by Jaime Rebanal

‘Past Lives’ Review: A Somber Love That Almost Was

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There are many moments in Past Lives that discuss the concept of fate, or as described in the film, “in-yeon.” According to the film’s protagonist, “in-yeon” is something that Koreans say in order to seduce someone else. Yet these coincidences in the lives of its characters only keep bringing them together, almost like the two of them were meant to be, and it becomes too hard to really see them as chance encounters but as fate. Which very well may be the best way to describe the nature of the romance in Celine Song’s first film. It’s a love story about what could have been, but also where these people are in their present lives, and where they’re set to go in the future.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Tár’ Review: A Mesmerizing Portrait of a Complicated Figure

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In his first film in sixteen years (and third overall), Todd Field brings to the screen a portrait of a very complicated woman. A complicated woman who established herself as a beloved figure, but of course, the only side we see is something we’re familiar with on social media. Soon enough, that’s where watching Tár becomes a question of how well we really know the mind of someone who’s at the top, and has established their reputation as being among the best of the very best. A patient character study of this sort almost seems rare in today’s cinematic landscape, but particularly within American cinema. But it’s also the embodiment of what I find to be the building blocks of the best cinema has to offer in recent memory, because films like Tár trust that the audience is capable of making their own judgments as they watch.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.’ Review: The (Awkward) Nature of Growing Up

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In school, I remember vividly reading about how the book by Judy Blume was banned due to its frank discussions of something that we only knew as “taboo” at the time. Only then, I didn’t expect that the book Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret would have come back to my own memory this many years later, now as a film directed by Kelly Fremon Craig – whose preceding film The Edge of Seventeen offered a lovely glimpse into the struggle to move from adolescence into adulthood. But finally getting to experience this story after it’d been supposedly taboo where I studied as a kid only made me wonder why it was treated as such, especially when Kelly Fremon Craig taps into what a young child wishes to experience on her way to adolescence.

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by Jaime Rebanal

A Conversation with Sarah Polley

In December of 2022, I had the pleasure of chatting with writer-director Sarah Polley about her new film Women Talking. The film, based on Miriam Toews’s novel of the same name, tells the story of the women in a Mennonite colony coming to grips with the fact that they have been sexually assaulted by the men in their lives, and debilitate while the men are absent from their community about what their options are in order to create better lives for themselves: leave the colony, fight for their own rights, or stay and do nothing.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘The Fabelmans’ TIFF Review: Steven Spielberg’s Bittersweet Ode to the Magic of Movies

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Over his long and incredibly prolific career, Steven Spielberg shows yet another side to his own filmmaking that only reaffirms his status as one of the greatest working American filmmakers. To a filmmaker like Steven Spielberg, merely watching the movies alone isn’t a magical experience, but the building blocks for making them are just as magical – and have shaped an entire world for him. But the greatest thrill about watching Spielberg taking his audience to his own childhood is that for those of us who have been watching his films for so long, he’s showing us where everything we loved about his works has come about, in a work that’s clearly an extension of himself in The Fabelmans.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Decision to Leave’ TIFF Review: A Seductive, Erotic Mind Game from Park Chan-wook

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No one makes thrillers like Park Chan-wook does, whether you’re watching a film like Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, or The Handmaiden, they always feel like there’s much more going on beyond the usual mystery at hand. This is where now, with Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook goes forth with making a film clearly echoing the films of Alfred Hitchcock and the like, and he shows himself to be the closest thing we have to a modern-day equivalent. Like The Handmaiden, it’s very evidently romantic, but also just deeply twisted in ways that tap into the darkest desires of those around you, to the point that the central mystery isn’t the entire thrill as much as it is the whole world that Park builds to surround it.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘The Whale’ TIFF Review: A Shattering Comeback for Brendan Fraser

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When you look at the premise for a film like The Whale, one can only imagine how this premise could be difficult to pull off successfully. In the hands of a filmmaker like Darren Aronofsky, much suspicions could be raised, but he manages to pull off what might be his most hopeful film thus far. Perhaps that’s not to say he doesn’t find himself potentially dragging his viewers back into a territory of simple misery porn when the central focus is Brendan Fraser’s character and his deathly obesity, yet the case being presented is far more thoughtful. And like Requiem for a Dream was for many, The Whale can be tough – but when Darren Aronofsky is at his best, he shows himself to be a wholly thoughtful filmmaker. The Whale lands somewhere in the middle.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Triangle of Sadness’ TIFF Review: Palme d’Or Winning Satire Comes Packaged Without Filter

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Ruben Östlund wins the Palme d’Or at Cannes again, following his first win with 2017’s The Square – and he certainly hasn’t gotten any less vicious ever since. With Triangle of Sadness, Östlund goes without being filtered, his satire feeling like it’s reached a new height, showing the lifestyles of the rich at their most vulnerable. It’s only the least of where all the riotously funny moments from Triangle of Sadness come about, but watching everything come together is where one could only get the feeling that it’s only playing out like a time bomb and as the audience, you’re waiting for everything to explode at some point or another. And the moment the explosion hits, it’s hard to look away from the chaos.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘Bros’ TIFF Review: Baby Steps First, but a Nice Leap for Mainstream Queer Representation

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Bros is a romantic comedy like most others you’ve seen in the past few decades, but what sets itself apart comes from how this is the first film released by a major studio to feature an almost entirely LGBTQ+ cast for a wide theatrical release. This is the one aspect about Bros that gets touted most, especially by its director Nicholas Stoller and co-writer/star Billy Eichner, but to a certain point you can clearly tell that this is something getting to Eichner’s own head. Yet there’s still much to love about how Eichner and company care about how they want this film to provide a voice for gay viewers within mainstream film, and on that end, Bros is very cute all around.

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by austinshinn

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Review: A Gentle Giant

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What is there to say about a film that for many years was the highest grossing film ever? A film that is universally beloved? A film that has been covered and studied and dissected endlessly?

Well I saw E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial this week in IMAX so I’m going to try. But I’m not going to add much new to the discussion of a film that’s exactly correctly rated in our culture. It’s a timeless classic. And I have no issue with it.

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