Michael D. Ratner | Film Festival Today

Mental Horror Shines in “The Damned”
By Patrick Howard
January 8, 2025
The Damned (Thordur Palsson, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars The Damned is a bleak horror film that explores the theme of choice and its repercussions. Eva (Odessa Young, Shirley) leads a remote fishing community in Iceland. When the residents witness a ship sinking off the coast, they must confront a harrowing decision. As they grapple with the remorse of their actions, the group begins to feel as though they are being punished for their cruelty. ... >>
Interview with “Santosh” Director Sandhya Suri
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
December 23, 2024
Director Sandhya Suri premiered her debut narrative feature, Santosh, at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. I reviewed it at the Toronto International Film Festival, in September. As I wrote in that review, “The titular lead character [Shahana Goswami, Zwigato] is a woman forced to navigate the patriarchal demands of the workplace after her husband, a constable, is killed during a riot.” She encounters deep misogyny within the ranks, as well as ... >>
Interview with “Super/Man” Co-Director Peter Ettedgui
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
December 16, 2024
Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui collaborated on what is one of the most powerful documentaries of the year, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (which I reviewed out of DC/DOX). In it, they chronicle the highs and lows of actor Christopher Reeve’s life, including both before and after the tragic 1995 horse-riding that paralyzed him from the neck down. Including poignant interviews with his three children and ample footage from his ... >>
Romance Meets Coming-of-Age in “Young Werther”
By Robin C. Farrell
December 12, 2024
Young Werther (José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve heard of the 1774 novella The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, to get swept up in its lavish modernization, Young Werther. Written and directed by José Lourenço in his feature-film debut, the film introduces Werther (Douglas Booth, Shoshana), a lively socialite as well as an aspiring but insecure writer, as ... >>
“Scrap” Is Beautifully Relatable
By Robin C. Farrell
December 11, 2024
Scrap (Vivian Kerr, 2022) 3½ out of 5 stars In Scrap, homeless and jobless single-mother Beth (Vivian Kerr, Séance) struggles to keep up appearances to her brother, Ben (Anthony Rapp, Paramount’s Star Trek: Discovery series), and his wife, Stacy (Lana Parrilla, Atlas). The couple are in the midst of a third round of IVF treatment while also caring for Beth’s daughter, Birdy (Julianna Layne, Finding Christmas), as Beth frequently shirks her ... >>

Chris Reed’s Top 10 Films of 2024
December 31, 2024
This was another good year for movies, though perhaps ...>>
Matt Patti’s Top 10 Films of 2024
December 30, 2024
2024 will be a year remembered for many reasons. There ...>>
Hannah Tran’s Top 10 Films of 2024
December 29, 2024
I have never wrestled so much over what was going to ...>>
Patrick Howard’s Top 10 Films of 2024
December 28, 2024
Where I have previously reviewed the film (in this ...>>
Adam Vaughn’s Top 10 Films of 2024
December 27, 2024
The year 2024 continued to support the idea that ...>>

Film Review: “Justin Bieber: Our World” Is a Tedious but Heartwarming Return

SXSW Review: “Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil” Is an Intimate, Revealing Venture into the Pop Star’s Personal Life and her Struggles with Addiction

What to See (Virtually) at SXSW 2021