Culture Representation: Taking place in China, the comedy/drama film “Every Dog Has Its Day” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A debt-ridden and unqualified man takes a job as a caregiver for a suicidal elderly man with Parkinson’s disease and who wants his new caregiver to help him commit suicide.
Culture Audience: “Every Dog Has Its Day” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and bittersweet movies about caregiving and learning to appreciate life.
Li Youbin and Lin Gengxin in “Every Dog Has Its Day” (Photo courtesy of Tiger Pictures Entertainment)
“Every Dog Has Its Day” shows what happens when a down-on-his-luck underachiever ends up working as a caregiver for a suicidal senior citizen who has Parkinson’s disease. This comedy/drama has familiar beats and story arcs about two men who have an unlikely friendship with a large age gap. However, the performances from the principal cast members are good enough to keep viewers entertained by this story.
Directed by Yue Yang, “Every Dog Has Its Day” was written by Liu Qian, Shao Yan and Zhang Dahai. The movie takes place in an unnamed city in China. “Every Dog Has Its Day” was actually filmed in China’s Guizhou province.
“Every Dog Has Its Day” begins by showing 36-year-old Ma Teng (played by Ling Gengxin, also known as Kenny Lin) running in a street because he’s being chased by people who want to collect money that he owes to them. Teng later reveals that he’s ¥100,000 in debt, mostly because he invested in a bad business deal with a scammer who stole his money. He is currently unemployed and needs to find a job quickly. His most recent job was a low-paying position as a sanitation worker at an aquarium.
Teng will soon turn 37, and he’s trying not to feel like a loser. Conversations that happen later in the movie reveal that Teng used to be married and he owned a home. But he lost the home because of financial irresponsibility, and he is now divorced. Teng’s ex-wife Zhou Yun (played by Song Quan, also known as Victoria Song) has full custody of their daughter Ma Shan (played by Chen Halin), who’s about 7 or 8 years old.
Teng wants joint custody of Ma Shan, but Yun isn’t convinced that Teng is financially stable enough to have joint custody. Yun tells Teng that if he can prove that he has ¥50 million in his bank accounts, then she will consider giving him joint custody. Teng knows that he has a long way to go before he can come close to having that type of money.
Desperate people do desperate things. And that’s why when Teng applies for a job as a live-in caregiver for an upper-middle-class elderly widower, Teng lies in the interview by saying that he is qualified. The person who needs the caregiving doesn’t have a first name in the movie. He is called Lao Lin (played by Li Youbin), which translates to Old Lin, and he is 71 years old.
Lao Lin used to be a steel technician in a factory. He doesn’t like retirement very much. He is very cranky and seems to hate his life. He didn’t use to be this way. The movie implies that Lin is very unhappy because he has Parkinson’s disease and often has to use a wheelchair. Teng will eventually find out how miserable Lao Lin is.
During the interview, Teng says that he is 25 years old. But then, he confesses his real age. Teng says he’s very reliable and he wants a chance to prove it. To his surprise, Teng gets the job. He’ll soon find out why it was so easy to be hired for this job.
Not long after Teng moves in and starts working for Lao Lin, Teng finds out that the turnover for this job has been very high. Lao Lin says that Teng is the fifth caregiver he’s had so far. The person who had the job before Teng abruptly quit. Lao Lin wants his hired caregiver to secretly help Lao Lin commit suicide.
There’s a reason why Teng was chosen: Lao Lin knows that Teng is a bit of a con artist, so Lao Lin thinks Teng will be the type to want to kill Lao Lin if Teng has a financial incentive for it. Lao Lin says he’s going to leave an inheritance of ¥300,000 to Lao Lin’s grandson and give the rest of the inheritance to Teng if Teng will help Lao Lin commit suicide.
Lao Lin has a strained and distant relationship with his son Lin Qin (played by Wang Yanlin), who thinks Lao Lin is very hard to please. Teng witnesses an argument between father and son that shows the resentment between them runs deep. Teng doesn’t know if he should tell people about Lao Lin’s morbid request to have Teng help Lao Lin kill himself.
Teng doesn’t think Lao Lin is serious about committing suicide, but Lao Lin is very determined to do it. The rest of the movie shows the ups and downs of their relationship as Teng and Lao Lin get to know each other. Of course, it’s easy to predict that they start to have a close friendship that’s like a surrogate father-son relationship.
“Every Dog Has Its Day” shows Teng convincing Lao Lin that they should travel to other countries before Lao Lin says goodbye to life. But first, as required by Chinese law, they need to get travel health insurance for Lao Lin before his passport can be approved to travel outside of China. And so, there’s a long stretch of the movie about getting this type of health insurance.
The movie has some cutesy scenes, such as Teng and Lao Lin visiting an amusement park and going on various rides. There are also some darkly comedic scenes, such as Lao Lin’s botched attempts at suicide. The movie gives a realistic portrayal of the despair that people often feel when they have a terminal illness.
