Like every corporate ad that has played over the last year in the pandemic, I can tell you how much the year 2020 sucked. Also, like every corporate ad, I can make some false statement that the world will get better after these “unprecedented times” and the power of films will be a step in helping ease the pain of these “unprecedented times.” I rather not. Continue reading “Cynthia Li’s Top 10 Films of 2020”
According to Dictionary.com, the 2019 word of the year was existential. Existential defined as “of or relating to the existence and/or concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual’s freely made choices.” In choosing the word existential, the importance lies in that it, “inspires us to ask big questions about who we are and what our purpose is in the face of our various challenges—and it reminds us that we can make choices about our lives in how we answer those questions.” If that is the importance of the word existential, then I can’t describe a better word to describe how I felt about the 2019 year in films. As the movie landscape continuously becomes bombarded with the same formulaic box-office hits, it’s the gems found within that provide me the most hope, as they ask the questions that the word existential ponders us to question. These are the films that ask questions not for purely the creation of entertainment, but because they view the world of cinema as life and death, a world in which the words and images spattered on the screen work to make a difference in a viewer’s perspective of life.
Each year, around Oscar season, a new biopic emerges that is supposed to excite audiences. Last year, that was Bohemian Rhapsody and First Man. The year before, there was I. Tonya and Battle of the Sexes. Despite the consistency of the genre’s production, the quality never seems to match. Although films like First Man and I, Tonya do appear once in a while, a majority of films within the genre feel like nothing more than a glorified Wikipedia page. While Harriet introduces variables not found on a simple Wikipedia page, they are not for the better.
For Sama is playing at Northwest Film Forum at 7pm on November 6th, 7:30pm on November 7th, 6:15pm on November 9th, and 7:30pm on November 10th.
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The camera is the single most important invention in cinema. Without it, we could not visually see the stories that we want to tell. It is a magical device that lets filmmakers capture the stories that envelope them. However, the camera also becomes a filmmaker’s shield. It allows them to hide behind the object and not directly interact with what’s in front of them. In For Sama, that notion could not be any more different.
Continue reading “Review: The Self-Reflexive Love Letter That is ‘For Sama’”
Society’s obsession with villains is a long one. They are the flawed and twisted underdogs and unknowns that, when conveyed with the right bravado, end up being the characters that we root for or relate to the most. They are also the characters that we seemingly want more of on our screens. However, due to the nature of the superhero genre, the villains who usually dominate the space they occupy are still narratively regulated to the sideline; we understand these villains must escape from the questioning and complexity that we demand from our leading hero. That narrative changes with Joker, but instead of the deep and dark character study that the public (or at least me) has been begging for, Joker reminds us why villains are better regulated as unknown, unpredictable, and surface-level quantities.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Joker’ is an Origin Story That Does Not Know Its Own Origin”
Stephen King is one of the most well-known authors of our generation. We know him for his strange creatures, cosmic ideas, and his twisted stories that keep us from sleeping at night. Simply put: his books can be weird. However, weirdness can only go so far if not executed properly, and that’s why It: Chapter One was a delightful surprise. Instead of allowing the extraordinariness of a King story dominate the film, It: Chapter One is surprisingly grounded, allowing the horror to come out of its themes to help us better understand and relate to the ideas of fear, isolation, and growing up. However, instead of continuing the trend that It: Chapter One created, It: Chapter Two runs in the opposite direction, and significantly deters you because of it.
Hollywood archetypes tend to have the most staying power in our world. Whether it be the meet-cute in a romantic comedy or the happily ever after in a blockbuster, these archetypes always find their way back into our modern-day culture. However, not all Hollywood traditions are relatively unproblematic as the meet-cute or the happily ever after, yet they still are given room to shine in Hollywood, the most problematic and unnoticed being male domination, a tradition that seemingly gives the male character “emotional layers” while laying waste to its female characters. Hustlers is a rebuttal towards this tradition as it explores the idea of female control and the greatness and complicated nature of female friendships.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Hustlers’ Shows Off the Power of Female Control”
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably expressed some interested in seeing Mariano Llinás’ fourteen-hour mega film, La Flor: a film consisting of six stand-alone episodes connected only by the four lead actresses. At 868 minutes of unadulterated cinema split into four parts (or three depending on the cut), it is certainly enough to make any normal theater attendee rollover let alone form a blood clot. A time sink as massive as this requires special considerations before committing to Llinás’ marathon, so the question becomes: “Is La Flor worth your time?”
Continue reading “Review: ‘La Flor’ is a 14 Hour Exercise in Form Over Substance”
If you were to ask a group of people what insect they feared the most, chances are, at least one of them will say it’s the bee. Despite the delicious honey they produce, the thought of bee stings can send shivers down many spines. Thus, on the surface, Honeyland may seem like your typical informative National Geographic documentary about the bee population, giving us facts, numbers, and shots that hope to alleviate that fear. However, Honeyland provides us the minimum with bee facts as it unravels itself into a beautiful yet heartbreaking tale of one woman’s resiliency.
Continue reading “SIFF Review: ‘Honeyland’ Introduces Us to a New Type of Resiliency”
Every time someone asks me to describe The Farewell, the only way I can is telling them that it’s the perfect combination of heartbreaking and heartwarming. Despite the contradictory nature of this sentence, for me, it is the ideal description for the film based on a true lie as The Farewell provides an oddly familiar tale exploring the complexities within the immigrant family in our modern world.
Continue reading “Review: ‘The Farewell’ Ponders on the Agony of Intergenerational Guilt”