The Discreet Insensitivity of ‘Slumberland’
The cultural insensitivity of 'Slumberland' is discreet, and can be easily overlooked in CGI extravaganza.

In rural Afghanistan, people are storytellers who make up and tell each other tales of mystery and imagination to explain the world in which they live. The shepherd children own the mountains and, although no adults are around, they know the rules; they know that boys and girls are not allowed to be together. The boys practice with their slings to fight wolves. The girls smoke secretly and play at getting married, dreaming of finding a husband soon. They gossip about Sediqa; she’s eleven years old and an outsider. The girls think she is cursed. Qodrat, also eleven years old, becomes the subject of gossip when his mother remarries an old man with two wives. Qodrat roams alone in the most isolated parts of the mountains, where he meets Sediqa and they become friends.
The cultural insensitivity of 'Slumberland' is discreet, and can be easily overlooked in CGI extravaganza.
Street Fighter cannot be genuinely recommended, even if it is abundantly clear that much effort was expended.
The Cycle refuses to lean into the same old, same old monster-movie tropes and builds the entire premise around the intellect and the history of a capable, smart female protagonist.
Even with its straightforward premise, “Richard Jewell” is ramped up by exceptional drama. In all honesty, the performances are out of this world. As Jewell, Paul Walter Hauser becomes a walking representation of gullibility. His bumbling antics create the perfect hero, and very quickly, we feel the societal heat that surrounds our protagonists.
Director Dana Ziyasheva made her directorial debut, 'Defenders of Life' which focuses on the Ngäbe community, and the hardships Ngäbe girls faced in Costa Rica.
If Miguel Alexandre were trying to make a revenge story seem dull without using all the effective formulas that work great in this catchy genre, he could not have accomplished his purpose much better than he unintentionally has in Black Island.