"With its zoophilic storyline, he symbolises how the Spanish people tried to cope with or find solace in the unpleasant reality of living under a military dictatorship." @chidinmaokezie_ looks at the classic 1977 Spanish film La criatura! journeyintocinema.com/la-criatura-...

"I was in New York last week and, yes, the rumours are true: it really is just like in the movies." New York and the movies inspire our latest edition of No More Slop, looking at a misguided, forgotten Central Park romance, and some in-flight propaganda. open.substack.com/pub/journeyi...

A new newsletter from Journey Into Cinema. Unsung films from the bowels of cinema history; a much-needed antidote to the current era of forgettable streaming slop. Subscribe today! journeyintocinema.substack.com/p/no-more-sl...

I love getting the chance to write about my favorite strand in NYFF for @journeyintocinema.bsky.social. Here are my thoughts on just a few of the showcased titles in this year's Currents.

"If this medium is going to survive the automisation and co-optation of artistic labour, it must prove malleable in responding to the myriad ongoing global crises." Nick Kouhi surveys new films by Radu Jude, James Benning and Tsai Ming-liang at NYFF! journeyintocinema.com/currents-nyf...

"If this medium is going to survive the automisation and co-optation of artistic labour, it must prove malleable in responding to the myriad ongoing global crises." @nkouhi.bsky.social takes on the always entertaining and provocative Currents section at NYFF! substack.com/@journeyinto...

Exclusive Journey Content available when you subscribe to paid! journeyintocinema.substack.com/p/dont-pay-f...

"It starts, as many horror sequels do, with the key question: how on earth can I move beyond the trauma of the last movie?" The Danteesque Black Phone 2 shows that the worst layer of hell is all *ice* journeyintocinema.com/black-phone-...

"The sunny, carefree Mallorca vibe clashes with the quiet pain inside the house — like life keeps moving, but you’re caught in a moment that changed everything." TIFF feature Forastera is another instalment of a new Catalan filmmaking wave. journeyintocinema.com/forastera-re...

"Barragán miscues by taking us from an emotionally nervy first two acts into a closing one where catharsis comes with a soft touch, rather than spiking or maintaining the tension." David Katz reviews Orizzonti entry The Ivy from Venice! journeyintocinema.com/the-ivy-revi...

"How do you survive in a world that wants you gone, especially when that violence begins at home? How long can you keep turning the other cheek before something inside you breaks?" Trans Iranian thriller Between Dreams and Hope plays at TIFF! journeyintocinema.com/between-drea...

"Pablos has crafted a modern erotic drama centred on working-class men that offers a fascinating — and at times deeply disturbing — journey through Northern Mexico’s highways and truck stops.' Queer road trip En el camino wins the Queer Lion! journeyintocinema.com/en-el-camino...

"People get scared, turn on each other, and look for someone to blame — making it clear how easily fear and desperation can be used to keep existing power structures in place." Coronavirus is labour oppression in Stephan Komandarev’s Made in EU. journeyintocinema.com/made-in-eu-r...

"When a film leans so heavily into muscular bodies, eroticised violence, and women reduced to collateral damage — even with critical intent — it risks becoming what it claims to criticise." Gorgonà is empty incel nonsense with a silly woke ending. journeyintocinema.com/gorgona-revi...

"For in the end, these seven days, irrespective of their bearing upon our real world, feel strangely inconsequential." Patrick Fey reviews Mother, playing in Orizzonti at Venice Film Festival! journeyintocinema.com/mother-review/

"When he realises what’s actually happened, we’re as disoriented as he is. It’s a chilling demonstration of how convincingly the mind can rewrite reality." Otec takes us into the mind of a frazzled father in a harrowing story of a simple, fatal mistake. journeyintocinema.com/otec-review/

"Part of growing up is letting go of the fantasies we’ve built — about love, friendship, identity, and belonging — and facing the future as we really are." Fantasy is THAT GIRL. Jared Abbott reviews from Locarno. journeyintocinema.com/fantasy-revi...

"Mosquitoes leaves you moved but a little uncertain about what you just experienced." Jared Abbott reviews this bold and messy swing from Valentina and Nicole Bertani, live from Locarno! journeyintocinema.com/mosquitoes-r...

"His thesis on the artistic process is therefore a straightforward one: 'A good work is how well it depicts human sadness.'" Joseph Owen's final review from Locarno, dives deep into a curious, yet radically empathetic Japanese competition work. journeyintocinema.com/two-seasons-...

"Mordantly funny, Sorella di Clausura offers a balm to the upright seriousness found elsewhere in Locarno’s main competition" Joseph Owen reviews Sorella Di Clausura, live from Locarno! journeyintocinema.com/sorella-di-c...

"Again, the viewer is invited to fill in the gaps: what do we need to perceive in order to understand?" Joseph Owen reviews Alexandre Koberidze's Dry Leaf, live from Locarno! journeyintocinema.com/dry-leaf-rev...

"What Aljafari has managed to achieve in With Hasan in Gaza, through this edited and refashioned material, is, in many ways, astonishing." Joseph Owen reviews With Hasan in Gaza, playing in competition at Locarno! journeyintocinema.com/with-hasan-i...

"That question lingers. Are we really happy in monogamy — or just too cautious (and complacent) to find out?" Quebecois comedy Follies explores the joys — and pitfalls — of opening up your marriage, to often hilarious results. journeyintocinema.com/follies-revi...

"Its demonstration of the so-called didactic method reveals an influence on one of the great unheralded films of the 21st century: Malmkrog." Joseph Owen reviews Roberto Rossellini's 1974 history film Year One, playing in Locarno Heritage journeyintocinema.com/year-one-rev...

