Whenever I hear the term "main character," the first thing that pops into my head is Dakota Johnson in How to Be Single, particularly when she hails a taxi and tells the driver to bring her "home." I swear I still laugh whenever I remember it, but then I realized, isn't that a familiar scenario… Continue reading ‘The Ordinaries’ review: The Ultimate Manifestation of the “Main Character Energy”
Adolescence is such a fiery age. It's no wonder most adolescent film characters exude such a tropical vibe. Andrea Arnold visualized this well in my personal favorites Fish Tank and American Honey by literally and figuratively playing with fire. To perfectly capture the blistering intensity of teenage life, she places her fervid protagonists against golden… Continue reading ‘I Have Electric Dreams’ review: An Inspection of A Paternal Bond Based on Faulty Wiring
With his two films so far, director-writer-actor Cooper Raiff proves that his work are the party starters of life’s most awkward and formative phases. He started strong in 2020 with his debut Shithouse, where he tries to (awkwardly) groove into the beat of a collegiate neophyte. This year, he released his crowd-charmer sophomore Cha Cha… Continue reading ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’: A Tango of Clumsy Transitions
One of this year’s QCinema entries under the Asian Next Wave category is the Cannes Camera d'Or Special Mention awardee Plan 75. A feature debut of Chie Hayakawa, it has an intriguing yet harrowing premise: To combat the country's rapidly graying population, the government of a near-future Japan introduces a program called "Plan 75," which… Continue reading QCinema 2022: ‘Plan 75’—An Autopsy of a Morbid Life Retirement Program
Spoilers ahead. Best Picture winner CODA trails the life of Ruby Rossi, a CODA or “Child of Deaf Adults,” currently a high schooler standing as an interpreter for her deaf family. After joining the school choir and discovering her talent for singing, she finds herself torn between chasing her dreams and staying for her family. … Continue reading ‘CODA’: A Harmony Between Opposite Worlds
Known for her award-winning documentary One Child Nation, the fearless Nanfu Wang returns to the screens with one of the century’s most relevant documentaries In the Same Breath. Releasing it a year after the onset of the COVID-19 virus, In the Same Breath vividly relives everything—from our last taste of normalcy to our first sip… Continue reading ‘In The Same Breath’: Unmasking the Real Virus
Spoilers ahead. Last seen Kanye-ranting about the small diameter of a Pringles can and Chipotle’s messy burritos in Make Happy, Bo Burnham bounces back five years later with Inside, a brilliant comedy-meets-meta Netflix special that is sure to stay with you for days, or even months. Directed, written, filmed, edited, scored, and starred in by… Continue reading Bo Burnham’s ’Inside’: Zooming in A Digital Caveman’s Painfully Hilarious Quarantine Diary
Pre-pandemic, we were attuned to our regular rhythms, completely clueless that in just a whiff, they would be interrupted forever. Now, as we’re still soaked in a period of uncertainty, Sound of Metal, a non-pandemic film, shakes us and pokes us with the question, “How are you accepting the fact that things will never be… Continue reading ‘Sound of Metal’ is a Sonic Portrait of Accepting One’s Post-Normal
It's quite impressive of Disney to be thoughtful and flexible in transforming their princesses over the generations. It’s almost never talked about, but it can be pretty overwhelming how creating a Disney princess can be a huge responsibility. If you look at it closely, it's beyond a documentation of an era; it's also building an… Continue reading ‘Raya and The Last Dragon’: More Than A Disney Princess’ Trust Issues
After fleeing from her abusive husband Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson), a young Irish mother named Sandra (Clare Dunne) reconstructs her life by DIY-building her own house for her two children in Phyllida Lloyd’s (known for Mamma Mia! and Iron Lady) third and recent empowering film Herself. Dunne, who also wrote the film, gracefully embodied her… Continue reading ‘Herself’: An Empathetic, Cinematic Manual for Self-Builders
Sine Liwanag 