Leap Year (2010)
Leap Year (2010) — A Journey Through Love, Timing, and the Chaos of Control At the onset of 2010 and the arrival of the movie Leap Year, most audiences were ready for the predictable romantic comedy, complete with the clichés of comedy, fabulous scenery, and a happy, tied ending. They did not expect a film […]
Hotel Desire (2011)
When Desire Found Its Language: Inside the Sensual Honesty of Hotel Desire (2011) Hotel Desire had its first showing in 2011, where it became one of the art-house cinematic greats to receive little attention. It started out as a short German film directed by Sergej Moya but became one of the most accomplished and critically […]
Picture of Beauty
When Art Becomes Desire In the quiet, painterly world of Picture of Beauty, director Maxim Ford crafts a tale that lies somewhere between a historical romance and a meditation on freedom — both artistic and emotional. The film, set in pre-revolution Russia, feels like a living painting itself, every frame bathed in soft light and […]
My Mistress
Between Grief and Desire: Unmasking the Intimate World of My Mistress When My Mistress was first released in 2014, the film did not have many reviews. It was marketed with an image of a teenage boy and an older romantic dominatrix and so was positioned to be contentious. However, those who viewed the film My […]
Fidelity
The Transformation of Fidelity from a Title to Something Else Conventionally, Fidelity is referred to as a quiet storm, yet beneath the surface, the film is of a woman who grapples with unbridled passion, devotion and the searching of a fractured self. For many, the movie is emblematic of something much larger, giving the viewer […]
Vernost
What the Story Tells Us Vernost, which is often translated as Fidelity, is a Russian film, directed by Nigina Sayfullaeva, released in 2019. Essentially, this is a psychological/erotic-drama. By the age of thirty, the protagonist Lena is a successful obstetrician-gynecologist, but she is not fulfilled. Professionally, she has the esteem of her colleagues, but Lena […]