Josh Kupecki

Austin

Screen Editor at The Austin Chronicle

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Articles

Green Border - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

Aug 15, 2024 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

2024, NR, 152 min. Directed by Agnieszka Holland. Starring Jalal Altawil, Behi Djanati Atai, Maja Ostaszewska, Tomasz Wlosok, Dalia Naous, Jaśmina Polak, Malwina Buss, Mohamad Al Rashi, Agata Kulesza, Monika Frajczyk. REVIEWED By Josh Kupecki, Fri., Aug. 16, 2024Leave it to Belarus, that eternal hotbed of human rights violations, and specifically to dictator Alexander Lukashenko, to fan the flames of the European migrant crisis, now nearly 10 years on.
Movie Review: Evil Does Not Exist

May 8, 2024 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

Winter is slowly receding in the small mountain village of Harasawa, a few hours north of Tokyo. The trees are still mostly bare, the forest floor crunches underfoot, but the skies are clear and the surrounding snow caps are melting, swelling the downhill rivulets. This water is gathered by the town’s self-described “jack of all trades” Takumi (Omika), for use in the local noodle shop.
Io Capitano - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

Mar 12, 2024 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

2024, NR, 121 min. Directed by Matteo Garrone. Starring Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Ndeye Khady Sy, Issaka Sawadogo, Venus Gueye, Hichem Yacoubi, Joseph Beddelem. REVIEWED By Josh Kupecki, Fri., March 15, 2024 It started on the bus – crossing from Mali to Niger – when the border patrol immediately saw through the forged passports and demanded fifty bucks or a trip to jail.
She Is Conann - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

Jan 31, 2024 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

In Hell’s green room, the drinks are not free. But try telling that to the demon dog Rainer (Löwensohn); he’s otherwise occupied with readying himself and his guest for an audience with underworld royalty. The guest is an elderly woman stricken with amnesia, but also, she is Conann (Brion). And this underworld royalty, who sits upon a throne in a cave of shadows? She is Conann (and also Brion).
Movie Review: The Zone of Interest

Jan 10, 2024 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

The three minutes of prelusive black screen that open Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest serve to tamp down outside thoughts, the gradual choral music on the soundtrack attuning the viewer to the film. It’s a method of conditioning, cinematic shorthand that roughly translates to “prepare yourself.” The film then cuts to an idyllic riverside, a family picnic in progress: swimming, picking berries, walking back to the car, the ride home, and then lights out.
Movie Review: Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros

Dec 27, 2023 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

2023, NR, 240 min. Directed by Frederick Wiseman. REVIEWED By Josh Kupecki, Fri., Dec. 29, 2023 As with everything else in life, for a restaurant to receive a Michelin star is transient. To be bestowed with one is to be recognized for a remarkable haute cuisine experience, but also to be assured that every year it will be reevaluated for that restaurant’s continued inclusion in the venerable guide.
Monster - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

Dec 21, 2023 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

2023, PG-13, 126 min. Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Starring Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi, Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, Yūko Tanaka, Mitsuki Takahata, Shidō Nakamura. REVIEWED By Josh Kupecki, Fri., Dec. 22, 2023 Consider the ways in which we absorb the world. Firsthand experience, of course, and the influence of the cultural and societal spheres that help to shape our cognitive minds.
Fallen Leaves - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

Nov 29, 2023 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

It’s hard to imagine the Finnish Tourist Board having an amicable relationship with its country’s most famous filmmaker. Aki Kaurismäki’s Helsinki is filled with dusty factories, sparse dive bars named after faraway cities, and grungy movie theatres with impressive collections of classic film posters. No northern lights, no saunas, and not a Moomin to be found in this drab urban landscape filled with a stoic populace whose bone-dry temperament might be best described as pragmatic fatalism.
Carpet Cowboys - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

Nov 15, 2023 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

2023, NR, 86 min. Directed by Emily Mackenzie, Noah Collier. REVIEWED By Josh Kupecki, Fri., Nov. 17, 2023 Poking around the wreckage of the American dream has long been a fascination for generations of filmmakers. There is a recognition in watching the struggle between an idealism instilled from the culture itself (innate exceptionalism, bootstraps pulled, etc.) and the utter indifference it is met with by a society hellbent on consuming its own.
The Delinquents - Movie Review - The Austin Chronicle

Nov 8, 2023 | austinchronicle.com | Josh Kupecki

2023, NR, 189 min. Directed by Rodrigo Moreno. Starring Daniel Elías, Esteban Bigliardi, Margarita Molfino, Laura Paredes, Gabriela Saidón, Cecilia Rainero, Germán De Silva, Javier Zoro. REVIEWED By Josh Kupecki, Fri., Nov. 10, 2023 Morán (Elías) has crunched the numbers and figured it out. He has calculated the amount of money he needs to steal in order to live simply and comfortably for the rest of his life, without working another day.