A very charming little film about loneliness, ennui, and displacement. The film is driven by Anaita Wali Zada’s subtly expressive central performance but there’s something to love in both of the other two central players, Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White, each expressing a different facet of American loneliness. There’s more than a little bit of Ben Sharrock’s LIMBO in how the film is shot and how the camera’s rigidity, its fixedness, and the boxy, claustrophobic frame speaks to the film’s themes. A quietly devastating critique of America’s imperialism and platitudinous culture.
Full review available on Cinetopia podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cinetopia/episodes/September-2023-on-EHFM-reviews-of-FREMONT--PAST-LIVES--EL-CONDE--and-BROTHER-plus-an-interview-with-SMOKE-SAUNA-SITERHOOD-director-Anna-Hints-e29gfma