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New Release Reviews

New Release: Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023)

In the closing moments of Ari Aster’s latest ‘elevated horror film’, our beleaguered hero Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix) is sat in a small motorboat – forcefully moored in a giant pool within a darkened stadium full of all the people he has ever known – having to defend his life against none other than his […]

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Feature Screengem

Screengem: The Red Shawl from The Sisters Brothers (Jacques Audiard, 2018)

Ms. Amelia Partridge is never seen at any point during the 122 minute runtime of Jacques Audiard’s 2018 wistful comedy-western The Sisters Brothers, but her presence looms large for one particular character in this film based on Patrick Dewitt’s 2011 novel of the same name. The year is 1851. Hired assassins Eli (John C. Reilly) […]

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Feature Four Frames

Four Frames: The Immigrant (James Gray, 2014)

To watch The Immigrant in the light of the contemporary refugee crisis is to see the film’s historical context brought shamefully into the present amidst the understanding that mistreating those who seek a better life away from their homeland, often in places that frequently exploit other countries and peoples around the world in the name […]