Berlinale #1: Cillian Murphy in "Small Things Like These"

Elisa Giudici, TFE's frequent festival friend is in Berlin for the 74th annual Berlinale...

SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE © Shane O'Connor

by Elisa Giudici

"If you want to get on with life, sometimes you have to ignore things" Billy Furlong's wife remarks to him. It's 1985, and life in the Irish town of New Ross is modest yet dignified, for the most part. It's in the subtleties and the fine line between two worlds that the agony and suffering of Berlinale's opening film unfolds.  

Adapted from Claire Keegan's novel, Tim Mielants' Small Things Like These portrays the story of a "soft-hearted man" named Billy (Cillian Murphy, teased by his wife for his unwavering tendency to aid those in need...

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This Film Year, I'm Thankful for...

by Cláudio Alves

Happy Thanksgiving!

The world is burning and everything sucks, principled people are few and far between, with depression and bad news always waiting 'round the corner. And yet, even now, there are things to be thankful for. As a cinephile, I've found that films often represent a reprieve from doom, including when they catalyze one's anger and throw it back at the audience. Indeed, it's difficult to imagine life without those moving pictures. From a personal perspective, it's impossible to conceive of the past months without these screen-bound pleasures. So far, 2023 has been a fantastic year for my journey as a film fanatic, from stellar pictures to unprecedented opportunities.

It only seems fair to share some of that joy in a day that, for my American friends, is all about celebrating gratitude. Sure, I'm Portuguese, but the sentiment persists beyond borders. Without further ado, this film year, I'm thankful for…

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Middleburg 2023: Mainstream Oscar Bait is back, baby!

by Lynn Lee

Previously in part one of the Middleburg recap we discussed Cannes triumphs The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall (now in theaters!), and Sofia Coppola's Priscilla. Now the jam-packed Oscar promise second half of the festival.

Day Three
If you’ve been wondering whether American Fiction – the audience favorite at Toronto – really has Oscar potential, I’m here to tell you yes, it absolutely does.  Cord Jefferson’s debut feature took home the audience award at Middleburg, too, and both my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It’s a rollicking satire of the literary establishment and the politics of racial representation, based on a novel that was written over 20 years ago but is, if anything, even more current today.  Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a bougie buttoned-up middle-aged black writer who, appalled at the success of novels and entertainment he sees as pandering to white stereotypes of black life, writes his own gangsta/ghetto porn novel as a bitter drunken joke... only to see it meet with an effusive response far beyond his wildest imagination... 

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AFI Fest: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’

By Abe Friedtanzer 

Following Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar nomination for Best Director for Drive My Car two years ago and his win in the Best International Feature category, it’s fair to assume most foreign-language cinephiles will be seeking out his work if they weren’t already. I had the chance to see Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, his other 2021 film, which was very different but just as interesting in its own way. Now, Hamaguchi’s latest, Evil Does Not Exist, is touring the festival circuit, with previous stops at Venice, Toronto, and New York, among others, before the currently running AFI Fest…

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Middleburg 2023: Cannes holdovers and Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla"

by Lynn Lee

Hello TFE readers!  I’m back after some time away, having completed an intense one-year work assignment that left me barely enough time to keep up with the movies, let alone write about them.  To celebrate my return to normalcy, my husband and I spent a long weekend in Middleburg, VA, partly for relaxation (Middleburg’s a pretty little town in horse and wine country, ideal for a fall getaway) but mostly so I could get my fill of movies at the annual Middleburg Film Festival.  As Nathaniel’s reported in the past, for a relatively young, non-centrally located festival, Middleburg punches far above its weight.  It regularly manages to land many of the hot tickets out of Toronto, Telluride, Venice, and Cannes and has been a fairly reliable harbinger of what the Academy will like.  Like the other festivals, it was a bit less star-studded than usual this year due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, yet still generated plenty of excitement due to the sheer quality of the films.

Day One
The festival opened on a high note with this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall... 

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