Teng goes from being tempted to consider Lao Lin’s offer because Teng needs the money to wanting Lao Lin to live as long as possible. Lao Lin’s despair makes Teng appreciate that his own life isn’t bad as he thought it was. Teng predictably makes a tremendous difference in Lao Lin’s outlook on life. Although the supporting cast members give very good performances, the heart and soul of the movie are the lively performances by Lin as Teng and Li as Lao Lin.
“Every Dog Has Its Day” pushes all the emotional buttons that are found in movies with this subject matter. Some of the movie’s dialogue, tone and pacing are uneven, but “Every Dog Has Its Day” mostly succeeds in its attempt to be heartwarming. “Every Dog Has Its Day” seems to end on a cliffhanger before the end credits are shown. However, viewers need to watch the movie’s final scene after the end credits to find out the real ending.
Tiger Pictures Entertainment released “Every Dog Has Its Day” in select U.S. cinemas and in China on January 16, 2026.
Some language in American Sign Language with no subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in the Canadian province of Alberta, the dramatic film “In Cold Light” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and criminal underground.
Culture Clash: A recently paroled woman tries to get back into drug dealing, and then her twin brother is murdered, she’s framed for the crime, and she goes on the run while seeking revenge on those responsible for her brother’s death.
Culture Audience: “In Cold Light” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and crime dramas that aren’t very believable.
Troy Kotsur and Maika Monroe in “In Cold Light” (Photo courtesy of Saban Films)
Despite having some gritty scenes, the crime drama “In Cold Light” has credibility issues in an increasingly far-fetched story about a paroled drug dealer who becomes a fugitive and a vigilante after her twin brother is murdered. The acting performances are adequate, but the movie has uneven pacing. The screenplay for “In Cold Light” also strains to be edgy, when most of the cast members who are supposed to portray criminals just aren’t entirely convincing in these roles.
Directed by Maxime Giroux and written by Patrick Whistler, “In Cold Light” had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. “In Cold Light” takes place in the Canadian province of Alberta, where the movie was filmed on location. The most well-known cast members in the movie are actually American and just aren’t believable as Canadians.
“In Cold Light” begins by showing how a drug dealer named Ava (played by Maika Monroe) got arrested. She was smoking crack or meth in a drug house that was raided by police. She escapes and runs away but is eventually caught and sent to prison. The movie never addresses whether or not Ava ever got rehab treatment for her obvious drug addiction.
“In Cold Light” then fast-forwards two years later. Ava (a bachelorette with no children) has been released from prison and is on parole. She goes back to her unnamed hometown and has an uneasy reunion with her family. Her twin brother Tom (played by Jesse Irving) and his girlfriend Donna (played by Jessica Abruzzese) have a baby daughter, whose name is never stated in the movie, even though this baby becomes a major part of the movie’s plot.
Ava, Tom and their friend Sef (played by Patrick Sabongui) operated a drug dealing business that was headed by Ava before she went to prison. Ava was the one who got Tom (whom she calls Tommy) involved in drug dealing. Tom and Sef continued the business while Ava was incarcerated. And now that Ava is out of prison, she wants to go back to leading their drug-dealing operation. Sef doesn’t like the idea. “Now, you’re a risk,” Sef comments to Ava about how her prison record has put her on the radar of law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Ava has a rocky relationship with her pill-popping widower father Will Bly (played by Troy Kotsur), a past-his-prime rodeo rider who’s hoping to make a big comeback in rodeo riding. Will blames Ava for leading Tom into a life of crime. Will’s wife, who was the mother of Ava and Tom, died of a seizure in a swimming pool when the twins were 10 years old. Will (who happens to be deaf, as Kotsur is in real life) doesn’t trust that Ava will stay out of trouble. Will is correct with that assumption.
As already revealed in the movie’s synopsis, Tom is murdered. Ava goes on the run with the baby after Ava finds out that Donna has been murdered too. Ava witnessed Tom’s murder: Tom was killed by a corrupt cop named Bob Whyte (played by Allan Hawkco), who frames Ava for this homicide. Ava is also hiding out from a vicious crime boss named Claire (played by Helen Hunt), who wants revenge on Ava for reasons that are explained in the movie. And even when she’s a fugitive, Ava decides she’ll also be a vigilante avenging her twin brother’s murder.
Ava eventually gives the baby to Will for safekeeping. Ava says to Will: “She’s Tom’s. You have to take care of her. We broke our family. Fix it with her.” Unfortunately, “In Cold Light” is filled with this type of stilted dialogue. It’s not a completely terrible movie, but “In Cold Light” is not thrilling enough to be a good action film, and it’s not plausible enough to be a compelling crime drama.
Saban Films released “In Cold Light” in select U.S. cinemas on January 23, 2026.
Culture Representation: Taking place in California and in Nevada, the dramatic film “Clika” features a predominantly Latin cast of characters (with some African Americans and white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An aspiring singer, who wants to make it big in Mexican music, turns to drug dealing to finance his goals and to pay off his single mother’s debts.
Culture Audience: “Clika” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and formulaic and trite movies about people who commit crimes to get the money that they want.
