6
Taking a frank look at the state of sex work in Japan today, Life: Untitled is a virulent screed against exploitation too bitter for its own good.
8
Like a heist comedy from the 1980s, Special Actors shows director Ueda’s manically meta genre filmmaking still bears fruit.
6
The Painted Bird is an unflinching, excessive tour de misery that is more numbing than poignant.
7.5
A love letter to the little guys on the movie set, Extro thinks the world of the lowly extra.
9.5
Packing excessive visual inventiveness and striking style into a tight, two-hour runtime, We Are Little Zombies is a joyously manic tragicomedy that needs to be seen to be believed.
4
Parallax is a mind-bending, science-fiction film that is relegated to the shallow end of the pool.
9
A sharp and honest confrontation of teenage mortality, Babyteeth is a heartbreaking delight.
4
Like a haphazard mix of Home Alone and Straw Dogs, Becky is a hollow revenge thriller that can rarely be taken seriously.
6.5
A Good Woman is Hard to Find is an uncompromising neo-noir exercise levelled by a powerful central performance.
7.5
Butt Boy is the type of utterly singular film that is so adamantly committed to its premise that it completely cuts through its initial absurdity. A presumptive hit at Fantastic Fest; where films are always lauded for their quirks above all else,
3
Whether or not writer-director Paddy Murphy intended it, his feature length debut never really shakes the uncomfortable framing of pro-life propaganda disguised as middle-of-the-road horror allegory. The unfathomable attempt by The Perished to weigh in on the unending abortion debate and to
5.5
Based on a true story or not, Escape from Pretoria is incapable of wringing much tension from its long, arduous prison-escape plot.
4
Downhill emerges as a miserable, pained experience that never commits to what it tries to be.
The live-action films for this year’s Oscar-nominated shorts seemed curated around the sensation of confronting unfortunate situations that none of us can truly plan for.
Multi-Oscar-winning director Brad Bird once said that, “Animation is about creating the illusion of life, and you can't create it if you don't have one.” It’s a simple observation that is often taken for granted, one that nonetheless highlights the detectable traces of life found in every pen stroke, clay imprint and line of code collected together to produce this year’s nominees for the Animated Short Films Oscar.
2
A lovelorn filmmaker attempts to use his craft to find the love of his life in a pathetic, creepy and pitiable act of desperation.
