Category: New Releases

New Release Mondays – Flow

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is gone, but their past is still present, Flow utilizes this setting to create a beautiful world for its protagonist, a gorgeous black cat, to explore. The Latvian film directed by Gints Zilbalodis subjects the wonderfully rendered cat to a flood of biblical proportions forcing it to explore the world and cooperate with other animals against its natural instincts.

Cat traverses the flooded landscape on a boat it happens upon populated by a capybara which it is understandably tentative of. The makeshift crew of the boat expands to include a ring-tailed lemur, a labrador whom Cat had encountered before the flood, and a secretarybird. While in nature the animals would be at the best ambivalent to each other if not outright hostile, the boat brings with it an unspoken truce between the animals as they look to exist in the strange new world.

Zilbalodis shows real restraint in his characterization of the animals that inhabit the film. While most films would lean on humanizing the wild animals, each one feels genuine to its species when interacting in the world. This is captured both in small moments inserted into the film to remind the viewers they are watching animals (a moment of Cat chasing a sun sport as reflected in Lemur’s mirror stands out) as well as behaviors exhibited throughout. For example, Cat frequently retreats to the top of the mast for a solitary moment amongst the chaos of the animals. Likewise, Capybara is aloof and flops down on the deck of the boat to rest at random times. Most importantly, the animals never speak a language outside of their own noises, yet the feelings and motivations of each animal can clearly always be ascertained.

By keeping the animals so honest to their animalistic selves, the peril they experience as well as the joy hit the viewer more emotionally than a personified version would. Cat’s meows hit a nerve that any owner of felines understands intimately and caused this black cat owner to long to be reunited with her furball.

The only real exception to this naturalist portrayal of the animals is that they all seem to inherently know how to use the rutter to steer the boat, a job which Secretarybird takes point on once it joins the boat, but which each animal takes its turn at. This singular task is required for the animals to be able to successfully explore the newly aquatic world, but quickly falls into the realm of suspended disbelief as the rest of the animals’ behaviors feel so genuine to their species.

Another undeniable strength of the film is its visuals. The art is stylized in a way the eschews photorealism for a look that allows the animals to be more expressive, with giant eyes which speak wonders. Everything in the film is brilliantly colored in a fantastical way which while unrealistic compliments the magical essence of the situation. The remains of human civilization that the animals navigate feel both futuristic and ancient, which adds to the mystery of the world in which the animals live.

Flow is a perfect antidote to the American animation scene where even the best of films are filed with one liners and a constant state of irony left over from the 90s. The genuineness of the Latvian feature allows the viewer to connect more closely with the characters even though they don’t speak a word. Beautiful both in image and plot, Flow is the peak of what the animated medium can accomplish when allowing the creators to think outside of the snarky box in which most US animated studios reside.

New Release Mondays – Inside Out 2

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Pixar returns to the sequel machine for its 2024 endeavor, but this time instead of making a sequel of a less critically received film (ala cars), they turn the machine to one of the most beloved films in their catalogue, Inside Out. Does the beloved 2015 film survive the sequlization? Well yes and no. Inside Out 2 is definitely the lesser of the two films, but it does stand on its own at least decently well.

In the first Inside Out, a young girl, Riley is transplanted from her home in Minnesota to San Fransico, a change that she was not ready for and did not acclimate well to. During the film, the personified emotions that run her evolved from distinct feelings (i.e. Riley either felt nothing but Joy, or Sadness etc…) un-mixing in their control, to something more complex. The concept of bittersweet (a combination of Joy and Sadness) was especially prominent in the film as Joy, the head emotion, was forced to accept that she would have to share her responsibilities with the other emotions, especially Sadness.

In the sequel, Riley is on the precipice of high school and finally content in her new life in California, The emotions in her head have running her down to a well oiled machine, that is until the night before she starts hockey camp when a puberty alarm starts to go off, and suddenly Joy and the gang are confronted with a group of new emotions headed by Anxiety. From there the original bunch are removed from the brain so that anxiety can take over and run Riley from this point on.

