2025 Gotham Award Nominees

by Nick Taylor

With yesterday's announcement from the Gotham Awards, our very first nominees of the 2025 awards season have arrived. Setting aside my inherent disdain for the big-budget American films now allowed to compete alongside genuine independent cinema across the world, this looks like a pretty neat set of films! Let's dive into the nominees, and as always, share somoe verbose opinions despite not seeing all these features . . . .

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Review: Nia DaCosta reinvents Ibsen with "Hedda"

by Cláudio Alves

You might be excused for believing Nia DaCosta has decided to reinvent Hedda Gabler as some sort of retro-styled procedural when her newfangled Ibsen adaptation opens with the familiar noirish scenario of detectives inquiring about a night of revelry, mystery, and violence. Tessa Thompson certainly looks the part of a midcentury femme fatale, all performative insouciance and bedecked in the glamour of a 1950s dressing gown, demure enough to look appropriate yet belying an informality that could read as indecent. It's all a show with Hedda as the director, playwright, and star. Indeed, she's so luminous it's like staring straight at the sun and flirting with blindness. She's the dawn of a new day, and those around her are night, perishing by her light…

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AFI Fest: “Is This Thing On?” Deconstructs Marriage and Romance with Refreshing Honesty

by Eurocheese

On-screen marriages are often easy to summarize in film – couples who resent each other are destined to break up; if the spark is still there, they are bound to work through their issues and land a happy ending. Real life is not so simple, and the path forward is not always so clear. Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess Novak (Laura Dern) are in the middle of a split when Is This Thing On? begins, and giving the audience no initial context adds a perfect note of confusion; these characters don’t seem to understand how they’ve arrived here either! Every comment could lead to the whole relationship blowing up or could be a move towards reconciliation, but they agree that the relationship isn’t working.

Adult films don’t often offer candor when it comes to the frequency of long-term relationships breaking up. More common is the cynical sense that we understand all relationship dynamics. Screenplays are often eager to indicate, with a slight wink to the audience, where things are headed. This film wisely embraces the chaos instead...

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"Mistress Dispeller" disentangles a love triangle with unfussy depth

by Nick Taylor

Did you know there’s a new romance industry in China called professional mistress dispellers? You should, since our very own Claudio Alves wrote about it last year at TIFF following its premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival, but if you don’t then allow me to elaborate. Mistress dispellers are hired by cheated-on wives to be inserted in their lives and discreetly end the husband’s affair, without him or his mistress knowing exactly what’s happening. These folks position themselves as new friends or coworkers, employing psychologically manipulative tactics over the course of many months to coax information from each member of the love triangle so they can better dissolve this love triangle. If they do their job right, a dispeller can end an affair without creating any ripples around her identity. It’s one of many modern forms of matchmaking and marital reinforcement taking place in China and around the world.

Few films offer a hook as tantalizing as Mistress Dispeller, Elizabeth Lo’s documentary about one such case of infidelity being infiltrated by Teacher Wang. Miraculously, the juicy premise leads to an even-handed study of all three members of this love triangle, the motives of infidelity, and the processes of maintaining a relationship . . . .

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Diane Keaton (1946-2025)

by Cláudio Alves

ANNIE HALL (1977) Woody Allen | © United Artists

Well, here you have it. As many have been asking, this is a post where you can share your love for Diane Keaton, who left us this past week at the age of 79. She was an actress like few others in the history of American cinema, New Hollywood to the bone, yet reminiscent of those Old Hollywood idols whose very presence molded movies around their persona. Her range was awe-inspiring, encompassing the ditzy archetypes she perfected in early Woody Allen comedies and the depths of tragedy, from light farcical fare to movie star showcases where drama and funny business came together beautifully. Even when she was going through the motions or leaning on audience expectations, Keaton managed to be top-notch entertainment. And, of course, she was always unique, true to herself since her acting debut in the Hair stage musical up to a last screen appearance in last year's Summer Camp. 

In the spirit of celebrating Keaton, I have one little request of you…

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