Film-Forward

Book adaptation

Mothering Sunday

A British period drama that subverts the polite conventions of the genre with its frank depiction of sex.

Fabian: Going to the Dogs

Welcome to Weimar–era Berlin, a world of economic instability, wild partying, cabaret performers, rampant sexuality, and where Nazis are beginning to march the streets.

Benedetta

Veteran provocateur Paul Verhoeven’s movie about lust and mania in a 17th-century Tuscan convent fulfills its sensationalistic promise.

Prayers for the Stolen

The straightforward and innocent way of how kids perceive the world, despite how complicated and rough the surroundings, is remarkably depicted in the splendid first feature film by Tatiana Huezo.

Passing | New York Film Festival 2021

The elegant directorial debut of British-American actress Rebecca Hall revolves around two light-skinned Black women following different paths.

The Lost Daughter | New York Film Festival 2021

The New Yorker hailed Ferrante’s slender yet loaded novel as “a brutally frank novel of maternal ambivalence.” The same could be said of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation.

The Power of the Dog | New York Film Festival 2021

Jane Campion performs a seductive sleight of hand in her adaptation of American writer Thomas Savage’s 1967 shapeshifting novel.

The Mad Women’s Ball

Overstuffed and often heavy-handed as it is, the movie is beautifully shot and styled, features some very moving scenes, and derives power from its incendiary performances.

Dune | TIFF 2021

Director Denis Villeneuve turns Frank Herbert’s multilayered, 1965 sci-fi classic novel into an involving adventure.