Ioncinema

The Torn Birds: Thornton Returns to Brutality of the Australian Frontier The sovereignty of Australia was never officially ceded by its First Nations peoples, succinctly stated in the 1980s slogan “Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land,” coined in the...

Where Did Our Love Go?: Schanalec Deconstructs the Break-Up Drama True to form, or rather, anti-form, Angela Schanelec’s latest exercise, My Wife Cries (Meine Frau weint), aims to defy the naturalistic approach to her theme and subject. This time around,...

(Get) Away From Her: Hammer Returns with Elder Ethical Dilemma It’s been nearly twenty years since Lance Hammer’s 2008 debut Ballast announced a major new talent in American indie cinema and his sophomore effort has been highly anticipated ever since....

Far From Home: Stänicke’s Direction Leaves the Audience Marooned How does one define their own home? Is it the place we were born? The place we grew up? Or a more abstract attribute like sexuality, self-acceptance or maybe even a...

There Will (Not) Be Blood: Ottinger Returns with Anemic Vampire Comedy New German Wave legend Ulrike Ottinger returns with her long gestating project The Blood Countess (Die Blutgräfin), a comedic take on the infamous Erzsébet Báthory legend which, at one point,...

Father Knows Best: Intimacy Cuts Deepest in d’Ansembourg’s Debut “When porn has become the norm, intimacy is the new taboo,” reads an early tagline for Truly Naked, the directorial debut of Muriel d’Ansembourg, who has built a reputation with previous...

Father Figure, Mother Tongue: Dulude-De Celles Curates Reconciliation It turns out you can go home again…but don’t expect not to confront psychic wounds left untended, at least according to Nina Roza, the second narrative feature from Canadian filmmaker Geneviève Dulude-De...

Days of Wine and Poses: Mundruczo Dances Around the Trauma Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó aims to repeat the critical acclaim following his Academy Award nominated femme-centered English language debut Pieces of a Woman (2020) with At the Sea, which is...

Corporate Cannibals: Blondé Underwhelms with Ethical Reckoning There’s an interesting idea behind Dust, which finds two Belgian entrepreneurs essentially navigating their last two days of freedom in 1999 and struggling to come to terms with embracing accountability for their actions....

A Self-Made Man: Schleinzer Explores the Privilege of Pants If there’s a trough line (beyond the eponymous titles) of Austrian director Markus Schleinzer’s films, it’s a connective theme of humans who try to restore equanimity in their personal lives by...