To say the work of the French filmmaking duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani is divisive is an understatement. Like Tarantino and Eli Roth, Cattet and Forzani are obsessed with 20th century Italian genre cinema, and weave their influences into their work. But while Tarantino is a natural storyteller, the French duo are truer to their Italian influences in displaying nary the slightest interest in spinning a comprehensible narrative.
(FORT LEE, NJ) -- The Barrymore Film Center presents National Theatre Live's presentation of Fleabag on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 7:30pm. Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) and directed by Vicky Jones, Fleabag is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life.
Two decades after co-directing 2004's Take Out with Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou has made her solo directorial debut with the Taipei-set family drama Left-Handed Girl. In the years since Take Out, Tsou has produced several of Baker's films, and Baker collaborates again here as co-writer and editor. Anyone familiar with Baker's filmography will recognise his influence here. Once again this is a film about working class strivers doing whatever they can to stay afloat; sex work rears its head; and like Tangerine, it was shot on an adapted iPhone.
(LINCROFT, NJ) -- New Jersey Film Academy presents Breaking In Lecture Series with Armand Assante on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at Brookdale Community College. Join them for an evening with the award-winning actor. The event begins at 6:30pm.
(TEANECK, NJ) -- It all began 21 years ago with an idea and planning, and this November the Teaneck International Film Festival, a project of The Puffin Foundation, Ltd., celebrated its 20th anniversary of presenting films and programs that bring people together as a community and foster a commitment to caring and involvement. This year's festival was marked by feelings of pride and gratitude on the part of the TIFF committee, Executive Director Jeremy Lentz, and the many sponsors who have been supporters from the earliest days.
To say the work of the French filmmaking duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani is divisive is an understatement. Like Tarantino and Eli Roth, Cattet and Forzani are obsessed with 20th century Italian genre cinema, and weave their influences into their work. But while Tarantino is a natural storyteller, the French duo are truer to their Italian influences in displaying nary the slightest interest in spinning a comprehensible narrative.
Two decades after co-directing 2004's Take Out with Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou has made her solo directorial debut with the Taipei-set family drama Left-Handed Girl. In the years since Take Out, Tsou has produced several of Baker's films, and Baker collaborates again here as co-writer and editor. Anyone familiar with Baker's filmography will recognise his influence here. Once again this is a film about working class strivers doing whatever they can to stay afloat; sex work rears its head; and like Tangerine, it was shot on an adapted iPhone.
For the past seven decades or so, Nazis and Russians have been western action cinema's two main go-to villains. With Sisu: Road to Revenge, aging Finnish tough guy Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) joins Indiana Jones in becoming the rare action hero that has battled both Nazis and Russians.
After the relatively mainstream horror hat trick of Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs and The Monkey, director Osgood Perkins has returned to the more challenging fare of his earlier work with Keeper. Shot in Canada while production on The Monkey was held up by the 2023 Hollywood strikes, Keeper was quickly devised as a way to keep Perkins busy. And, boy, does it show. It has the stank of all of those half-baked horror movies that were shot in filmmakers' homes during the pandemic lockdown. There's barely enough plot here to fill a 20 minute segment of a horror anthology, never mind a feature. It's a cobbled together collection of horror clichés that only holds our attention due to a committed performance by Tatiana Maslany.
Lucile Hadžihalilović's The Ice Tower is that classic tale of the kid who runs away to join the circus. The circus in this case is the film industry of 1970s France. That was an era when the gulf between adolescence and adulthood wasn't so pronounced, when adults didn't think it strange that they were working alongside kids. It reminds us of how Cameron Crowe became a rock critic while barely out of short pants, or how Spielberg wandered onto a Hollywood backlot and found himself directing Joan Crawford within months. But The Ice Tower is tonally a very different film than Almost Famous or The Fabelmans. This is a dark fable that reminds us there are predators waiting to exploit the dreams of the innocent.
