In 2013, filmmaker Anthony Chen’s first feature, Ilo Ilo, won the coveted Caméra d’Or at Cannes. Centered around the inseparable bond between a 10-year-old Singaporean boy and his Filipina nanny, Chen’s full-length debut deployed a specific lens — a family weathering the 1997 Asian financial crisis — to tell a universal story exploring the nooks and crannies of our shared humanity. Flash forward to exactly a decade later, Chen makes his triumphant return to Cannes (in the Un Certain Regard section) with The Breaking Ice, a moving, humanist snapshot of China’s lost youths told through a ships-in-the-night friendship.

Welcome to my dispatch from this year’s SXSW Film Festival. As usual, I won’t be writing full reviews of everything I see at the festival, but there are plenty of notable films in this year’s slate that I still wanted to cover. Here are the capsule reviews for 2023’s SXSW: Tetris, Furies, If You Were the Last, and Late Night With the Devil. Minor Spoilers Ahead…

Every single Evil Dead movie is a bloody, gruesome delight, and now the tradition continues with Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise. A decade after a deadly-serious reboot turned the franchise on its head, this new installment finds a bond between sisters shredded by a disgusting waltz of Deadites, guts, and gore. Alyssa Sutherland brings her A-game as a twisted, cackling fiend: a physical performance for the ages. Minor spoilers ahead…

Welcome to my coverage of 2022’s SXSW Film Festival! This year, I’ll actually be in Austin, Texas in-person to cover the festival for four days. This year’s festival sees a variety of exciting offerings, with highlights including the new Daniels sci-fi mind-bender Everything Everywhere All at Once, Ti West’s new horror flick X, and Nicolas Cage playing Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, plus much more. Below, you’ll find my entire coverage, including a dispatch of capsule reviews. All reviews in viewing order…

Welcome to my coverage of 2022’s Sundance Film Festival! Once again, Sundance has gone all-virtual usual, this time due to a resurgent COVID variant. This year’s festival sees a variety of exciting offerings, including a harrowing Midnight slate. Other highlights include Joachim Trier’s conclusion to his “Oslo Trilogy” The Worst Person in the World, a new sci-fi tale from Kogonada, and a twisted thriller starring Rebecca Hall. Below, you’ll find my entire coverage, including a dispatch of capsule reviews. All reviews in viewing order…

Welcome to my coverage of 2021’s Sundance Film Festival! Far away from the hustle and bustle of its usual Park City home, this year’s festival - like many before it - has been transformed into a virtual experience due to COVID-19, but that doesn’t diminish the caliber of its offerings. This year’s festival sees a variety of special film events, such as a robust short film program, a wide selection of genre showings, and gala presentations. This year marks my first year as accredited press at Sundance, and I’m so excited to be able to review a selection from the festival. You can find my entire coverage here.

Welcome to my coverage of 2021’s Sundance Film Festival! Far away from the hustle and bustle of its usual Park City home, this year’s festival - like many before it - has been transformed into a virtual experience due to COVID-19, but that doesn’t diminish the caliber of its offerings. This year’s festival sees a variety of special film events, such as a robust short film program, a wide selection of genre showings, and gala presentations. This year marks my first year as accredited press at Sundance, and I’m so excited to be able to review a selection from the festival. You can find my entire coverage here.

Welcome to my coverage of 2020’s New York Film Festival! Very much like TIFF before it, NYFF is a major predictor of Academy Awards success, screening some of the best films the world has to offer. This year’s festival sees a variety of special film events, such as a 4K restoration of Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, the premiere of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, and Pedro Almodóvar’s English language debut. This year marks my first year as accredited press, and I’m so excited to be able to review a selection of films from the festival. You can find my entire coverage here. All reviews in viewing order…