The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Persian, 2024) and Four Daughters (Arabic, 2023): Personal is political. The Seed… of oppression is planted at home and protests do not address it; … Daughters fleeing one form of oppression by their mother, seek freedom, fall into the arms of another oppression by ISIS.
Evil Does Not Exist (Japanese, 2023): Humans who profit on plunder do exist. Evil.. is another Ryusuke Hamaguchi gem, this time seamlessly blending environmental concerns, superficial government public consultations and beautiful scenery.
Pickpocket (French, 1959): Where a Nietzschean fingersmith wonders whether “supermen”, gifted with talent, indispensable to society, should be free to disobey laws.
The Heiresses (Spanish-Paraguay, 2018) and All We Imagine as Light (Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, 2024): Once we get out of our dark tunnel, look around and within, All We Imagine… will be light.
A Very Curious Girl (French, 1969) and Aattam (Malayalam, 2023): Nelly Kaplan provokes and topples a patriarchal village in A Very Curious Girl while MeToo meets patriarchal ‘compromise’ involving 11 angry men and 1 angry woman in Aattam; ‘Who did it’ may be less important than ‘we let it happen’.
The Zone of Interest (German, Polish, Yiddish, 2023): The zones have changed. The victims have changed. Have we?
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Romanian, English, 2023): Black-and-white screwball comedy from the impressive Radu Jude. Title says it all.
Black Test Car (Japanese, 1962): Yasuzo Masumura’s portrait of a Japan, where the blind loyalty of salarymen to their corporations combine with corporate espionage.
Slow (Lithuanian, 2023): The first film I have watched that seriously explores asexuality.
The Hypnosis (Swedish, English, 2023): What if you have an excuse to break out of conformity and just be yourself?