Prestigious filmmaker George P. Cosmatos director of films such as Rambo First Blood Part II, Cobra, and Tombstone have passed the torch to his son Panos Cosmatos, with two films in his filmography, Panos already gain the reputation as a horror film director.

His second film Mandy has received five stars review and also been nominated for the Spirit Awards for Best Cinematography.

Mandy tells the story of Red Miller (Nicholas Cage) a logger living with his girlfriend Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough) both of them have a very obscure past. Red as a veteran and alcoholic and Mandy with childhood experiences.

One day on her way to work, Mandy bumps into a van carrying a deviant cult named Children of the New Dawn, led by Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache) is immediately strike by Mandy's beauty.

Sanders ordered the kidnap Mandy with the help of his disciples and a The Black Skull, a biker group. That's when Mandy and Red end up been kidnaped from their home. Sanders order to torture Red while he is trying to seduce Mandy, unfortunately for him Mandy humiliated him in front of his disciples. Filled with rage and revenge Sand order to burn Mandy alive in front of Red.

This is when Red's revenge won't stop until he eliminated everyone from The Children of the New Dawn.

Panos Cosmatos a bloody story or love and revenge, the film is hypnotic and beautiful. The cinematography, music, art direction and editing are outstanding.

Nancy Freeman (Andrea Riseborough) lives at home with her disabled mother Betty (Ann Dowd) in upstate New Jersey. This is one of those towns where everything seems to be in slow motion. Overcast and perpetual winter. Nancy works at a dentist mill, she regales with tales of imaginary vacations that she swears she's been, for the audience is clear that this is not the truth.

For audiences seems pretty clear that Nancy is a person with a lot of issues who constantly lives the life of others. Suddenly her mom dies, she invents the idea after watching the news about the story of a missing girl for 30 years that she is the missing girl. This brings her to the house Ellen Lynch (J Smith-Cameron) and Leo Lynch (Steve Buscemi) where she takes advantage of their need to find the missing daughter and use them for her benefit.

The film Nancy is a good approach by first-time director Christina Choe delivering an impressive movie where Andrea Riseborough plays a disturbed person who can join the list of Hollywood female psychopaths in her search of stealing people's identity and live their life too.

Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda well known for his work, as editor, screenwriter and director won the Palm d Ore at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 for the film Shoplifters.

The film tells the story of Osamu (Lily Franklin) a construction worker who lives in poverty with his wife Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) Shota (Kairi Jo) and an elderly woman Hatsue (Kirin Kiki). Osamu shoplifts store with Shota in order to survive and find enough food to eat for the rest of the family.

One day, Osamu and Nobuyo are walking thru the neighborhood when they find Yuri Hojo (Miyu Sasaki) locked in a balcony. The night is very cold, so they decided to rescue her for the night. Yuri lives with an abusive mom who doesn't take care of her.

The next day Osamu and Nobuyo decided that Yuri must stay with them because they feel she will be better with them. Yuri bonds with the family and learn how to shoplift too while at the same time the family learns on television that Yuri was reported missing and the police are looking for her.

Hirokazu Kore-eda explores with this movie some the incongruities in life. Yuri lives better with an adoptive life that are sorta social criminals who steal to survive than with her abusive mom who doesn't care about her.

Life is hard in any city of the world, however for a city like Tokyo always presented as a cosmopolitan city, to me is quite impressive to see the levels of poverty. The simplicity of this film seems to channel Yasujirō Ozu and his vision of social injustice in Japan as well as people's life seen by the eyes of spectators who want to be a fly on the wall.

Shoplifters is an eye-opening film that needs to be seen by an audience who deserve to hear stories about the struggle in Asian cities.

In 2013 a polish film won the academy award for the best foreign film, the film IDA was praised by critics as a masterpiece shot and black and white with a powerful message about religion.

Director Paweł Aleksander Pawlikowski has a career as a documentary filmmaker focusing on lyricism and irony earning a good reputation as a filmmaker.

Pawlikowski comes back with another beautiful powerful film already winning awards around the world and competing at the Academy Awards for best cinematography, best foreign film, and best director.

Cold War tells the story of Wiktor Warski (Tomasz Kot) A sophisticated conductor and musicologist traveling through Poland with his producer Irena (Agata Kulesza) finding singers and dancers forced to play into the communist propaganda machine. During auditions, Wiktor meets Zuzanna "Zula" Lichoń (Joanna Kulig) a woman with a dark past but with so much talent.

Quickly Wiktor and Zula start an intense romance during the tour around Europe, where Wiktor ask Zula to escape with him out of the communist regime in Polland, the orchestrated plan fell apart because Zula never shows up. The couple is reunited again in Paris where Wiktor now have jazz and Zula still touring for the government of Polland.

The two become attached with each other & their ongoing relationship which morphs into an angst-riddled obsession that traverses Western & Eastern Europe.