In theory setting a second Inside Out around puberty makes sense. It feels like it could be a story people actually wanted to tell and not just some sinical cash grab, and I believe it does cross that hump. The introduction of anxiety who “protects her [Riley] from the things she can’t see” as opposed to fear who “protects her [Riley] from the things she can see” is a great piece of character development and sets the film out well. Anxiety’s control of Riley leads her to take more nuanced decisions in life rather than just following the easy path to immediate joy. Anxiety is more worried about future joy for the young girl. But when Anxiety works too hard without the other emotions, it leads to tossing and turning in the night, and worst of all a really affecting portrayal of a panic attack.

Unfortunately, the film has the same resolution as the first film, that all the emotions need to work together and that one alone cannot run Riley’s life. The shared resolution is a common theme that plagues sequels, and while I would have hoped that with a novel enough setup Inside Out 2 could have beat this pattern, it succumbed like many others.

Technically the film looks extremely polished, as all Pixar films are, though I am tired of the Disney and Pixar look that encompasses much of animation landscape. Voice actors were well chosen with Amy Poehler reprising her role as Joy and bringing as much excitement to it as ever. Maya Hawke gave the deepest performance capturing her love for Riley as she was actively making her life worse.

Another sequel for Pixar, another film that fails to live up to the magic of the original, and while certainly not a bad film, I doubt it will make my rotation of Pixar films I go back to of which the original is solidly in. Something is just missing in the Pixar formula when revisiting a space. Maybe it’s the magic of seeing something new and unique for the first time?

New Release Mondays – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

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9 years after his award-winning return to the world of Mad Max with Mad Max: Fury Road auteur George Miller once again tackles the Australian wasteland, but this time with a heroine Furiosa as the title character. Charlize Theron passes the baton to Anya Taylor-Joy and the young Alyla Browne to play Furiosa in this prequel.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a pretty straight forward revenge film, but being straight forward is not a deterrence, contrary, the simplicity of the story allows for Miller’s signature style to build upon that basic skeleton into something fantastical. Furiosa is kidnapped as a child and forced to watch her mother perish at the hands of her captor Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). After Furiosa escapes Dementus’s hands – into the equally bad control of Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) – she begins planning her escape and eventual revenge.

While the film is advertised as a showdown between Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne deserves much more credit than she is getting. She performs as the titular Furiosa for at least half if not more of the film, and her physicality in acting at such a young age is commendable. When it is time for Anya Taylor-Joy to take over she steals the show as she does in everything she touches. Unfortunately, the acting of Chris Hemsworth is spotty at times as he struggles to capture the appropriate tone of campy but not buffoonish.

In the slog of action flicks, most of them superhero movies, that have plagued the box office for the past 15 years, it’s a marvel to see what miller can do with a similar budget. While most of the superhero films feel very sanitized and all run into one another they are so similar, Furiosa has action that one can feel, and that looks unique. He even found a way to add to the action repertoire of the last film by adding airborne militia. While long action scenes tend to leave this reviewer with her eyes glazing over, there was enough life in this film that it kept me engrossed throughout.

The main question on many people’s minds is bound to be, how does Furiosa compare to Fury Road? The major difference between the two is the pacing. Fury Road was almost a single action scene stretched out for over two hours, while Furiosa takes place over time with a heavier emphasis on story. This change of focus naturally leads to the action being a bigger part of Fury Road, and while the action in Furiosa is not any worse than that of Fury Roads, Fury Road’s ability to extend that action for 2 straight hours without being bogged down is such an impressive feat that it is a hard film to live up to.

While Fury Road will likely stand up to the years better than Furiosa, that says everything about the exquisiteness of the former rather than any downfall of the latter. Furiosa is still an invigorating watch, and if you are a fan of Chris Hemsworth’s schtick, you’ll be even higher on the film than I am.

New Release Monday – I Saw the TV Glow

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

A forward: I understand that this film won’t be for
everyone, some people will not be receptive to the trip that this film takes
its viewers on, and I’m sure this will have its fair share of 1-star reviews.
What I am telling you though is that if this film does resonate with you, you
cannot afford to miss it because it could very easily become a self-identifying
piece of media. I’m going to gush about this film for the next 1000 words or so
and I understand that some people may resent me if I make them see it, but I am
under the film’s spell, so this aggressively positive review is all I am
capable of. Also be warned this will go into spoilers as I feel I need to to
flush out the themes. Please go see this film and then come back after.


