EFA Nominations: 'Close', 'Holy Spider', and 'Triangle of Sadness' rule

by Nathaniel R

The 35th Annual European Film Awards have announced their nominations (drawn from the previous longlist announced in the summer). Two International Feature Film Oscar contenders Close (Belgium) and Holy Spider (Denmark) lead the nominations alongside Ruben Östlund's English-language satire Triangle of Sadness.  Each received four nominations. Full nominations list and commentary follows (NOW UPDATED WITH WINNERS MARKED BY STARS)...

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AFI Fest: Guillermo Del Toro dazzles with his take on “Pinocchio”

by Eurocheese

One of the most exciting debuts of the festival was Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio. The first thing that stands out about his adaptation, unsurprisingly, is the stunning visuals. Imagine a puppet show with a lush background where frames are so beautiful, singled out shots could easily serve as postcards. Well known characters such as the cricket (given the name Sebastian here) and the Blue Fairy mix deep blues with the monsters that always seem to lurk in Del Toro’s imagination. Think of it this way: If you crossed the animals from Isle of Dogs with the radiance of a stained-glass window, you’d get images like this. 

Del Toro came to present the film and spoke to having total control over the project, not allowing studio notes to mess with his vision (he used stronger language than "mess with")...

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Streaming Roulette (Nov 7-13) - 'My Policeman' and more...

by Nathaniel R

Time for streaming roulette, a hodgepodge of recommendations and points of interest from newly available titles around the various services. The images are chosen by randomly moving the scrollbar around. Whatever we land on we share. Let's start with a mini-review of Amazon's My Policeman...

There he was. I recognized him even from behind. That fine head. The unmistakable line of his shoulder.

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AFI Fest: “The Son,” “Women Talking” and "Alcarràs"

by Christopher James

Sarah Polley assembles a terrific ensemble for her fourth feature, "Women Talking."

Though Saturday was Day Four of the AFI festival, it was merely my second day spent wandering around the halls of the TCL Chinese Theater subsisting on popcorn and soda alone. What a doozy of a day it was. The films all spoke in different ways to parenthood, family, community, and gender dynamics. Between Sarah Polley's Women Talking, Florian Zeller's The Son and Carla Simón's Alcarràs which film soared to be the best of the bunch and which missed the mark entirely? My takes on all three are after the jump...

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AFI Fest: “Nanny” and “Piaffe”

by Christopher James

Anna Diop gives a powerful performance in the horror drama "Nanny," coming soon to Prime Video.

The AFI Film Festival kicked off in earnest Wednesday with the premiere of Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. The documentary of the pop sensation was directed by Alex Keshishian (“Madonna: Truth or Dare''). My first day at the festival was a double feature of female-directed genre pictures. Nanny, directed by Nikyata Jusu, and Piaffe, directed by Ann Oren. Both played with horror conventions in interesting ways to tell two very different stories. One deals with a complicated, bifractured tale of motherhood and sacrifice. The other dramatizes pleasure in odd, yet titilating ways. While both tell different stories and have different tones, one film was more successful than the other in marrying tone and storytelling into a satisfying package.

So which one was more successful? Find out after the jump...

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