Cold War is a masterpiece, with powerful performances, especially by Joanna Kulig. The cinematography is out of this world, you can easily freeze frame the film and is a perfect picture by an artist.

Pawlikowski borrows visual from the best and greatest filmmakers of all, you can see Bergman, Tarkovsky, Bresson, Varda, and Renoir. to tells this love story so destructive, like the whole Cold War itself.

Actor Paul Dano has gained such a reputation with powerful performances in films like There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine, Swiss Army Man, Prisoners, Youth, and the BBC Miniseries War and Peace. His debut as a director is an interesting take of married life in the eyes of a kid.

Wildlife tells the story of Jeannette Brinson (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry Brinson (Jake Gyllenhaal) a family who just moved to Great Falls, Montana with their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) Joe personality is always volatile, making him unstable on most of the jobs he is in. One day he is fired from a job at a golf course at a country club. He is offered the job back due to mistakes made by his boss, refusing it out of pride. Their relationship growth tense day today. Jeannette decided to find a job as a swimming instructor to help the family and Joe started working as an assistant in a photography studio.

Great Falls, Montana is very vulnerable to fire, so Jerry finds an opportunity working as a firefighter. Jeannette argues with Jerry because he enrolls on this difficult job, for her is a life or death experience where the firefighter spent so much time away from home.

Jeannette meets Warren Miller (Bill Camp) while she is teaching him how to swim, later becoming romantically involved. Jeannette leaves alone Joe several times to spend time with Miller. Joe argues with her several times about the affair but also questioning her relationship with Jerry.

Paul Dano is a strong start. Dano makes a good film with a strong cast. Ed Oxenbould as Joe is excellent. Wildlife is a story of love and dispairs in a small town where life goes on while nature is destroyed by sometimes the human hand and rescued at the same time.

It is hard to find filmmakers with such a sensitivity to tells stories and adapt someone material with respect. But when you find one, you are impressed with the results.
James Baldwin famous activist wrote a powerful novel under the name If Beale Street Could Talk, Director Barry Jenkins after winning the Oscar for best film on one of the most controversial award shows ever, decided to make a movie about Baldwin novel.

Clementine "Tish" Rivers (Kiki Lane) have a long time friendship with Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt (Stephan James), one decided to start a romantic relationship growing every day, unexpectedly Tish is pregnant of Fonny's child. The news comes joy for Tish family, especially for her mom Shanon Rivers (Regina King) but not well received on Fonny's family, especially Mrs. Hunt. One day Tish is harassed by an Italian guy at the store, Alonzo comes to rescue her physically throwing the man out of the store, but of course, a white police office appears and is trying to find an excuse to arrest him. A few days later, the same police officer arrests him with charges of raping a woman from the neighborhood. The case is really difficult to win, do the police officer testify against Fonny.

If Beale Street Could Talk is presented in a nonlinear structure making the film so enjoyable because you witness Tish and Fonny relationship from the very beginning and at the same time you see them struggling while Alonzo is in jail, fighting for justice.

The powerful vision by Barry Jenkins gives the actors the opportunity to kind break the 4rth wall by looking at you, asking you to feel their love, their pain, and suffering. Every detail in If Beale Street Could Talk is so well put out, from music, art direction, editing, and cinematography, is like all these elements are merged perfectly and evenly. The performance of the cast as a whole and individually is groundbreaking, due chemistry, and direction. This film is a great document on how till this day, police brutality against people of color lives on without enough consequences.

In 1977 Italian director Dario Argento directed a supernatural psychological horror film which became a cult classic. Dario Argento is always been labeled as a horror film director. He has inspired some many filmmakers including the award-winning Italian director Luca Guadagnino.

Suspiria directed by Guadagnino is a different take on Argento's version.
Susanna "Susie" Bannion (Dakota Johnson) an aspiring American ballerina arrives at Berlin in 1977 for an audition at the Tanz Dance Academy. Susie is able to get accepted quickly without no formal training, later she auditioned with Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) who is the artistic director and choreographer of the Tanz Dance Academy.

Susie's arrival comes at the same time when Patricia, a student disappears mysteriously, creating a sense of despair in some of the students and for the audience as well.

Another student, Olga accuses the matrons of the Academy for Patricia disappearance. While trying to escape, Olga gets trapped in one room without the possibility to leave. At this point, we see that there is a supernatural connection between Susie and where the Academy lives. Olga gets possed by Susie's movement in parallel scenes until Olga's body is broken by the rigorous physical movements from Susie.

The film advance into a hypnotic trip where the spiring ballerinas are practicing for the final show, Guadagnino creates a supernatural spectacle borderline into bizarre. To me, it felt like watching a European version of Black Swan where the ballerina is the hero but at the same time the enemy. Tom Yorke provided a powerful soundtrack and Tilda Swinton bring her talents to the test, plating two opposite characters (NO SPOILER HERE)