Carlos Aguilar, Author at The Playlist

‘Tragic Jungle’ Is An Alluring Mexican Adventure Centered On Black & Indigenous People [NYFF Review]

October 13, 2020 2:26 pm

Lush foliage paves the frames of Mexican director Yulene Olaizola’s entrancing feature “Tragic Jungle.” Backdrop to violence and the supernatural, the eponymous ecosystem traps us in its mystifying maw for an ...

‘Night Of The Kings’ Is A Striking Tribute To The Power Of Storytelling Set In An Ivorian Prison [NYFF Review]

Carlos Aguilar

September 27, 2020 10:28 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

Philippe Lacôte understands the cyclical nature of human conflict and how invaluable the stories people tell about their collective past are. In the remarkable “Night Of The Kings,” the Ivorian director’s foll...

‘Wolfwalkers’: Animated Irish Myth Is A Stirring Masterwork [TIFF Review]

Carlos Aguilar

September 12, 2020 9:23 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

Irish mythology has found glorious ambassadors in director Tomm Moore and the team at animation studio Cartoon Saloon. Their Oscar-nominated titles “The Secret of Kells” (2009) and “Song of the Sea” (2014) are...

‘New Order’: Unflinching Mexican Dystopian Film Shocks With Blistering Purpose [Venice Review]

Carlos Aguilar

September 10, 2020 3:00 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

Serious discussions on the perpetuated correlation between race and class in Mexico have dominated the country’s collective consciousness over the last few years. Cinema has actively participated in such recko...

‘Never Gonna Snow Again’ Is A Hypnotic Sci-Fi Drama Centered On An Enigmatic Immigrant With Soothing Powers [Venice Review]

Carlos Aguilar

September 7, 2020 1:25 pm

News, Reviews

Close your eyes and imagine what Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin” would evolve into if its tone were more uplifting than unsettling and its protagonist wasn’t preying on humans but trying to heal them. That ...

Netflix’s ‘Immigration Nation’ Exposes The Horrors Of ICE & Reaffirms The Need For Its Abolishment [Review]

Carlos Aguilar

August 4, 2020 2:09 pm

News, Reviews, Television

Maximum cruelty has always been the directive behind ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement), the monstrous federal apparatus created in 2003 to terrorize undocumented communities under the pretense of prote...

‘A White White Day’: Icelandic Knockout Examines Grief Manifested as Rage [Review]

Carlos Aguilar

April 25, 2020 10:20 am

News, Reviews

Grief manifested as festering rage haunts a self-righteous man in Hlynur Palmason’s “A White White Day,” a knockout of precise tension that falls in line with the director’s previous study on distraught blue-c...

‘And Then We Danced’: Georgia-Set Gay Drama is a Cinematic Act of Kinetic Defiance [Review]

Carlos Aguilar

February 16, 2020 8:54 am

News, Reviews

With arms stretched and firm steps, majestic and yet light on their feet, the men in Georgian dance carry the weight of the country's heritage on their shoulders, as well as its rigid ideals of masculinity. Fo...

‘Ruben Brandt, Collector’ is a Masterful Animated Pastiche of Fine Art, Classic Cinema, and Surrealist Visions [Review]

Carlos Aguilar

March 1, 2019 6:26 pm

News, Reviews

There are no unintentional strokes on Milorad Krstic’s moving canvas "Ruben Brandt, Collector," a 2D animated feature so densely ornate with auteur-adoring references and eye-popping design, a single viewing wo...

‘Judy & Punch’: Mia Wasikowska Plays A Revenge-Seeking Puppeteer In Tonally Awkward Period Tale [Sundance Review]

Carlos Aguilar

February 5, 2019 2:06 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

Aiming to dissect crude entertainment that relies on violence to induce laughter, as well as its repercussions in interpersonal relationships and society at large; Australian actress-turned-director Mirrah Foul...

Time Loop Nightmare ‘Koko-di Koko-da’ Haunts A Couple In Crisis [Sundance Review]

Carlos Aguilar

February 4, 2019 12:10 pm

News

Musically macabre and structurally curious, Johannes Nyholm’s sophomore feature “Koko-di Koko-da” works as a nightmarish exploration of unresolved grief. Its peculiar tone can best be described as a crossbreed ...

‘The Souvenir’: Suffering Yields Reinvention For a Young Artist in Joanna Hogg’s Exquisitely Personal Drama [Sundance Review]

Carlos Aguilar

February 1, 2019 9:43 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

Survived pain arises as both a vehicle for growth and catalyst for the revaluation of one’s impetus in Joanna Hogg’s introspectively awe-inspiring stroke of virtuosity “The Souvenir,” an artifact of semi-autobi...

Author Carlos Aguilar