Devika Girish

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Devika Girish

This month's picks include a hit Thai family drama, an Iranian animated film, a trilogy of documentaries about Chinese textile workers and more. Stream it on Netflix. The Thai director Pat Boonnitipat's first feature was a box-office sensation across Asia when it came out in theaters last year. It's easy to see why. "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" is the rare feel-good family drama that tugs at the heartstrings, but with a warm and gentle naturalism that never tips into cloying melodrama.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Devika Girish

Stream it on Netflix. The Taiwanese director John Hsu's rollicking horror-comedy raked in awards, raves and strong box-office numbers last year for very good reason. Set in a world where ghosts compete to get haunting licenses, which allow them to stay on among the living and avoid permanently fading away, "Dead Talents Society" marries the gonzo style of "Beetlejuice" with the interpersonal antics and conflicts of the best backstage dramas.

2 months ago | filmcomment.com | Devika Girish

This article appeared in the March 28, 2025 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Sign up for the Letter here. I Like Okinawa Sweet (Chikako Yamashiro, 2004). Courtesy the artist and Yumiko Chiba Associates. There is something unsettlingly liminal about Chikako Yamashiro’s work. The Okinawan artist’s videos take place, for the most part, on thresholds of one kind or another: graveyards, fences, shores, national borders.

Mar 7, 2025 | nytimes.com | Devika Girish

A room, a dusty projector and a small screen mounted on the wall. That's pretty much all there is to the Thursday Film Series, a movie club started by students at the prestigious University of Ibadan in Nigeria, which forms the focus of Alain Kassanda's documentary.

Feb 24, 2025 | filmcomment.com | Devika Girish

This article appeared in the February 21, 2025 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Sign up for the Letter here. The Open Door (Henry Barakat, 1963)Indonesian curator and artist Bunga Siagian had never seen Turang (1958), the acclaimed film by her father, Bachtiar Siagian, while growing up. She had never seen any of his films, in fact—she had only read about them in books.