Taste of Cherry: Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: The 1997 Palme d'Or winner* Taste of Cherry was an early release of the Criterion Collection's DVD era (spine #45) that is finally seeing an upgrade to Blu-ray. Directed by Iran's Abbas Kiarostami, the film is simple, spare, and built around three long conversations that occur mostly while driving.Kiarostami leaves out all manner of details about the characters who appear in this film, leaving us to fill in our own picture of these people as though we were meeting them ourselves. Depending on the temperament of the viewer, this can make Taste of Cherry hypnotic and resonant or unnerving and boring. As I watched the film, I was totally sucked in by its unusual rhythms and dusty landscapes. But I also had a ...Read the entire review »

Bacurau (Blu-ray) by Tyler Foster When the 2016 US Presidential election ended, some people said, "Well, at least we'll get great art." Even before that art was actually created, it was kind of an embarrassing sentiment, in the face of the violence, injustice, and criminal negligence to follow, but four years later, it's safe to say that a great deal of the "creativity" spawned by the new administration is embarrassing enough to go straight into the dumpster -- "SNL"-sketch level parodies and caricatures that are sure to age like milk and have very little insight beyond "gee, what a dope this guy is!" Of course, it would be a mistake to assume that Bacurau, a Brazilian film that could be most easily categorized as a western, has anything to do with American politics, but regardless of their inspirations, writer/directors Kleber Mendonca Fil...Read the entire review »