were murdered for their culture?
Comedians have it good. Just recently, they were given a master class by multiple jokesters in Dying Laughing, a doc that gave an up-close-and-personal view of comedy. Now, they can watch The Last Laugh, a terrific documentary about how soon is “too soon”.
By: Addison Wylie Nicky’s Family is an elementarily formatted documentary using a cluster of different stock footage from the 1930’s, with interviews helping navigate the viewer through a touching real life tale. It’s a structure that’s very simple and we’ve all seen it before. The documentary also appears to have been shot on substandard video, which leads to a dated image that’s generally murky with visible blemishes. Furthermore, the overall feeling of Nicky’s Family is…
By: Addison Wylie A great deal of unease works in filmmaker Cate Shortland’s favour. Her dramatic period piece Lore always feels restless. Characters – young and old – are constantly looking for stability and safety and the environments are always changing. That’s not to hint that Lore is inconsistent with a short attention span. It’s a compliment that Shortland has found the perfect unsettling tone to allow all her elements to work on. Lore shows…
