AFI Fest: “Is This Thing On?” Deconstructs Marriage and Romance with Refreshing Honesty

by Eurocheese

On-screen marriages are often easy to summarize in film – couples who resent each other are destined to break up; if the spark is still there, they are bound to work through their issues and land a happy ending. Real life is not so simple, and the path forward is not always so clear. Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess Novak (Laura Dern) are in the middle of a split when Is This Thing On? begins, and giving the audience no initial context adds a perfect note of confusion; these characters don’t seem to understand how they’ve arrived here either! Every comment could lead to the whole relationship blowing up or could be a move towards reconciliation, but they agree that the relationship isn’t working.

Adult films don’t often offer candor when it comes to the frequency of long-term relationships breaking up. More common is the cynical sense that we understand all relationship dynamics. Screenplays are often eager to indicate, with a slight wink to the audience, where things are headed. This film wisely embraces the chaos instead...

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"Mistress Dispeller" disentangles a love triangle with unfussy depth

by Nick Taylor

Did you know there’s a new romance industry in China called professional mistress dispellers? You should, since our very own Claudio Alves wrote about it last year at TIFF following its premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival, but if you don’t then allow me to elaborate. Mistress dispellers are hired by cheated-on wives to be inserted in their lives and discreetly end the husband’s affair, without him or his mistress knowing exactly what’s happening. These folks position themselves as new friends or coworkers, employing psychologically manipulative tactics over the course of many months to coax information from each member of the love triangle so they can better dissolve this love triangle. If they do their job right, a dispeller can end an affair without creating any ripples around her identity. It’s one of many modern forms of matchmaking and marital reinforcement taking place in China and around the world.

Few films offer a hook as tantalizing as Mistress Dispeller, Elizabeth Lo’s documentary about one such case of infidelity being infiltrated by Teacher Wang. Miraculously, the juicy premise leads to an even-handed study of all three members of this love triangle, the motives of infidelity, and the processes of maintaining a relationship . . . .

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Diane Keaton (1946-2025)

by Cláudio Alves

ANNIE HALL (1977) Woody Allen | © United Artists

Well, here you have it. As many have been asking, this is a post where you can share your love for Diane Keaton, who left us this past week at the age of 79. She was an actress like few others in the history of American cinema, New Hollywood to the bone, yet reminiscent of those Old Hollywood idols whose very presence molded movies around their persona. Her range was awe-inspiring, encompassing the ditzy archetypes she perfected in early Woody Allen comedies and the depths of tragedy, from light farcical fare to movie star showcases where drama and funny business came together beautifully. Even when she was going through the motions or leaning on audience expectations, Keaton managed to be top-notch entertainment. And, of course, she was always unique, true to herself since her acting debut in the Hair stage musical up to a last screen appearance in last year's Summer Camp. 

In the spirit of celebrating Keaton, I have one little request of you…

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Review: Reichardt takes on the heist movie in "The Mastermind"

by Cláudio Alves

Many of contemporary cinema's most celebrated auteurs have recently chosen to exercise their comedic muscles. Park Chan-wook leans on farcicalness and cartoon-like mugging as he's never done before in No Other Choice, while even something as palpably angry as Jafar Panahi's It Was Just An Accident often moves in the way of screwball escalation. One Battle After Another is as harrowing as it is hilarious, and the same could be said of The Secret Agent. Down in the arthouse weeds, we can find Guiraudie and Kurosawa probing the limits of absurdity. Marco Berger lovingly contemplates the romcom while, in the mainstream, Celine Song tries to subvert it. Pálmason is off in his own world, somehow turning child maiming into comedy gold in The Love That Remains. 

Which leads us to The Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt's take on a heist movie, starring the ever-fumbling and disheveled Josh O'Connor performing another rendition of the pathetic loser blues he's been perfecting for the best part of the last decade. Hardly a laugh riot in the traditional sense, I'd still call it one of 2025's funniest flicks…

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Review: "Riefenstahl" confronts a singular, disgraceful director

by Nick Taylor

We will never escape the discourse of whether it is possible to separate an artwork from the artist who created it. Death of the author, authorial intent, auteur theory vs collaboration, wider social contexts in which a work exists, so on and so forth. I state this as a fact above all else. We do love interviews and essays where someone talks about how they funnelled their passions and lived experiences into something magnificent. Frankly, I find it annoying only insofar as it feels like we’re asked to do this when someone’s got something very shitty going on offscreen, but even at its best, conflate an artist with their entire past can be a simple shortcut to dogpiling an object rather than meaningfully engaging with it. 

Which brings us to Leni Riefenstahl, a hideously controversial and influential director forever famous as the woman behind Nazi propaganda films Triumph of the Will and Olympia. She’s also the subject of Andres Veiel’s documentary Riefenstahl, which premiered to great acclaim at last year’s Venice Film Festival and is waiting for you to rent it right now . . . .

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