REVIEWS
What differentiates If I Had Legs I’d Kick You from previous iterations is the clear revulsion towards the ultimate standard of womanhood that it crams down your throat at any given moment. There is no gentleness in Linda’s shattered existence.
Frankenstein (2025) is not so much a film as it is a gradual, graceful walk through a gallery. Strolling through sumptuous scenery, billowing costumes, and endless literary and artistic references, director Guillermo del Toro’s latest is truly a visual masterpiece.
Screened at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, Jafar Panahi’s latest film It Was Just an Accident directly references the elusive tones of his torturers.
INTERVIEWS
Vincent Rodriguez III shared what it means to represent the Philippine heritage, the importance of this month, and his advice to Filipinos who also dream of being on stage or on screen.
Fitting such a beautiful, touching story into 20 minutes is no easy feat, but Zhang & Knight effectively captured the emotional journey of memory. The duo shared insight into the filming process and the origin of the story in A Bear Remembers.
Having premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, The Rose: Come Back to Me (2025) is an intimate look at the global rise of the Korean indie rock band, The Rose. I got the chance to talk to the film’s director, Eugene Yi, and producer, Diane Quon, about the band, being Asian American creatives, and filmmaking.
ESSAYS
Tattoos have different meanings and purposes, but what they do not signify is whether someone is inherently good or evil. So why do so many film and television directors treat them as embodiments of everything wrong with the world?
As an adult who is constantly bogged down by the realities of life and making compromises, My Neighbor Totoro is my go-to escapist film. But more importantly, it is a much-needed lesson in learning how to have faith again, and in being brave and believing.
Andersen’s original tale is tragic, displaying the hefty price of love and selling your soul for immortality, while Disney gives the characters the most fairy tale-like ending. Miyazaki’s more nuanced approach is a profound interpretation that factors in a fresh perspective of youthfulness, nature and its interconnectedness, and a whimsicality that earlier versions don’t have.