Three years after making the cult classic We’re All Going
to the World’s Fair (a film this reviewer will be catching up with in the
upcoming week,) Jane Schoenbrun returns to the big screen with what is destined
to go down as on of the quintessential Millennial pieces of filmmaking, I
Saw the TV Glow.

Taking place in the mid-90s, the film is about two teenagers,
two years apart, who form a bond over a young adult teen show The Pink
Opaque. Owen, Ian Foreman and Justice Smith as young and old Owen respectively,
is the younger of the two, and is unable to watch the show when it airs because
of his mother’s strict bedtime requirements for him. Alone and desperate for
someone to share her interest with, Maddy, Brigette Lundy-Paine, invites Owen over
one night to watch if with her, and then supplies him with taped copies of
episodes to watch when he is able.

One week when Owen spends the night at Maddy’s and she
convinces him to run away with her next weekend. Owen, scared to leave the
comfort of the life he knows doesn’t, show up and Maddy is left to run away on
her own. The film then jumps 8 years to when she returns and tries to explain
herself to Owen in the coolest looking and sounding queer bar caught on screen.

The live music in the bar is the peak of one of many
highlights from the film, the music both score and soundtrack. Schoenbrun had unprecedented
control over the music in her film having budget from A24 to create 12 to 15
original pieces of music. With this much control over the soundtrack,
Schoenbrun and musician Alex G were able to sculpt the exact soundscape that one
would expect the physical manifestation of a memory of a dream. It uses current
artists and techniques but It is such an ethereal sound that it makes sense to
score the 90s because that’s what a memory sounds like.

Stylistically I Saw the TV Glow relies on nostalgia. The
Pink Opaque is clearly a play on Buffy the Vampire Slayer or other
such TV shows that would be passed around on VHS. And while the picture quality
is crisp, the whole movie has a feel of being taped onto VHS. The soundtrack
relies on a lot of distorted synths, and footage of the show in particular are
rather distorted. Everything just feels like it lives in the late 90s, like the
film itself was a relic of the time only with deeper meaning being interjected
from the present.

Much of the deeper meaning that I Saw the TV Glow contains
comes from its surface level and more allegorical queerness. After the first
time skip, Owen approaches Maddy about watching The Pink Opaque together
again, and Maddy announces “You know I like girls right?” clearly announcing
herself as belonging to the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. In this way, she represents the
confident queer person who while they existed in the 90s were rather
countercultural.

Owen on the other hand represents the repressed queer
identity so uncomfortable with the concept that he was scared to admit it to
himself. When explain that he believes that he is ace, he describes it as thus:
“I can take a shovel and dig that part of me out and I know there’s nothing in
there, but I’m terrified to open it and look.”

Both of these ways of “dealing” with one’s queerness in the
90s capture one inevitability from that era, isolation and loneliness. Either
you live open and people reject you or you hide yourself and are too miserable
to have a thriving social life and the loneliness comes for you anyway.

The trans allegory is not a subtle one, Owen wears a dress
in a dreamlike state multiple times, and his father, randomly played by Fred
Durst, dismisses The Pink Opaque as a show for girls. The television
show itself and Owen’s relationship to it take supernatural form, and this
connection represents Owen’s transness. As a child watching the show is
something he keeps from his family, and it can be assumed that Maddy is the
only person he is open about it with. Many kids from that era (myself included)
would have that one friend to which they felt comfortable being open.

After Maddy disappears Owen keeps the show, his transness,
to himself. He becomes obsessed with the show as if the show has power over him.
When Maddy finally does reappear she exposes to him that The Pink Opaque was
more than a show, and that he is not who he thinks he is. She leads him to a
place where he can be reborn as his true self.

Confronted with the truth of who he is, he runs scared to
take the jump. This moment takes place in 2006, and it makes complete sense
that Owen would be scared to make the jump. It was an unknown at the time, and
risking the life he had, even if it has this loud ghost haunting him is at
least familiar. The problem with this decision is that The Pink Opaque never
leaves, in fact it grows like a tumor.

