‘Archive’: Film Review

In its first minutes, The Cuban sums up its central conflict, segueing from the vibrant watercolor visuals and tropical rhythms of its opening-credits sequence to the drab, hushed interiors of a nursing room: joy vs. duty, creativity vs.

Tomris Laffly Even if you haven’t experienced one, you might be familiar with the sensation of a panic attack or a supposedly irrational fear like claustrophobia, both of which can suffocate their victims with a feeling of impending death. Once triggered, those internal alarms present a lonely state of being — an alternate plane of existence with its own set of survival rules, hard to describe, even harder to reason with.

Also Read: 'Corpus Christi' Review: Poland's Oscar Entry Explores the Rough Road of RedemptionDespite the themes it has in common with “Corpus Christi,” “The Hater” is far more closely linked to an earlier film of Komasa’s, the 2011 drama “Suicide Room.” In that film, a teenage boy becomes desperate as his life falls apart after he’s mocked on social media sites – a situation that is flipped in “The Hater,” in which the central figure is a young man who becomes an expert in destroying lives on

The paeans come fast and furious in Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni's documentary about legendary Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. "If there was a Mount Rushmore in Canada, Gordon would be on it," exclaims Tom Cochrane.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticSouth Korea came relatively late to the zombie-cinema sweepstakes, making up for lost time most notably with 2016’s “Train to Busan,” which has already generated a sequel.

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticWho would have thought a romantic comedy on the pain of being different could become such ironic and timely viewing in a global pandemic? In “I Weirdo,” a kooky and innovative debut by Taiwanese writer-director Liao Ming-yi, a couple with OCD trying to fit in to so-called “normal” society now looks like social-distancing heroes in our Covid-hit, locked-down lives. Shot and edited by Liao using the iPhone XS Max, the production looks no less vibrant for it.

If Michael Tubbs were a fictional character, the details of his life until 2016 — the year he became the mayor of Stockton, California, at age 26 — might be too by-the-book inspirational to feel believable. Born to a teenage mother and a criminal father who has spent most of his son's life behind bars, Tubbs excelled in school and won a full scholarship to Stanford, where a friendship with future Snapchat co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel would play an outsized role in his political career.

Also Read: Showtime Scores Rights to Upcoming Documentary on The Go-Go'sAnyone familiar with the band in the ’80s might expect front woman and vocalist Carlisle to occupy the majority of the spotlight, but each enjoys equal time on screen to explain and explore what inspired, motivated and sometimes undermined their efforts.Caffey, for example, emerged early as lead songwriter, writing eight of 10 songs from their 1981 debut, while apparently nursing a heroin addiction she somewhat successfully

Jessica Kiang It’s 1975 and Alice Lamb, played by Penelope Wilton, is cussing at her typewriter and telling cute children to “bugger off.” When we cut back to the same typewriter some 30 years earlier, Alice, now played by Gemma Arterton, is again shouting at local kids and pointedly buying for herself the rationed chocolate bar another saucer-eyed moppet so desires.

Richard Kuipers “A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic” casts a damning eye on the pernicious role alcohol plays in the working careers and social lives of Japanese men. Narrated by the innermost thoughts of a daughter during the 25 years she spends watching her father drink himself to death, Kenji Katagari’s second feature cleverly plays like a quirky little TV sitcom about an ordinary middle-class family before moving into darker territory.

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticImagine a Japanese version of “Pygmalion” in which the sculptor continues to caress slabs of marble even after Galatea has come to life. That is the unusual premise of “Romance Doll,” a marital drama in which a sex doll maker’s rapt obssession with his new prototype, leads to rejection of his human muse.

An under-the-radar indie science fiction film whose mix of accessible themes and strong execution make it worthy of broader exposure, Gavin Rothery's Archive watches as a robot designer tries to exploit his job with a megacorporation for a very personal goal: He wants to build a robot shell for the computer-archived memories and personality of his dead wife.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticA cigar is never just a cigar where Sigmund Freud is concerned.

Lisa Kennedy Four Vietnam vets reunite for a mission, one that will lean on their wartime exploits but also expose more than a few old tensions.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticSnarled loops of time travel have proved a surprisingly versatile and rewarding fantasy-cinema trope in recent years, from the big-budget likes of “Edge of Tomorrow” to such enterprising indies as “Predestination,” not to mention comedies (“Palm Springs”), horror (“Happy Death Day”), romance (“Before I Fall”) and more.

For a debut feature, writer-director Charlène Favier’s powerful coming-of-age sports drama Slalom couldn't come at a more timely moment.

truth and beauty, too, it’s safe to say that “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” finds a bit of both of those things.Also Read: 'Palm Springs' Film Review: Andy Samberg Puts an Indie Rom-Com Spin on 'Groundhog Day'The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, went to the Berlin and True/False Film Festivals and had a series of virtual screenings on July 8 to celebrate National Dive Bar Day, with a virtual rollout scheduled for July 10.

"They say that when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. I wish it were that simple," says James, the main character, in his voiceover narration at the beginning of Volition.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticWhen you look at the face of Danny Trejo, you see the creases and hollows and pockmarks, the eye pouches like saddlebags, the badges of a life so well-worn that, at first, that’s just about all you see. Yet the more you look, the more you notice a paradox.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticBeing released during an epidemic lends additional if unintended frisson to “The Beach House,” a cryptic yet reasonably involving thriller in which vacationers find themselves under threat. The nature of that threat remains ambiguous, but in its partially-airborne inescapability, it definitely hits a note of creepy relevance.