The movies use the “orphan child, troubled relative” dynamic to explore a lot of different issues. In M3GAN, the topic of AI surrogates was explored using a young toy engineer and her orphaned niece. Life as We Know It explored love and commitment with an orphaned girl being raised by…

This film was made for the people who walk into a mystery or thriller and declare, “I already know who did it,” about a third of the way through the movie. Time Investigators is an augmented reality film that plunges the viewer into the midst of the action. It’s a…

The VR world of an ice-covered world in Alaska is the focus of this immersive climate fiction film. It’s the closest one can get to these prehistoric ice behemoths without a plane ticket and some seriously cold weather wardrobe changes. The film even opens in a reverent and serene manner…

Black representation in the artwork was largely overlooked until the second half of the 20th century. Even then, it was probably difficult to find people who could name a Black abstract artist. That despite the fact, many were alive and like Peter Bradley, working prolifically during that time. These artists…

The one thing that I remember about the Carpenters when I was a kid was the smoothness and the uniqueness of Karen Carpenter’s voice. (Yes, Black folks listened to The Carpenters, too). Perfect. I immediately noticed that everyone interviewed for the documentary Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection used the same…

Gothic horror is one of my favorite subgenres because it adapts so well to other cultural and political situations. The Underbug starring Ali Fazal and Hussain Dalal, does exactly that, depicting the particularities of the 2020 pandemic in parts of India where things got really dark and traumatic. The film…

Everything, Everywhere, All At Once swept the 95th Oscars, setting up a “golden” year in cinema for the industry. The perfect “drumline” for a year celebrating AAPI excellence is Finding Her Beat. The documentary follows women and nonbinary performers in the Taiko style of drumming. The beauty of the documentary…

Cuba is still an enigmatic space for people who live outside the culture and are not related to immigrants on the island. There’s a perception that people are depressed and repressed, but that’s not completely true. Lazaro and the Shark come in to offer us a look at the brilliant…

There is a type of neglect that exists in parenting that thrives in privileged households. Such parents skirt the difficult topics, especially those brought up by their older children by just not speaking of them. It’s a form of neglect, essentially ignoring the issues until they become like the elephant…