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Jewish Film Festival / ‘Rabbi on the Block’ about a Jewish Soul Sister in Chicago

Directed by Brad Rothschild for Menemsha Films, Rabbi on the Block is an engaging and heartwarming documentary about Tamar Manasseh, a stereotype-busting rabbi and community activist from the south side of Chicago. As a woman who is both Black and Jewish, Rabbi Manasseh aims to make a difference by bridging two communities that have not…

32 Sounds Review: A Festival of Sound

The art of storytelling has evolved over time, especially in recent history, with home audiences once attentively glued to the sounds emanating from their radios. While music remains popular and people may still tune in to listen to their local radio station while commuting, the visual art of film and television has largely replaced that…

‘Past Lives,’ The Ontology Of Love Is Expressed Through In-Yun

Is love a matter of free will or destiny? Filmmaker Celine Song explores this archaic question through the philosophical concept on In-Yun. This Korean word is explained by a very evocative image: “If two strangers walk by each other and their clothes brush, there must have been something between them in their past lives. In-Yun…

Apolonia, Apolonia Review – A Portrait of An Artist & Her Filmmaker

Making art is a very personal process, and it’s often hard to capture how someone else works. The best way to do so can be to simply watch them doing what they love and to inquire about what motivates them. It’s especially interesting to see if those two approaches match up, or if there are…

True Detective: Night Country / The Show That Keeps You Guessing

Credit: HBO True Detective: Night Country “… For we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake.” ~Hildred Castaigne Where is the line between the supernatural and spiritual? Watching this season of True Detective: Night Country really brings this question up to me. There…

‘Next Goal Wins,’ Taika Waititi Scores His Directorial Goal

New Zealand filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi has established himself through his off-the-wall humour and exaltation of indigenous culture. After establishing his directorial craft with superhero films such as Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder, as well as the black comedy Jojo Rabbit, Waititi returns with a film that fully expresses his cultural and…

‘Mean Girls’ Review: The Musical Makes Its Grand Movie Entrance

It’s been twenty years since the release of Mean Girls, adapted by Tina Fey from Rosalind Wiseman’s book Queen Bees and Wannabees. It has become increasingly quotable, with lines like “You can’t sit with us,” “she doesn’t even go here,” and “stop trying to make fetch happen” referenced and repeated often. The success of the…

The Beekeeper is Not “It”…

@Photo by Amazon MGM Studios – © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. In a world where there is a dearth of deep and soul searching films to move and impact an audience in more than just a lane of entertainment, there still needs to be pure entertainment. When it comes to action films, John…

‘Merchant Ivory,’ The Panoptic About The Formidable Film Team

© Modenist | Film and Stephen Soucy Productions The documentary directed by Stephen Soucy retraces one of the longest partnerships in the history of film. Merchant Ivory delves deep into the audacious company formed by Ismail Merchant as producer, James Ivory as director, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala as screenwriter and Richard Robbins as composer. Merchant Ivory…

Night Swim/ A Refreshing Take on a Character-Driven Genre Story

@Photo by Courtesy of Universal Pictures A change in environment doesn’t always wash away people’s insecurities and regrets – it can often instead just bring them to the surface. The story in the new supernatural horror film, Night Swim, thrives on its characters contending with credible motivations and temptations. Their harrowing emotions are exasperated when…

Society of the Snow : J.A. Bayona Recreates Horrific Plane Crash

Sensational stories are often adapted into films or television series. While they can be quite good and pay tribute to lives lost or tragedies endured, they can also be seen as appropriating and trivializing trauma for entertainment purposes. Making a film that manages to be enthralling and powerful while not losing sight of the real-life…