a South Korean essay film cut together mostly from other films or archival material about the aesthetics of anti-communism and authoritarianism in film and architecture especially. a little dry perhaps, but excellently edited with some great points about government censorship, movie tropes during the Cold War and how political oppression spills into all aspects of art. a bit like someone reading out their thesis paper to me for 2 hours, with a confusing conclusion, but otherwise a damn good thesis paper.

8/10

a mother fights for the custody of her children after their long-absent father wants to take care of them again. a straight-forward court drama in form takes a really dark turn about a third in as the reason why the children don't want to see or talk to their father anymore is revealed. the mother is clearly on the verge of a breakdown, she has outbursts that can turn abusive, obviously overprotective of her children and stressed beyond belief, but honest about her behavior and intentions and emotions. the father is colder, more reserved, more mysterious, we only hear the mother and her children talk about what happened. a strong film, a tough pill to swallow, a cycle of abuse about the children we don't hear from until the very final scene.

8/10

a The Favourite-esque grim comedy adaptation of Cinderella from the perspective of the antagonists. beauty is pain, displayed impressively in the film's brief but potent moments of body horror as Elvira is being put through all kinds of historical cosmetic surgery procedures, all to win over the prince. the beauty standard of princesses applied to still good looking women willing to ruin their mental and physical health to achieve these standards. funny, gross, with an oddly ethereal synth-driven score and a clear vision that doesn't reinvent the wheel but is a blast to watch regardless.

8/10

don't really have much to say about this one, a German film that tries to touch on topics such as transphobia, homophobia, ableism and repressed queerness in a lighthearted and camp tone but misses the mark spectacularly for me and ended up just making me feel uncomfortable from how nonchalant the tone was so the most discussion you get of trans- and homophobia is a smug crossdresser getting insulted loudly and as someone who does crossdress as a way of representing my gender identity it gave me nothing except making me feel uncomfortable and worst of all unwelcome even though i know the film's supposed message is in its right place.

2/10