Drama
La Grazia
Hot from opening the Venice Film Festival, this is a serious ethical drama from director Paolo Sorrentino and his long-serving collaborator, actor Toni Servillo, who plays a fictional Italian President wrestling with a moral dilemma.
Image: © Andrea Pirrello
Wrong Husband
In a remote Arctic village, two young lovers are promised to each other from birth. When the girl’s father suddenly dies, however, her mother remarries a man from another camp, forcing her to leave her betrothed and upsetting the balance of their lives.
As the Water Flows
Wistful in tone and graceful in its direction, Zhuo Bian’s film stars Li Zhenping as Xie Shuwen, an elderly widower trying to find a measure of peace in his final years. While not without its sad moments, this is undoubtedly a life-affirming work.
Silent Friend
On the grounds of a medieval German university town looms an old Ginkgo biloba, which features in three intimate, human-scaled stories. Moving between time periods, this is a singular meditation on how we connect to the natural world.
Human Resource
This haunting, meditative drama refracts global anxieties through the story of a white-collar worker and the pregnancy she's concealing from her macho husband. Deeply conflicted about her pregnancy, a twist of fate exposes the truth…
A Welcome Distraction
In the wake of a personal tragedy, a young man living in Vancouver does whatever he can to avoid reconnecting with his family. An ambient ode to our city, and a sensitive and relatable portrait of life within it.
My Father's Son
Blending sci-fi and family drama, My Father's Son takes us through the past, present, and future of a computer engineer. As a child, Qiao is bullied by his father; in the present, his father is laid to rest; and in the future, he’s resurrected via AI.
Saikai Paradise
Keiko Tsuruoka’s film tells the story of an actor returning home to confess a sad secret. Filling the roles of writer, director, cinematographer, and editor, she has created a graceful work about the small moments that make up so much of our lives.