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Adam Vaughn’s Top 10 Films of 2023

December 29, 2023

TIFF Review: “Santosh”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 12, 2024
Santosh (Sandhya Suri, 2024) 3½ out of 5 stars Director Sandhya Suri (Around India with a Movie) moves into narrative filmmaking with Santosh, her fiction debut. The titular lead character is a woman forced to navigate the patriarchal demands of the workplace after her husband, a constable, is killed during a riot. At risk of losing the apartment they shared, Santosh (Shahana Goswami, Zwigato) has few options to remain independent from either ... >>
“Girls Will Be Girls” Finds Honesty in Uncomfortable Moments
By George W. Campbell
September 12, 2024
Girls Will Be Girls (Shuchi Talati, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars In choosing the title for Girls Will Be Girls, writer/director Shuchi Talati (A Period Piece) takes a well-known phrase designed to excuse young men’s unruly behavior and flips it on its head. You will be pleased to learn that this is an apt summary of both the film and its intentions. Marking Talati’s feature-directorial debut, Girls Will Be Girls is a tense coming-of-age story that ... >>
TIFF Review: “I’m Still Here”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 9, 2024
I’m Still Here (Walter Salles, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars Brazil’s military dictatorship lasted 21 years, from 1964-1985. Starting in the 1970s, the government began to crack down with greater force than before on the voices of dissent, or even just on those perceived to potentially offer resistance. Many such unfortunates were “disappeared,” their bodies never to be recovered. If you wonder why today’s Brazil has reacted more strongly ... >>
TIFF Review: “Temporary Shelter”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 7, 2024
Temporary Shelter (Anastasiia Bortuali, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to widespread trauma inside the latter country, once linked to its larger neighbor through empire. Actually, the first large-scale Slavic state was centered in Kiev (now the capital of Ukraine), though in the centuries following the downfall of Kievan Rus the power shifted East, to Moscow, with a switch West to St. Petersburg under Tsar Peter ... >>
TIFF Review: “Mistress Dispeller”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 6, 2024
Mistress Dispeller (Elizabeth Lo, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars There is a profession in China known as a “mistress dispeller,” where the role is to end a romantic affair that a husband is having outside of marriage. If done well, the business is concluded without undue drama, though feelings will most certainly be hurt. In her eponymously titled documentary, director Elizabeth Lo (Stray) follows one such case, taking the viewer from start to finish, ... >>

10 Films to See at TIFF 2024
September 3, 2024
The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) ...>>
That’s a Wrap at DC/DOX 2024
June 19, 2024
As advertised in my curtain raiser last week, I ...>>
Five Films to See at DC/DOX 2024
June 12, 2024
DC/DOX returns for Round 2, running June 13-16 in its ...>>
Five Films to See at Tribeca 2024
June 5, 2024
This year’s Tribeca Film Festival will take place from ...>>
In Memoriam: Morgan Spurlock
May 27, 2024
When I heard about the passing of documentarian Morgan ...>>