Ben Rolph

2 weeks ago | discussingfilm.net | Ben Rolph

In his latest black comedy, writer-director Ari Aster plunges audiences into an ultra-realistic world. The fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico is Aster’s setting of choice to explore nearly every hot social issue and historical consequence that shook the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing, the Black Lives Matter movement, right-wing politics, social media protests, and Antifa are all tackled in his audacious screenplay.

1 month ago | letterboxd.com | Ben Rolph

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account—for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages (example), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

1 month ago | awardswatch.com | Ben Rolph

Director Chie Hayakawa’s sophomore feature, after 2022’s Plan 75, sees her pivot from telling a futuristic story about euthanasia to a past-set coming-of-age tale. Renoir is a gentle, yet sombre tale told from the perspective of a young Japanese girl whose father is suffering from a terminal form of cancer. The Japanese Cannes competition title begins as 11-year-old Fuki (ace newcomer Yui Suzuki) is killed by a mysterious man who strangles her to death.

1 month ago | nextbestpicture.com | Ben Rolph

THE STORY – A young aspiring Japanese-British writer visits her Japanese mother outside of London, where she asks for details about her mother’s experiences living in Nagasaki during-and-after the war. THE CAST – Yoh Yoshida, Camilla Aiko, Kouhei Matsushita, Tomokazu Miura, Hirose Suzu & Fumi NikaidoTHE TEAM – Kei Ishikawa (Director/Writer)THE RUNNING TIME – 123 MinutesWorld history is taught very differently in countries around the world.

1 month ago | awardswatch.com | Ben Rolph

The grim iron gates of a Soviet prison open up as director Sergei Loznitsa begins his exploration of Soviet state repression, told through the lens of a young graduate-turned-prosecutor with a fierce drive for justice. Two Prosecutors marks Loznitsa’s return to fiction, after 2022’s The Kiev Trial and 2024’s The Invasion, and his third entry in Cannes competition.