"I found my first Ben Rivers film, a tale of a decaying world inhabited solely by children, completely stultifying." Locarno Competition entry Mare's Nest belongs in a museum! journeyintocinema.com/mares-nest-r...

"Their blurring of reality and imagination serves a more grounded purpose: to understand social relationships in periods of geopolitical crisis." @joseph_owen_ reviews White Snail, the latest work by Space Dogs duo Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter! journeyintocinema.com/white-snail-...

"The Birthday Party resists joining the current wave of Eat the Rich storytelling — here, the rich devour themselves." Piazza Grande effort The Birthday Party, starring Willem Dafoe, kicks off our Locarno coverage! journeyintocinema.com/the-birthday...

"It’s not that women are superior to men, but I think men have a lot to learn from women." Luminous Life director João Rosas talks to Patrick Fey about cinema as cartography, conflictless cinema, beautiful women, and sitting in trees. journeyintocinema.com/joao-rosas-t...

"The work of Garfield and Rowlands reminds us of how useful a tool method acting can be, taking archetypal roles and turning them into something deeply personal and human." Karlovy Vary Film Festival pays tribute to the godfather of method acting. journeyintocinema.com/john-garfield/

"Despite dealing with a taboo topic, it doesn’t actually tackle it in a particularly transgressive way." Don't Call Me Mama plays at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival! journeyintocinema.com/dont-call-me...

"Everything feels well-made and handsome, but there is little emotional connection found in this portrait of tender, male ennui." The Visitor plays in the Crystal Globe Competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. journeyintocinema.com/the-visitor-...

Chapter 42: In Which We Reflect on the Celtic Spirit of I Saw the Face of God in the Jet Wash, the latest film by Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin. Live from Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. journeyintocinema.com/i-saw-the-fa...

Subscribe for Karlovy Vary coverage, etc journeyintocinema.substack.com/p/karlovy-fi...

"Ondřej Provazník provides us with an insiduous masterclass in male manipulation, using the perspective of a child to devastating, even cruel effect." Broken Voices competes for the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival! journeyintocinema.com/broken-voice...

"A valiant effort, but a non-fiction portrayal may have been the more touching one." Avant/Apres plays in Proxima at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival! journeyintocinema.com/before-after...

"This is not just art, but a vital work of documentation, providing clear and unobjectionable evidence of the ongoing ecocide." Divia plays in the Crystal Globe Competition at Karlovy Vary! journeyintocinema.com/divia-review/

"Through the power of omission, the startling reality of the state — and how it contributes to an ongoing mental health crisis — is laid powerfully bare." Action Item plays in the Proxima competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. journeyintocinema.com/action-item-...

"This is especially refreshing when much of social realist cinema these days involves dull handheld camerawork and more lazy camera coverage than a Club World Cup game." Out Of Love shows how to best shoot and frame French Social Realist drama. journeyintocinema.com/out-of-love-...

"This film will invariably be described as Rohmerian. Those comparisons are more than warranted." The Luminous Life plays in Competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival! journeyintocinema.com/the-luminous...

"Suddenly, something so capable becomes the executor of monstrous, unfathomable ideas." Maciej J. Drygas' montage documentary shows how trains have shaped the twentieth century. Live from #karlovyvary. journeyintocinema.com/trains-review/

"Beneath its measured surface, Perry’s nearly three-hour elegy quietly evokes something profoundly human." Jared Abbott reviews Alex Ross Perry's Videoheaven, told exclusively through clips of video stores in movies and other media. journeyintocinema.com/videoheaven-...

"Edwards delivers on genuine thrills, a fantastic use of scale, moments of sheer, bloody terror and fine comic timing. It’s during these parts that Rebirth might actually be the best of the Jurassic films since the second one." Our review! journeyintocinema.com/jurassic-wor...

"The Ballad of Wallis Island is a proper tearjerker. But like the best ones, it deserves every single drop; one cutesy folk song at a time." The Ballad of Wallis Island review! journeyintocinema.com/the-ballad-o...

"M3GAN 2.0 rides a fine line between dumb-as-rocks popcorn entertainment and philosophical treatise; mostly it’s a spectacle-driven genre sequel, and when it comes to bonkers set pieces and killer robot chaos, it delivers." Read our full review! journeyintocinema.com/m3gan-2-0-re...

"M3GAN 2.0 rides a fine line between dumb-as-rocks popcorn entertainment and philosophical treatise; mostly it’s a spectacle-driven genre sequel, and when it comes to bonkers set pieces and killer robot chaos, it delivers." Read our full review! journeyintocinema.com/m3gan-2-0-re...

"While there’s nothing particularly bad or objectionable about the material, it doesn’t offer much more than just following your average influencer livestream a big walk on social media." The Salt Path takes a hike! journeyintocinema.com/the-salt-pat...

"Twenty-five years on, American Psycho reveals how the narcissism of the 1980s metastasised into today’s algorithmic identity crises." @wellvisky.bsky.social dives deep on how Mary Harron's 2000 classic predicted today's era of pristine hyper-masculinity. journeyintocinema.com/american-psy...

"Twenty-five years on, American Psycho reveals how the narcissism of the 1980s metastasised into today’s algorithmic identity crises." @wellvisky.bsky.social dives deep on how Mary Harron's 2000 classic predicted today's era of pristine hyper-masculinity. journeyintocinema.com/american-psy...

"With Breathless (1983), one can see that crucial bridge between Godard’s style and Tarantino’s quintessentially American mode of genre postmodernism." Here's why the American Breathless might be the better movie. Our Hollywood Niche latest! journeyintocinema.com/breathless-j...

"With Breathless (1983), one can see that crucial bridge between Godard’s style and Tarantino’s quintessentially American mode of genre postmodernism." Here's why the American Breathless might be the better movie. Our Hollywood Niche latest! journeyintocinema.com/breathless-j...