Ioncinema

For over two decades, Rodrigo Teixeira has been a cornerstone of international auteur cinema, building a reputation as a producer with a discerning eye for literary adaptations and directorial vision. His filmography is a testament to his transatlantic reach, championing...

Unfolding like a psychological seesaw of balanced fear, delusion, and unexpected intimacy—Teddy Gatz has slipped so deeply into conspiracy thinking that it has isolated him, leaving old wounds to surface as either hyper-focus or total disorientation. Michelle, meanwhile, may not...

Feed My Fetish, Please: Cattet & Forzani Pay Homage to the Eurospy in Dazzling Pastiche Whether giallo gore or Western shaped, their films don’t lose their shape, as evidenced by Reflection in a Dead Diamond, the fourth feature from Belgian...

Ripe Fruits: Kanawade Taps the Bittersweet Rind of Going Home Again While there’s been an uptick in contemporary LGBTQ+ films from India over the past two decades, many have maintained a low international profile with the exception of a few...

Love Me If You Dare: Broe Explores Love in a Hopeless Place Harlan Ellison’s publication Love Ain’t Nothing But Sex Misspelled might be a more fitting title for Sauna, the directorial debut of Danish filmmaker Mathias Broe, in essence a...

A filmmaker whose work is definitely idiosyncratic and agnostic choosing whatever approach works best for a specific tale, Bertrand Mandico has been setting the film world ablaze with 2017’s Les Garçons sauvages, 2021’s After Blue (read ★★★★ review) and 2023’s...

For his second feature film, Toronto-based Alireza Khatami tackles masculinity, shame, and the violence passed down through generations. A haunting, psychologically layered drama that explores guilt, memory, and the quiet violence people inflict on eachother (and themselves), The Things You...

A Bridge Too Far: Laxe Enters the Zone “The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish.” Aleksandr Kayadonvsky’s line from Tarkovsky’s existential sci-fi classic Stalker (1979) comes to mind when viewing Sirat, the fourth and arguably most accessible...

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: Schilinksi Paints a Microcosm of Misogyny The original title of Mascha Schilinski’s sophomore feature was The Doctor Says I’m Alright, But I’m Feelin’ Blue, which actually better captures the sinister poetics of...

A Poison Tree: Khatami Deconstructs the Psychoses of Patriarchy For his third feature, Iranian American director Alireza Khatami formulates a powerful psychodrama unspooling through the microcosm of normalized patriarchal dysfunction in Turkey with The Things You Kill. Employing a surreal...