Tag Archives: romance

Cold War review — Potent love story spans decades

February 7, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski | Written by Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki, and Piotr Borkowski | 89 min Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida from 2013 was an Oscar winner and high water mark for the Polish filmmaker, whose 2004 same-sex romantic drama My Summer of Love launched Emily Blunt into the cinematic universe. Accordingly, my expectations for this film were outsized, and it did not… Read More

If Beale Street Could Talk review — Romantic drama gets bogged down

January 2, 2019 flawintheiris

Directed by Barry Jenkins | Written by Jenkins, adapting the book by James Baldwin | 119 min Let's talk about Brian Tyree Henry for a second. Last year was a break-out for him. From Atlanta, the series from creator Donald Glover, to features Hotel Artemis, White Boy Rick, Widows, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and now the return… Read More

A Star Is Born 2018 (1976, 1954, and 1937) review — Cooper’s sterling cover version hits emotional highs

October 6, 2018 flawintheiris

Along with the Bradley Cooper film, here's a look at the predecessors, the three times stars were born in the past. Dialogue and scene structures are frequently repeated, so it's interesting to observe what's been retained and what's been discarded. Some spoilers to follow about the older films, but not of the 2018 edition. 1937:… Read More

Disobedience review — The heartbreak of choice

May 31, 2018 flawintheiris

Directed by Sebastian Lelio | Written by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the novel by Naomi Alderman | 114 min Smoking in movies has changed so much. Where once it was sexy and dangerous, now it signifies something else. Still danger, but also anxiety. Weakness. An addictive personality. Unhealth. Ronit (Rachel Weisz) smokes. Her… Read More

The Shape Of Water review — Romantic monster movie a new high point for Pan’s Labyrinth director

December 23, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Guillermo del Toro | Written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor | 123 min I've heard two jokey descriptors for this picture, that it's a gothic remake of Ron Howard's Splash, and that it's a Hellboy prequel, focussing on the origins of Abe Sapien. Both takes feel a lot more true than expected, but… Read More

The Big Sick review — A little bit of heart is what it takes

July 4, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Michael Showalter | Written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani | 119 min A shaggy, surprisingly dramatic romantic comedy, The Big Sick does exactly what I wanted from last week's Rough Night: it isn't afraid to steer into pathos and have people behave and react like real people. Maybe that's because it's based… Read More

Paris Can Wait review — A day (or two) in Provence

June 10, 2017 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Eleanor Coppola | 92 min The name you might recognize: Coppola is the wife of Francis Ford and mother to Sofia and Roman, aunt to Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzmann. Her cinematic experience is mostly related to her work on Hearts of Darkness, the documentary about the making of her husband's… Read More

A United Kingdom review — The leads are winning, though the film’s conventional

March 13, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Amma Asante | Written by Guy Hibbert, from a book by Susan Williams | 111 min A post-war historical drama about how Bechuanaland, the British protectorate, shrugged off the colonial oppression of the Empire and eventually become the Republic of Botswana. If that sounds a bit dry, don't worry—at its heart it's a love… Read More

La La Land review — Fizzy musical eschews plot for romantic glamour

December 28, 2016 flawintheiris

Written and directed by Damien Chazelle | 128 min La La Land and Moonlight are in a two-horse race for award season glory at the time of this writing. The latter has already come and gone in theatres, but the former, after much delay and glowing reviews from elsewhere, finally arrived at a single screen in… Read More

Loving review — Social justice in deeply felt love story

November 28, 2016 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols | 123 min Loving is Jeff Nichols' second feature film of the year, following his excellent Spielberg-esque science fiction drama Midnight Special, and this one is just as good. It still features his elegant, spare direction, but tells a very different tale, one based in fact, about an interracial couple… Read More