Review: Hanks Makes 'A Man Called Otto' Watchable

By Christopher James

The practice of remaking international films for an English language audience is a lazy process. Though we sometimes get a stray hit like Scorsese’s The Departed, too often we see a film’s teeth and charm whittled down to nothing (see Oldboy, Downhill, Ghost in the Shell to name a few). A Man Called Otto isn't an abject artistic failure like some of those, but it doesn't bring anything new to its Swedish counterpart, A Man Called Ove. It doesn't feel quite like a Google translate job (most of the American-ized changes work), but definitely only exists because it feels US audiences are unlikely to seek out the Swedish original.

You may think you’ve seen a curmudgeon before, but you haven’t met Otto (Tom Hanks). Every morning he makes his rounds, which includes cleaning up his small neighborhood development, closing the gate on his street and sneering at every smiling “idiot” he comes into contact with...

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Review: Best Animated Feature Contender ‘Little Nicholas’

By Abe Friedtanzer

One of this year’s under-the-radar contenders for Best Animated Feature is a sweet little French film called Little Nicholas. It centers on the protagonist best known for his many appearances in French comics, as well as his creators, René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé. While Goscinny died almost half a century ago, Sempé lived until just a few days shy of his 90th birthday this past August. Little Nicholas is a delightful and insightful work of animation that sheds just as much light on the backgrounds of the illustrators as their plucky hand-drawn star…

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"Bardo" is a Gorgeously Shot Mixed Bag

by Eurocheese

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s latest film, Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, is a film overflowing with powerful images, half-told stories and vignettes that delve into very personal material. The film is not always coherent, and not everything works, but it is a mixed bag that offers enough rewards to make it worth a recommendation. The viewer’s mileage will vary, and as one might expect based on the early review, it will definitely not be for everyone. 

Bardo sets its tone right off the bat with multiple disorienting sequences out of context, letting the audience know that accessibility will not be a top priority. One consistent throughline  though, is its visual splendor. Netflix has been delivering some of the most beautiful imagery onscreens this year (Glass Onion and Pinocchio jump to mind), and this film bathes us in oceanic blues and city lights. It also highlights the beauty of Mexico while simultaneously focusing on its shortcomings, an internal struggle for the protagonist, whose national identity is among his many crises. If you’re going to have an emotional breakdown, why not do it while you’re surrounded by lush landscapes?

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Best International Film Reviews: China, India, and Japan

by Cláudio Alves

For many, this year's Best International Film race will forever be remembered with an added asterisk, a reminder that the outcome would have been different had India submitted RRR instead of Last Film Show. This is not a commentary on artistic quality, merely award prognostication. The action blockbuster keeps racking up honors, while the country's official submission remains under-discussed. If neither succeeds, it will continue a sad Oscar trend. As one of the world's leading film industries, it's notable how little India has factored in these awards' history, indicating AMPAS' biases as well as India's own sometimes surprising submission choices.

While considering India's fate, let's also peruse the titles selected by Asia's other major film-producing nations… 

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Best International Film Reviews: Armenia, Canada and Paraguay

by Cláudio Alves

Submitting a documentary is a risky strategy in the Best International Film race. Since Waltz with Bashir in 2008, only four other non-fiction features have been able to score nominations in the category – Cambodia's The Missing Picture, North Macedonia's Honeyland, Romania's Collective, and Denmark's Flee. None of them won. Still, hope is everlasting, and one often finds that some of the year's most fascinating submissions happen to be documentaries. The same is true for our current season, with two titles going as far as incorporating animation, like Waltz with Bashir and Flee. Mayhap they can repeat their antecessors' success at getting nominated. It's unlikely but not impossible…

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