Best International Feature: Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine

by Cláudio Alves

The Academy will announce its 15 finalists for the Best International Feature Oscar next Tuesday. For the first time in years, the shortlist will not include any saves from the executive committee, meaning that some more challenging pieces might suffer for it. In any case, as that day approaches, our joint adventure through the submissions continues. However, since time is short, I've decided to focus these last few groups of capsule reviews on pictures that enchanted me, the kind of titles I'd be ecstatic to see on the shortlist. Without further ado, let's delve into Slovenia's meditation on memory, Sweden's tale of chaotic motherhood, and Ukraine's sci-fi dystopia… 

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What will we miss with a streaming future?

By Glenn Dunks

All of the talk these last few months about getting back into cinemas has focused on movies like Christopher Nolan’s time-bending Tenet or superhero extravaganzas like Wonder Woman 1984. And it’s not hard to see why. The thrill of watching the biggest movie in the world in a packed cinema with an audience that is eager to go on that ride can be a real buzz.

Many people’s favourite film memories are those rooted in the shared experience of seeing dinosaurs for the first time in Jurassic Park, discovering Darth Vader is Luke’s father or that Bruce Willis was dead all along, watching the Titanic sink or any number of other iconic pop culture moments surrounded by hordes of moviegoers in equal rapture. I may be a bit of an ol’ stick in the mud these days when it comes to American blockbusters, but even I can admit that watching Hollywood do what it does best(?) on a screen the size of a house can add half a star or more to a film’s enjoyment.

For me, however, the largest impact of shut down cinemas hasn’t been felt in the mainstream blockbusters...

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The Lost Empire

What would Milo and Princess Kida make of Aquaman, do you think?