As a trans person myself, I instantly felt like this film is
an inextricable part of me. The pink TV static runs through my body, and brings
comfort to my isolated, closeted childhood self. Jane Schoenbrun created a film
that speaks directly to her, and like years of therapy has offered her a place
to call home. I Saw the TV Glow just resonates with whatever part makes one
feel isolated from the rest of the world. It is more than just a perfect film It
lives on with the viewer who is willing to accept it and becomes a part of
them.



New Release Monday – Evil Does Not Exist

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

After a breakout 2021 that saw a double feature’s worth of brilliant Japanese, arthouse cinema (Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) Ryûsuke Hamaguchi was effectively crowned the international arthouse director to aspire to, and with his newest offering, Evil Does Not Exist, he reasserts that he deserves the title. His newest film follows in Hamaguchi’s motifs common throughout his past work with long conversations being common, and possessing a level of complexity that extends beyond the text. Evil Does Not Exist may also have his most textually complex ending to date.

The main premise of the film comes from a situation that Hamaguchi was experiencing first hand while deciding on his next film, and it involves a company buying land amongst a village, Mizubiki, where the residents live a ecofriendly lifestyle where they all rely on the natural spring water to survive and thrive. When the real estate company presents the citizens with their proposal to add a glamping facility to their village, dozens of concerns are aroused most of which revolve around the cleanliness of the spring water.

After meeting with the village, presenters Takahashi (Ryuji Kosaka) and Mayuzumi (Ayaka Shibutani) realize that they have empathy with the villagers and their demands, a fact which doesn’t sit well with their manager or consultant. However, instead of creating an adversarial relationship there, the two set off on a task given their boss’s advice and then he and the supervisor are never heard from again. The film instead focuses on how these two acclimate to their temporary residency.

The closest thing the film has to a protagonist is Hitoshi Omika as Takumi, a single father to the 8-year-old Hana (Ryo Nishikawa) and self proclaim odd-jobs man. Through him the audience is introduced to the village and the way of life it entails. He is also the lens through which Takahashi and Mayuzumi open up to the holistic way of living that is common in Mizubiki.

Omika was a tremendous actor considering this was his first time ever in front of a camera. His passive enjoyment of ever day life in the woods, chopping wood, filling up containers of spring water shows a lot of restraint that it takes some actors years to learn. He comes at most things with a laissez-faire attitude that builds an aura of mystery around him and his performance. It is possible that no professional actor could have play this role as it give so little that everything has to be inferred.

Without getting into spoilers, the ending must be remarked upon because it designates a change in Hamaguchi’s direction. While Hamaguchi has previously always worked in the immediate for his film making, the ending on Evil Does Not Exist sees him playing with time and reality in a way that leaves the viewer begging for a second watch in order to fully comprehend what happened.

Hamaguchi once again delivers a masterful film which’s subtext will keep the viewer busy for days processing everything the director wanted to say. Phenomenal acting. a score it is almost criminal I did not dive into detail about, and tight, measured direction leads to one of the best films in the first half of the year.

New Release Monday – Challengers

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Director Luca Guadagnino has done his share of passionate love stories in the past, so the complex love triangle of 2024’s Challengers made perfect sense for his next film. The film staring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor as each side of the triangle uses the world of professional tennis as its backdrop, and while the tennis cinematography is exceptional, it is the off the court drama that sells the film.

The film primarily takes place during a challenger event where Art (Faist) and his now wife/coach Tashi (Zendaya) are participating as a warmup for the upcoming Open, while the shunned Patrick (O’Connor) is playing for his chance at a spot in the qualifier tournament for the same Open. The story of the three is then told in flash backs with each arch of the relationship between the three provides more salacious drama than the last.

The jumping through time aspect of the film works well because rather than go for a story arch, the film goes for an intrigue arch. While the flashbacks are primarily in chronological order, when the film deviates from this strict order, it is to hold back emotional punches for when they would be better appreciated. Guadagnino layers the film such that the intensity is always increasing with affairs and backstabbing filling up the latter half of the film.

