Review - The Brown Daily Herald

Review

Where does the beginning end and where does the end begin: ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ contemplates the fragility of reality

By Chanikarn Kovavisarach | September 9

“I don’t even know who I am in this whole thing anymore, where I stop and Jake starts,” Lucy thinks to herself as she paces up and down the stairs. Her musings that occur halfway through the film are only one of the many metaphysical, enigmatic and puzzling clues screenwriter and director Charlie ...

Review

‘Swallow’ stands out with a chilling portrayal of domestic isolation

By Irene Chou | April 23

Writer-director Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ directorial debut, the psychological-thriller “Swallow,” reveals the horrors of a woman’s alienation from her marriage, struggles with mental illness and battles with an eating disorder. Against the muted backdrop of the Hudson River Valley, Hunter Conrad ...

Review

‘Unorthodox’: a young woman’s journey to finding freedom

By Chanikarn Kovavisarach | April 22

When Esther Shapiro, known as Esty, jumps in the taxi for the first time, she can’t help but gaze out at the sky through the window as tears begin streaming down her face. She has escaped her past and is ready to start anew. Written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinksi, "Unorthodox" tells the story ...

Review

‘The Invisible Man’ haunts audiences with modernization of classic tale

By Irene Chou | March 10

In an era of large-scale Hollywood reboots that too often collapse into a cesspool of critical disdain and overwhelming disappointment, writer and director Leigh Whannell offers a sophisticated adaptation of H. G. Wells’s classic novel “The Invisible Man.” Subverting the novel’s omniscient narrator, ...

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Review

‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ depicts beautiful, heartbreaking love

By Chanikarn Kovavisarach | March 6

Director Céline Sciamma explores and celebrates the tender but tragic love between two women in her fourth feature film, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which opened at Avon Cinema last Friday, Feb. 28. Marianne, a Parisian painter, and Héloïse, a former convent girl from an aristocratic family, ...

Review

‘the goop lab’ is awesomely absurd

By Nicholas Michael | February 27

“At the center of this glass bottle is rose quartz — the crystal of compassion, tenderness, and comfort,” describes an $80 water bottle on Santa Monica-based lifestyle brand goop’s web store. The Netflix series, “the goop lab,” released on Jan. 24, serves as a sort of realization of this ...

Review

Latest BTS album dominates international charts

By Kaiti Yoo | February 25

On Feb. 21, the South-Korean boy band BTS (Beyond the Scene) released their seventh studio album “Map of the Soul: 7.” The album is made up of 20 tracks, five of which come from their previous album “Map of the Soul: Persona.” Each track, regardless of whether it was pre-released or not, secured ...

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Review

‘To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You’ fails to woo viewers

By Kaiti Yoo | February 20

On Feb. 12 — just two days before Valentine’s Day — Netflix released “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You,” the sequel to the sensational 2018 rom-com “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” The film adaptation roughly parallels the second book of author Jenny Han’s trilogy “To All ...

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Review

Okay Kaya bends genre to explore melancholic humor

By Nicholas Michael | February 13

Okay Kaya’s second studio-length album is a cathartic recollection and release of intimate memory. “Watch This Liquid Pour Itself,” released Jan. 24, pushes Kaya’s genre-bending sound further than past experiments; here, she oscillates between moments of wistful, folkish R&B and bullish ...

Review

‘Miss Americana’ sparks empathy for Taylor Swift

By Kaiti Yoo | February 11

On Jan. 31, the release of Taylor Swift’s intimate documentary “Miss Americana” took Netflix by storm. Directed by Emmy-Award winner Lana Wilson, the documentary follows Swift on her long-winded search for “happiness without anyone else’s input,” highlighting her struggles against criticisms, ...

Review

Oscar-nominated animated shorts examine diverse personal relationships

By Preeti Ganesh | February 11

Last week, the Avon Cinema screened the 92nd Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film nominees in anticipation of the awards show. Out of the 92 short films that qualified for Oscar consideration, “Hair Love,” “Kitbull,” “Daughter,” “Sister” and “Memorable” were selected to compete ...

Review

Uncut Gems grips audiences with groundbreaking, tension-filled storyline

By Preeti Ganesh | February 5

“Uncut Gems,” an American crime thriller directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, is an action-packed cinematic masterpiece. Adam Sandler plays the movie’s main character, Howard Ratner, a gambler and businessman who runs a jewelry store in New York’s diamond district. A 10-year long project, “Uncut ...

Review

‘Cheer’ redefines, challenges existing stereotypes of cheerleading

By Kaiti Yoo | February 4

“Five, six, seven, eight, one!” That’s the cue for Navarro cheerleader Morgan Simianer to hurl herself thirty feet into the air, flip twice at the top, then land back in the arms of four of her teammates. She groans upon impact but hops out of the stunt nonchalantly, clearly used to the pain. “There’s ...

Review

070 Shake’s first studio album examines emotional, relational turmoil

By Nicholas Michael | February 4

In 070 Shake’s debut album, “Modus Vivendi,” the rising artist employs sanguine, dreamy studio production while lyrically reflecting on relationships. But, the 22-year-old still seems to be polishing how studio experimentation can serve her genre-less introspection. Released Jan. 17, the GOOD ...

Review

‘Marriage Story’ examines the judicial arbitration of love

By Nicholas Michael | January 23

In his characteristic imitation of the mumblecore aesthetic, director Noah Baumbach tackles the transformation of love in his most recent project, “Marriage Story,” released on Netflix in December. The project is reflective and semi-autobiographical for Baumbach, recalling similar domestic meditations ...

Review

‘The Irishman’ chronicles mafia history, lacks modern depth

By Kaiti Yoo | December 5

On Nov. 27, renowned Italian-American filmmaker Martin Scorsese — known for films including “Goodfellas,” “Taxi Driver,” “The Departed” and “The Wolf of Wall Street”— made his Netflix debut with his newest film “The Irishman.” With an arduous runtime of three hours and 30 minutes, ...

Review

Brown senior releases debut album

By Marianna Scott | December 3

Gabe Simon ’20 released his debut album, “Mr. Adrian Goes to Kihei” last week under the stage name of “Dogmanjones.” Now available on Spotify and Apple Music, Dogman’s tracks resist any sort of neat denomination; punctuated by abundant sampling and incorporating elements of lo-fi, pop, hip-hop ...

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Review

‘Lobby Baby’ Netflix special reveals Seth Meyers’ vulnerability

By Kaiti Yoo | November 20

On Nov. 5, late-night talk-show host Seth Meyers released his Netflix special “Lobby Baby,” which marked his stand-up comedy debut. In the special, Meyers dons a sweater and jeans, a drastic departure from the attire of his “day” job. He acknowledges his fish-out-of-water state: “I know it ...

Review

Earl Sweatshirt’s ‘Feet of Clay’ lands with concision, eccentricity

By Nicholas Michael | November 14

Through an exploration of the subconscious and a confrontation of grief, rapper Earl Sweatshirt reveals more of himself than ever before in “Feet of Clay” — an album only 15 minutes long. Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, better known by his stage name Earl Sweatshirt, described his first project since ...

Review

FKA twigs’ second album ties personal suffering to religion

By Katherine Ok | November 14

In her second studio-length album “MAGDALENE,” cross-genre artist FKA twigs employs her emotion-laced voice as a medium for self-reflection, dancing between genuine emotion and cliched heartbreak. The album’s title alludes to the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene, who is one of Jesus Christ’s ...