Interview: Sadie Sink on Her Powerhouse Performance in ‘The Whale’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Despite early buzz from fall festivals, The Whale has not turned out to be a slam-dunk awards season player. After being shut out by the Independent Spirit Awards, star Brendan Fraser has earned nominations from most other awards bodies, with supporting actress Hong Chau and playwright/screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter also picking up bids along the way. There are those who say that the film and Fraser’s performance are manipulative and highly overrated, but I’m firmly in the opposite camp;  I think The Whale is the best film of 2022.

Fraser and Chau aren’t the only ones who turn in tremendous performances. As Ellie, the daughter of Fraser’s Charlie, Sadie Sink bursts in with anger to confront a father who has never been there for her but, at this moment, seems deeply interested in her happiness. Sink was already the best thing about season four of Stranger Things, and it’s wonderful to see her deliver so well in a role like this...

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Interview: Ryan White on "Good Night Oppy" and recording Angela Bassett

by Nathaniel R

Director Ryan White and his new film "Good Night Oppy"

In October I had the pleasure of introducing director Ryan White to a warmly receptive audience at the 10th annual Middleburg Film Festival. They'd just screened his buzzy documentary Good Night Oppy and there was lots of love in the room. That's been a through line with the film wherever it's shown. The space exploration documentary has since received glowing notices and several awards including five wins at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The charming doc about two sister robots on Mars, "Opportunity" and "Spirit", who wildly surpassed initial expectations, also represents a change of pace for the director. He's always had range. His previous lauded projects have included films as varied as the Oscar finalist short Coded (2021) about the gay golden age illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, the Emmy-nominated political doc The Case Against 8 (2014), the Emmy nominated unsolved crime doc-series The Keepers (2017), and profile docs like Ask Dr Ruth (2019) and Serena (2016). 

When we first met Good Night Oppy had not yet reached Amazon Prime but it was headed there for the Thanksgiving holiday. A feast it would likely be to families that gave it a try. I was delighted to catch up with White to talk about the film again now that it's available to a wide audience...

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Interview: The Director of Israel's Oscar Submission ‘Cinema Sabaya’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

The winner of Israel’s Oscars, the Ophir Awards, automatically goes on to become the country’s Oscar submission for Best International Feature. This year, that film is Cinema Sabaya, which has an encore screening at the Other Israel Film Festival in New York City this Sunday after showing at last year’s festival. It’s also the feature directorial debut of Orit Fouks Rotem, who was kind enough to speak with me about her approach to this engaging movie about making movies...

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Interview: 'Mars One' director on Brazilian politics, representation, and hope

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Gabriel Martins' Oscar submission Mars One tells the story of a working class Brazilian family on the brink of the election of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. The family is composed of a father working at a high-rise, a mother dealing with trauma, a daughter on the verge of coming out to her family, and a young boy who dreams of going to Mars. The film is a beautifully restrained examination of contemporary Brazil through the lens of class, race, and gender.

Mars One is Brazil's contender for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. In our interview, writer/director Gabriel Martins discusses the development of his film coinciding with the rise of Bolsonaro's divisive politics, how the long-gestating journey of the film helped him shape the final output, and how recent developments in Brazilian cinema have given him hope...

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Interview: 'Goddamned Asura' director Lou Yi-an on his multi-layered crime drama

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Inspired by a 2014 real-life killing, Goddamned Asura explores the lives of six people involved in a ramdom shooting in a night market, including the perpetrator - a troubled teenager named Jan Wen. The film follows not only the lead-up to the shooting incident, but also the aftermath of the characters as they face the repercussions of the actions of Jan Wen.The result is a somber exploration of class, isolation, and violence that is unfortunately still timely and universal.

Goddamned Asura is Taiwan's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. In this interview, co-writer and director Lou Yi-an expounds on the origins and themes of the story as well as explaining some terms with their cultural context compared to their English translation...

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