While not the purpose of the film per se, the tennis playing needs to be commented on, and specifically the cinematography of the tennis. The playing is shot head on like most tennis in movies, this allows for the actors to be facing the camera while also removing the need for the actors to actually carry out a volley, but something small that director of photography Sayombhu Mukdeeprom chose to do that was unique was shoot the balls flying into the camera like it was a 3D movie. This little change ups the excitement of the tennis scenes tenfold.

Much of the film marketing attempted to sell Challengers on the sexiness of the three young, attractive actors and the risqué script. Unfortunately, that is the one aspect of the film that really falls short. Early in the film, there is a threesome sequence that while cut short hints at the heat the rest of the film promises, and yet, after that scene nothing is shown. Sex is implied to have occurred between various pairs of actors, but nothing is caught on camera. Not implying that the film needed to be X rated, but when the sex appeal is marketed upon so heavily one cannot help but expect a little more steam.

Misgivings about the sexiness of the film aside, Guadagnino delivers again. Challengers is an excellently paced invigorating watch. The cinematic landscape is significantly more chaste than it was in say the 90s, so any push in a more salacious direction is welcome. And more pictures by Guadagnino are welcome as well. He has a distinct voice, and his films always bring quality, and Challengers is no exception.

New Release Monday – Civil War

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Known for making some of the best science fiction films of the past decade (Ex Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018)), Alex Garland set his sights to an alternate present rather than future with his newest film Civil War. Setting a film called Civil War in the US during the current political unrest is a dangerous endevor in which to partake, but by eliminating specific politics (so much so that California and Texas share a side), Garland gets his message across with out alienating, or worse enraging, half the nation.

Kirsten Dunst plays Lee a famous war photographer, who along with her coworker Joel (Wagner Moura) has her sight on the biggest photograph of her career, an exclusive photo of the president before the Western Forces (Texas and California) can breach Washington DC and execute him. They are joined by longtime friend and fellow press member Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) a young aspiring war photographer who looks up to Lee. Once they depart, the film structure becomes that of many vignettes as their van stops or is stopped for various reasons.

The vignette style is used to provide the viewer with snapshots of what the US would look like with the country torn apart. It focuses on the dehumanization that Americans would suddenly see for their brethren as soon as the government labels a subset of them enemies. From gleeful lynchings to depraved mass graves, without the connection of country, Garland shows how Americans would resort to their basest of instincts and inflict violence on the people they no longer consider one of their own.

Assigning multiple characters as photographers, one would hope that Civil War would have some beautiful cinematography, and director of photography Rob Hardy delivers with some stunning camera work. The video is accompanied by still photos representing what Lee or Jessie shoot, and especially the black and white photos by Jessie are stunning.

Civil War is definitely a political film, but the politics are not what one would expect given the premise. There is no right and left, conservative and progressive, only people A and people B. By refusing to take a stance on the hot button issues of today, Garland instead peaks deeper at the soul of an American, and at the price of war.

Garland displays a rather bleak view of Americans. He portrays a country that is so caught up in loyalty, that even if the cause of the split is unspoken, the people will immediately align with their “side” and otherize/ dehumanize the other people. Civil War has an extremely misanthropic view of Americans, and given the partisanship expressed in reality, it is not hard to see why.

The other hidden politics of Civil War is to help Americans to see the terror of war. America is constantly fighting or funding wars, and the images on TVs do little to express how ugly wars are to the places where they take place. By setting the bloodshed in American streets it helps to awaken the viewer to the atrocities that are committed in the name of war, and how awful it must be to experience it.

A strong, complex message combined stunning photography and brilliant acting (Kiki delivers another perfect performance) make Civil War one of the best films in this still young year.

Eternals: Quiet in a Loud Genre

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Where Chloé Zhao filmed Marvel's Eternals: the locations that stood in for the Amazon rainforest, Alaska and ancient Babylon | South China Morning Post

Eternals, the most recent film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is proving to be one of the most divisive in the series. Much of the divide amongst both critics and audience alike can be attributable to Academy Award Winning director Chloé Zhao’s quieter sensibilities. Her penchant for tone poems may have made her a peculiar choice for the action heavy genre, but her more subdued style is a welcome breath of air for a genre that can be frantic at times.

