A family clashes over the fate of an heirloom piano in The Piano Lesson. On July 4, 1911, three brothers stole a piano from their former enslavers, though one of them, Boy Charles (Stephan James), died in a consequential fire. 25 years later, Boy Charles’ son Boy Willie (John David Washington) arrives with his friend…
A troupe of circus freaks fight back against a Nazi showman in Freaks Out. Matilde (Aurora Giovinazzo), Fulvio (Claudio Santamaria), Cencio (Pietro Castellitto), and Mario (Giancarlo Martini) are four superpowered performers for the Half Penny Circus run by Israel (Giorgio Tirabassi) in 1943 Rome. When a bombing mid-performance destroys the circus, Israel goes off on…
A working class bouncer from the Bronx gets a job chauffeuring an African American pianist in the American South in Green Book. Set in 1962, Tony “Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) is a bouncer at New York’s Copacabana night club, who is in need of work while the club is closed for renovations. Tony is offered a…
A Buenos Aires teenager becomes embroiled in a life of crime in El Angel. In 1971 Buenos Aires, Carlitos (Lorenzo Ferro) is an angelic looking teenager, who has always been stealing things. Carlitos’ life of crime begins to escalate when he befriends Ramon (Chino Darín), who is the son of career criminals. It is not long until Carlitos…
This review was originally published, under its original title Libera Nos, as part of my coverage of Hot Docs 2017 The daily routines of a Sicilian exorcist is observed in Deliver Us. Over the past number of years, the requests to the Catholic Church for the rite of exorcism has been on the rise, to the…
Screening as part of Hot Docs Ban This Series An Afghan refugee dreams of rap career in Sonita. Sonita Alidazeh is an 18 year Afghan living in Iran, who dreams of entering into a music career. However, it is indecent for women to sing in her culture and Sontia’s family have other plans for her; that being…
An Afghan refugee dreams of rap career in Sonita. Sonita Alidazeh is an 18 year Afghan living in Iran, who dreams of entering into a music career. However, it is indecent for women to sing in her culture and Sontia’s family have other plans for her; that being returning her to Afghanistan and selling her into…
