REVIEWS
Post-film thoughts.
Mongrels: Fragments of Memories
“Mother’s hand is a healing hand…”
This phrase is one you hear in the form of a soothing, lullabye-esque song repeated throughout Mongrels, which is the feature film debut of Canadian writer and director Jerome Yoo. Long after the film ended, both the sound of this song and its simple, grounding sentiment lingered with me—a sign that the film struck me exactly where I believe it was aiming.
Bird In Hand: A Daughter’s Desperation
The love that often cannot be divorced from regret and the regret that can arise in spite of the love—this tension is the feeding ground for a good story. Melody C. Roscher’s Bird in Hand (2025) is no exception, exploring the nuances of being raised as biracial with only one present parent.
The Travel Companion: Free Flights vs. Friendship
The Travel Companion, which premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, follows Simon (Tristan Turner), a struggling indie filmmaker who gets free flights due to his airline employee best friend and roommate, Bruce (Anthony Oberbeck). This benefit becomes shaky when Bruce starts dating Beatrice (Naomi Asa), a more accomplished filmmaker.
Underland: Immersive Subterranean Cinema
Underland premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival and is based on Robert Macfarlane’s novel of the same name. Director Robert Petit captured the stunning visuals and philosophical implications of various “underlands” or subterranean caves, storm drains, and even a lab two kilometers below the Earth’s surface.
The Pitt: Medicine Without Melodrama
With enough driving force to keep you latched onto every medical malady, though, you’d assume The Pitt is another stock series full of shock value cases and genius treatment plans. Instead, The Pitt is a jarringly intimate look at the inside of a Pittsburgh trauma center that is understaffed and underfunded—with all the ideological weight these settings and circumstances must bear.
Invention: Gray and Fading Memory
Directed by Courtney Stevens and co-written by Stevens and star Callie Hernandez, Invention fascinatingly blurs the line between documentary, surrealism, and melodrama. Hernandez plays “Carrie” Hernandez, a semi-fictionalized version of herself in a semi-fictionalized portrayal of her emotional journey after the passing of her estranged father.
Sister Midnight: Strange Appetites
Once you get on its distinctly weird wavelength, Sister Midnight is a wholly unique and unexpected film, anchored by a standout performance from Radhika Apte.
Companion: Predictable Plot, Perfect Execution
Starring the modern final girl of final girls, Sophie Thatcher, Companion approaches themes of misogyny, female rage, and domestic violence with the same subtlety as a hammer to the head. But that doesn’t make the movie any less compelling, especially with such searing commentary.
Sinners: A Bloody Good Time
Set in 1932, Sinners establishes an incredibly intimate historical placement, describing American history through personal struggle instead of gimmicky news articles or radio broadcasts.
Adolescence: Patriarchy Laid Bare
As Jamie pleads his innocence, Detective Bascome, portrayed by Ashley Walters, slides printed screenshots of Jamie’s Instagram across the table. They display a series of aggressive comments and innuendos that the young boy typed under suggestive photos of female Instagram models. “How do you feel about women, Jamie?” Bascome asks. Immediately, I perk up in my seat. This is not what I expected.
The Wedding Banquet: A Beloved Queer Text, Refreshed
Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet is an ambitious and multi-layered adventure. Against themes of queer and cultural identity, found and chosen family, the story deconstructs its characters to their most vulnerable forms and their actors bring to the table a well of lived experience and intelligence that acts as the glue pulling everything together.
EXODUS: The Uncertainties of Transitions and Human Relationships
Focusing on the life of two women post-incarceration, the documentary short film delivers a raw, compelling showcase of Trinity Copeland and Assia Serrano’s stories, experiences, and struggles after they get out of prison and return to their “normal” world.
Last Call: A Psychedelic Dreamscape
Winnie Cheung’s latest film, Last Call, premiered at South by Southwest 2025 as an acid folk thriller bathed in neon lights, with almost dizzying glimpses of Claudia’s life. Each shot is a puzzle piece putting the premise together, from dancing at a party to her speeding on a motorcycle. It plays out like a psychedelic dreamscape, constantly changing gears without waiting for the viewer to catch up.
Mickey 17: Subtlety Is Dead—And Should Be
Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has died 16 times. He is what they call an “expendable”—his sole purpose to be a test subject, to die and be reprinted for humanity’s needs. It’s the 2050s and humans have hopped on spaceships to escape capitalism and a dying Earth. Four years into the expedition, Mickey is now the eponymous Mickey 17.
The Perfect Neighbor: Community Anatomy
The film’s format successfully pulls at the initial threads of many necessary conversations surrounding the incident without actually making any commentary on its own. Owens’ murder reignited conversations in America surrounding “stand-your-ground” laws, especially how they are frequently tied to racism and discrimination, and The Perfect Neighbor elicits further discussions on this front.
Ricky: A Twisted Rebirth
In Ricky (2025), we follow Ricardo Smith (Stephan James), as he attempts to re-learn what it means to live a free life as a now 30-year-old after being incarcerated for 15 years.
Trap: The Fangirl Experience
Trap follows a serial killer who attends a pop concert with his daughter only to discover the whole event is an attempt to catch him. But I’m not interested in discussing the protagonist or the overall plot. Because what struck me —and stuck with me—most about the thriller is how respectfully Shyamalan treats his preteen fangirl character.
Deaf President Now!: Not To Be Silenced
In 1988, Gallaudet University, the first college for the deaf and hard of hearing in the United States, had never actually had a deaf president. The documentary opens with the news reaching the hopeful Gallaudet students on the ground that the college’s board of trustees, with Spilman as their figurehead, had chosen the hearing candidate.
LUZ: Worlds Intertwined
Flora Lau’s LUZ (花明渡) follows two narratives intertwined across three distinct settings. The main storylines take place in Paris and Chongqing, both connected through virtual reality.
Bunnylovr: Virtual Isolation in the New Generation
Katarina Zhu proves to be a triple threat in her debut feature film Bunnylovr (2025), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this January.