This documentary turns the spotlight on an overlooked component of filmmaking: the art of foley through the perspective of Taiwan’s most experienced master, Hu Ding-yi. Hu has worked tirelessly for decades in his studio, manually recreating diegetic sounds (sounds whose source are visible on screen) using his large collection of everyday objects. Through the artisan’s eyes, Wang Wan-jo’s timely documentary looks back at the golden age of Taiwanese cinema and examines the new dynamics of the Greater China film industry. Hu received the Lifetime Achievement prize at the 2017 Golden Horse Awards.
As a huge fan of Sean Baker’s Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket, I’ve wanted to watch Anora since before it even was released. But life got in the way, my watchlist grew, and honestly, the fact that it was marketed as a romantic comedy put me off. Even with all the critical praise and the five Academy Awards it won last year, I just kept postponing it indefinitely.
Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) are a delight to watch evolve, sometimes devolve, then evolve again.
Its predictability shouldn’t distract from the enjoyment that the pure cinematic imagination behind the camera elicits. It is a movie of crises both moral and mortal, oozing with CGI, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Making Apes begins by looking back at the history of makeup effects in Hollywood, which was revolutionized by Jack Pierce, the person behind Frankenstein (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941)
'Uprooted' is a short film on what's happening in Ukraine as of today. This captures the emotions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"Godzilla vs. Kong" is all style and very little substance. It's also the most fun I've had in months.