While the film is inherently plot driven, with countless action scenes as Marvel requires in all their films, Chloé Zhao keeps an emotional arch at the center of her film.  By the start of the movie, Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden) and the rest of the Eternals have lived for millennia. In that time, they have experienced countless lifetimes of emotion; they’ve experienced both endless joy and heartbreak. Sersi and Ikaris have spent eons in a loving relationship, and just as much time hurtfully apart. This baggage weighs heavily on Sersi as she begins a new emotional journey with a mortal, Dane (Kit Harington). When the deviants, the creatures the Eternals were sent on Earth to destroy, return, Ikaris and Sersi are thrust back together forcing Sersi to process her emotional baggage so she can fully commit to a relationship with Dane. This is the emotional core that Zhao relies upon to bring something personal and relatable to the loud franchise.

The strongest parts of the film for building these characters are the extensive flashbacks. In these, each of the Eternals in turn experiences a defining moment of their long lives. These often don’t come in battle, but in helping the humans progress and live fuller lives. For example, sitting down with a mortal cooking a simple dinner imbues Sirsi with empathy that guides her life for the centuries to come. These moments are where Zhao’s voice comes through the loudest. She enables her characters to evolve on their own without plot dictating what they should become. While it is still much more restrained version of Zhao’s other work, her auteurial signature pushes through, nonetheless.

Where Zhao’s influence is felt the least is unfortunately in the entire third act during which all character nuance is disregarded so that an overblown fight can take place. This fight sequence could fit in just fine with any other film in the Marvel library, but Zhao was building to something more. Her film deserved a more emotionally driven climax as part of the action. Instead, the film falls prey to the same soulless fight sequences that fans of Marvel fans have seen dozens of times before.

Eternals more than any other Marvel film allowed the distinct voice of its director to shine through the standard formula. Her use of flashbacks allowed her the slower pacing she uses so well to ensure that her characters develop organically. However, a completely disconnected third act leaves the film feeling like two separate entities. Zhao’s influence comes back for the film’s resolution and is strong enough throughout to warrant a recommendation. It would just be nice to see Marvel trust their directors with complete control of a film rather than micromanage all the action sequences.

Bergman Island

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Bergman Island' Movie Streaming Review: Stream It or Skip It?

Perennial festival darling Mia Hansen-Løve returns for another film that is destined to receive plenty of critical acclaim if not much commercia success. Bergman Island like all Hansen-Løve films focuses on mastering the intimate to tell a story that is both incredibly specific and eminently relatable at the same time.

Bergman Island tells the story of Chris (Vicky Krieps) who follows her husband Tony (Tim Roth) to the titular Bergman Island to work on her next film while her husband teaches a series of masterclasses. After a prolonged bout with writer’s block, she takes inspiration from her surroundings and writes most of her next project. The second half of the movie cuts between the movie’s reality and the Chris’s eventual film within the film starring Mia Wasikowska as Amy and Anders Danielsen Lie as Joseph.

Set on the isle of Fårö, Bergman Island leans heavily on the rich cinematic history of its setting. Hansen-Løve fills her camera with iconic imagery whenever possible but does not let the film turn into a simple travel brochure. Everything is in subservience of her characters. Chris, Tony, and Amy are all filmmakers, so their connection to the island and its famous locations provides a reason for the shots of Bergman’s legacy. The balance of utilizing her setting and but not letting the setting use her is a real strength Hansen-Løve shows throughout the film.

The film’s genius shines through the most in the second half when telling of Chris’s in progress movie leads to a blend of reality. Amy and Joseph while creations of Chris’s work also serve as proxies for the married couple. Hansen-Løve is a master of character work, and these doppelgangers allow her to flex those muscles. Chris and Tony’s relationship and life circumstances are dissimilar from that of Amy and Joseph and yet Hansen-Løve finds the through lines and creates a rich tapestry of human emotions and relations for the viewer to sample.

In her latest outing, director Mia Hansen-Løve delivers another superb picture featuring her strength of capturing interpersonal relationships. Her lead characters that the complexities of their emotions are front and center to the story. The stunt location decision feeds into her story seamlessly without becoming a distraction, and the decision to utilize a film within a film builds wonderful character depth. Bergman Island is a wonderful specimen of quiet yet deeply personal storytelling.