?There are over 200 million children making the things we buy.? If you look around your desk, or your pantry, you will almost certainly see products that come to you because of child labor (which is very often slavery). You may already know this (I did), but think...
In Everybody Knows, director Asghar Farhadi leaves Iranian stresses behind (cf., A Separation, The Past, and The Salesman) for a more Eurocentric story. His previous films focus on people dealing with the tensions between two cultures. This film is a more conventional...
Winner of the Palme d?Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Shoplifters is a part of Hirokazu Kore-eda?s examination of family?s place within society. This is a topic he has looked at from various angles in other films, notably Like Father, Like Son; Our Little...
?I?m on my side. Always.? It isn?t news that politics can be a cutthroat sport. But in the hands of Yorgos Lanthimos, all that palace intrigue can become the basis of humor. The Favourite is a Machiavellian comedy set 400 years ago that reflects the way power often...
The Rocky?saga continues with Creed II. It would be nice for the Creed films to have their own identity. It?s not just that they still have Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in a key role; they both rely heavily on plot from the earlier Rocky films rather than looking...
Teenage years can be a difficult time as one tries establish an identity. But what happens when religion is suddenly put into the mix? In Jinn, a young woman must learn how to fit Islam into her life and determine how to adapt herself to a new way of seeing things....
In a taped message before the screening of Roma at AFIFest, director Alfonso Cuar?n noted that it was based on memories from his childhood in Mexico City in 1971, and called it ?a love letter to the women who raised me.? This is a very personal film for Cuar?n. Here,...
I don?t consider myself a Luddite, but I know I am more analog that digital. Because of that I?ve never quite caught on to some of the technological advancements that keep coming. Case in point: Bitcoin. So it was with both interest and trepidation that I watched...
AFIFest 2018 Presented by Audi has wound down to the end. It will be a few days before the results of the audience awards voting is known. But I?m sure the staff is pleased with this year?s festival and will soon be working on next years. I appreciate their...