Author Caroline Tsai

July 18, 2021 11:49 am

“This stuff is junk, what we’re doing,” Bill Murray deadpans in the middle of “New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization.” The live audience onscreen—a strange sight after a year and a half of social distancing a...

‘Nitram’: Caleb Landry Jones Is Chilling In Justin Kurzel’s Portrait Of An Infamous Australian Mass Shooter [Cannes Review]

July 18, 2021 11:14 am

Though “Nitram” never depicts the unspoken horrific massacre that its protagonist commits, the entire film queasily pulses in the anxious anticipation of the unspeakable event. It’s not an easy film to watch, ...

‘Hold Me Tight’: Mathieu Amalric Deconstructs Loss With Vicky Krieps in A Fractured Family Drama [Cannes Review]

July 17, 2021 10:50 am

It’s rare for the last ten minutes of a film to radically change your opinion of the movie at large, let alone your entire viewing experience, but in “Hold Me Tight” (“Serre-Moi fort”), which premiered at the ...

‘Memoria’: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Meditates on Ecology & Time With Tilda Swinton In A Slow Burn Dream [Cannes Review]

July 16, 2021 8:12 am

In one scene of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria,” Jessica (Tilda Swinton) and a friend browse refrigerated cabinets designed to preserve flowers. “In here, time stops,” the saleswoman says proudly, gestur...

‘Paris, 13th District’: Jacques Audiard Dreams Up A Millennial New Wave ‘Jules & Jim’ [Cannes Review]

July 16, 2021 7:56 am

Few films have accurately captured the definitive Millennial experience—lovelorn, cash-strapped, self-absorbed, and tech-addicted—though a few have tried, and some even succeeded. Modern love is no joke, as fi...

‘A Hero’: Asghar Farhadi’s Moral Quandary Film Questions The Weight of a Good Deed [Cannes Review]

July 15, 2021 8:32 am

In “A Hero” (“Ghahreman”), Asghar Farhadi blurs the line of innocence and guilt in a fraught drama about the true weight of a good deed. During a two-day reprieve from prison, Rahim Soltani (Amir Jadidi) and h...

‘Deception’: Arnaud Desplechin’s Chatty Philip Roth Adaptation With Léa Seydoux Needs Less Talking, More Action [Cannes Review]

July 14, 2021 12:39 pm

In Arnaud Desplechin’s “Deception” (“Tromperie”), one character’s husband is described as “passionate about dazzling, interesting women.” In this adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel of the same name, one can’t h...

‘The Innocents’: Eskil Vogt’s Latest Is A Violent & Disturbing Nightmare Of Childhood [Cannes Review]

July 14, 2021 8:59 am

What do we really know about children? Until the Renaissance, artists were still painting them as freakish shriveled adults. Only in the last century-ish did American society decide they probably should go to ...

‘Ali & Ava’: Clio Barnard’s Unlikely Romance Strikes a Sweet Chord [Cannes Review]

July 13, 2021 9:41 am

What do fans of Sylvan Esso dance house remixes and Bob Dylan have in common? Almost nothing, you’d imagine, and you’d probably be right. But in Clio Barnard’s sweet, unlikely romance “Ali & Ava,” which pr...

‘Flag Day’: Sean Penn’s Family Drama Is A Fine Showcase For Dylan Penn, But Otherwise Plays It Safe [Cannes Review]

July 11, 2021 12:23 pm

Just a few days on the heels of “Stillwater,” another American entry in the Cannes Film Festival main competition section explores the complicated relationship between a father and daughter rooted in down-home...

‘The Divide’ (‘La Fracture’): A Dark, Exhausting Dramedy Chronicles Divorce & the Gilets Jaune Protests [Cannes Review]

July 11, 2021 8:42 am

A sweeping social protest met with utter chaos in an emergency room—especially to the American festival-goer at Cannes, this brief sounds like an unpleasant evocation of 2020. And indeed, filmed in the immedia...

‘Mothering Sunday’: Eva Husson’s Drama Is Richly Sensual, Yet Occasionally Disjointed [Cannes Review]

July 10, 2021 1:22 pm

“Once upon a time,” begins any good fairy tale. Though it too begins with this simple phrase, “Mothering Sunday” is no such fairy tale. Rather than dragons, knights, and princesses, filmmaker Eva Husson offers...

‘Stillwater’: Matt Damon Thriller From Tom McCarthy Never Quite Changes the Tide [Cannes Review]

July 9, 2021 10:54 am

It’s been a rocky four-plus years in American foreign policy, and nowhere is this more apparent than in “Stillwater,” the new thriller-slash-family drama from “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy, which premiered...

‘Ahed’s Knee’: A Searing Autobiographical Takedown Of Corrupt Government [Cannes Review]

July 8, 2021 7:56 am