Blog — 3 Brothers Film

Hot Docs 2024: The Wasp and the Orchid

The Wasp and the Orchid is an intriguing first-person account of the migration crisis hitting Europe and Africa.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 8, 2024Tunisia, France, The Wasp and the Orchid, Saber Zammouri, Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2024Comment

Hot Docs 2024: Fire Tower

Fire Tower is a pleasant, instructive film that showcases a unique occupation and the eccentric individuals that pursue it.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 7, 2024Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2024, Fire Tower, Tova Krentzman, documentaryComment

Hot Docs 2024: Rising Up at Night

Rising Up at Night has striking footage of the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, but its editorial approach is muddled.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 6, 2024Rising Up at Night, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2024Comment

Hot Docs 2024: Porcelain War

Porcelain War is beautiful propaganda, but propaganda nevertheless.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 3, 2024Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2024, Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Porcelain War, Russia, UkraineComment

Hot Docs 2024: The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine

This well-meaning documentary never justifies its feature length or the specific focus of its narrative.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 2, 2024Hot Docs 2024, Hot Docs, The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine, Alfredo Pourailly De La PlazaComment

Review: Road House (2024)

The best part of the Road House remake is Jake Gyllenhaal, who makes his bouncer-warrior another one of his dark loner characters.

Hot Docs 2024: Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger is an interesting primer on the works of these great directors, as well as an insightful window into the artistic journey of Martin Scorsese.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromApril 29, 2024Made in England The Films of Powell and Pressburger, Martin Scorsese, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, David Hinton, The ArchersComment

Hot Docs 2024: Agent of Happiness

Agent of Happiness shows the process behind Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness and interrogates the very notion of what composes a happy life.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromApril 29, 2024Agent of Happiness, Bhutan, Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbo, Hot Docs 2024, Hot DocsComment

Review: The Beast (2023)

Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast starring Lea Seydoux and George MacKay is a fascinating, messy film that imagines a captivating romance and an intriguing, if not entirely credible, future.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Current: In TheatresAren BergstromApril 25, 2024Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Breaud, Benjamin Charbit, The Beast in the Jungle, Henry Miller, Lea Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, The BeastComment

Review: Defending Your Life (1991)

Albert Brooks’s film is an amusing, if ultimately unsatisfying, comedy about what happens after death.

Reviews, Flash BackAnders BergstromApril 24, 2024Defending Your Life, Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, comedy, afterlife, satire, 1990s, romantic comedyComment

Review: Late Night with the Devil (2023)

Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ Late Night with the Devil has a brilliant stylistic conceit that makes it a compelling take on the found-footage horror subgenre.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Current: In TheatresAren BergstromApril 12, 2024Late Night with the Devil, Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes, Colin and Cameron Cairnes, David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Georgina Haig, Josh Quong TartComment

Review: Joseph: King of Dreams (2000)

Joseph: King of Dreams should enjoy heavy rotation among families who want to show Bible movies to their children.

Review: The Departed (2006)

The narrative surrounding its Oscar win and its reputation as a crime flick have come to mask what a remarkable work The Departed is.

Aren's Reviews, Flash Back, ReviewsAren BergstromApril 5, 2024The Departed, Martin Scorsese, William Monahan, Infernal Affairs, Alan Mak, Felix Chong, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec BaldwinComment

Review: Pathfinder (1987)

Retelling a Sami legend, Nils Gaup’s Pathfinder is both an act of cultural preservation and a thrilling action-adventure.

Review: Out of Africa (1985)

Sydney Pollack’s Best Picture winner feels like a film of a different age, and is all the better for it.

Aren's Reviews, Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, ReviewsAren BergstromMarch 18, 2024Out of Africa, Sydney Pollack, Kurt Luedtke, Isak Dinesen, Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen, Shane RimmerComment

Review: Seagrass (2023)

Seagrass is ultimately compelling because there are enough moments of artistic expression and perceptive character building to balance the more didactic storytelling.