Pure Unknown – Film Review | Hot Docs 2023

The first documentary on my schedule for this year’s Canadian International Documentary Festival, is Italy’s Sconosciuti’s Puri, or Pure Unknown. Directors Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo follow Dr. Cristina Cattaneo as she pleads for the rights of the nameless dead. Every day, numerous unidentified bodies, classified as “pure unknowns” find their way into the autopsy …

Ti mangio il cuore (Burning Hearts) – Film Review | La Biennale di Venezia 2022

An old feud between two rival families is rekindled by a forbidden love: the one between Andrea (Francesco Patanè), reluctant heir of the Malatesta, and Marilena (Elodie), beautiful wife of the boss of the Camporeale clan. A fatal passion that sets the two clans at war again. But Marilena, banished by the Camporeale and prisoner …

La donna scimmia (The Ape Woman) – Film Review

The recently restored in 4K version of The Ape Woman is finally being released on Blu-ray for the first time ever. Marco Ferreri’s (La grande bouffe) original cut, and the producer’s cut with “happy ending” which garnered a Palme D’Or nomination at the 1964 Cannes Festival, are both included on the disc. A movie so …

JIFF 2021 Review – ‘Non Odiare (Thou Shalt Not Hate)’

Is it morally right to not help someone if they are a bad person? Director Mauro Mancini tries to answer this question, but limps around trying to find a satisfying answer. Simone Segre (Alessandro Gassmann) is a Jewish-Italian doctor with daddy issues who allows a hit and run victim to die after discovering he’s a …

Review – ‘A Hidden Life’

“We lived above the clouds.” – Fani Jägerstätter Director Terrence Malick isn’t known for his very straight forward story telling methods. Surprisingly ‘A Hidden Life’ is his most mainstream film in years. In saying that, he doesn’t necessarily let go of his visionary filmmaking strategy, but makes it more approachable for audiences who unknowingly sit …