JayDee in “Clika” (Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)
“Clika” is an amateurish film that wants desperately to be like Eminem’s 2002 movie “8 Mile,” but it’s as appealing as a rusty microphone. This story (about a wannabe music star caught up in drug dealing) has stale clichés. The acting performances are stiff.
Directed by Michael Greene, “Clika” was written by Greene, Sean McBride and Jimmy Humilde. The movie takes place in California and briefly in Nevada. “Clika” was filmed in Yuba City, California, where most of the story takes place. Yuba City is the hometown of Herencia de Patrones, a regional Mexican music band whose lead singer JayDee (real name: Jesús Diego) is the star of “Clika.” (The movie gets its title for the Spanish-language slang term for “clique.”) Herencia de Patrones formed in 2016.
“Clika” is the type of low-quality film that usually gets released directly to video or streaming services. That’s why people might be wondering why “Clika” got distribution from a major movie studio (Columbia Pictures) and was released in theaters. Columbia Pictures is part of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which teamed up with sister company Sony Music Latin in 2025, for a collaboration deal with Rancho Humilde, the independent label that is home to Herencia de Patrones. Several artists who are signed to Rancho Humilde are on the “Clika” soundtrack. Rancho Humilde founder/CEO Jimmy Humilde is a producer of “Clika.”
In “Clika,” JayDee plays a character named Chito, who wants to be a star in regional Mexican music. In the production notes for “Clika,” JayDee comments on Chito: “He’s the younger version of me. The one that went through the struggles, the one that put in the work and dedication to get to the top.” Chito narrates the film in a droning voice that could put a lot of people to sleep.
There isn’t much “struggle” after Chito goes from being a low-paid farm worker who picks fruit in orchards to being a big-spending drug dealer making up to a six-figure income per month. “Clika” gets very tiresome with the same old “rise/fall/redemption” formulaic storyline that’s been in these types of stories that make it look too easy and too glossy to get out of the drug-dealing game to become a music star.
Chito becomes a marijuana dealer working for his uncle Alfredo (played by Christian “Concrete” Gutierrez), who is the brother of Chito’s unemployed single mother Mari (played by Nana Ponceleon), who knows that Alfredo is a drug dealer. Alfredo is reluctant to bring Chito into the illegal drug business because Alfredo doesn’t want to alienate Mari. Chito lives with Mari and Chito’s younger brother Chuy (played by Josh Benitez), a straight-laced medical-school student, in the house that Mari inherited from her deceased father.
As already revealed in the “Chika” trailer, Chito ends up becoming a marijuana dealer, under Alfredo’s direction. The drug trafficking involves Chito going to various places in California and Nevada to move the supplies. Humilde has a small supporting role as Junior, one of Alfredo’s “homies.” Alfredo is a “middle man” in the drug-trafficking cartel. Alfredo reports to a sleazeball named Angelo (played by Eric Roberts), who is very controlling and ruthless.
The movie tries to give Chito a “noble” purpose for becoming a drug dealer, by making his initial motivation to get enough money to pay off his mother Mari’s debts. In the beginning of the movie, Mari owes a little more than $20,000 in mortgage payments and taxes and is very close to losing the house in foreclosure. But as time goes on, and Chito becomes addicted to the easy and fast cash, he spends most of the money on luxury items and pursuing his dreams to become a music star.
Chito is flaunting a lot of his spending, including buying a new car. Doesn’t Mari notice that Chito suddenly has a lot more money? In the movie, Chito says that he told Mari he got the money from working extra shifts as a fruit picker and getting bonuses. Mari believes this hard-to-believe lie until she finds out that Chito paid off her debts without telling her, and she finds a suitcase full of cash in Chito’s bedroom.
It’s only then that Mari figures out that Chito has been working with Alfredo as a drug dealer, and she orders Chito to move out of the house. This information is already revealed in the “Chika” trailer. It all sounds as stupid as it looks in the movie.
Chito’s two main sidekick friends—laid-back stoner Blunt (played by Daniel “DoKnow” Lopez) and hyper goofball Flaco (played by Uziel Pantoja Delgado)—encourage Chito to pursue his musical dreams. Flaco is so enthusiastic about it, he wants to build a makeshift recording studio in his very tiny bedroom closet. Chito is understandably horrified by this poorly planned and tacky setup. But it isn’t long before Chito gets a phenomenal lucky break: An amateur music video that Chito did goes viral and gets 45 million views.
Chito’s love interest is a veterinary school student named Candy (played by Laura Lopez), who is a stereotypical “good girl” paired with “bad boy” Chito. He keeps his drug dealing a secret from Candy until the truth comes out. The relationship between Chito and Candy goes through all the ups and downs that you can expect from unimaginative movies like “Clika.” In the beginning of their relationship, Candy is perfectly happy to accept real diamond jewelry as a gift from Chito, even though he’s told her that his job is picking fruits and putting them in boxes. “Clika” really makes the women in the movie look very stupid.
And speaking of the rampant sexism in the movie, there’s the expected strip club scene with closeups of scantily clad women gyrating and twerking as if they’re auditioning to be in a rap video from 1996. The strip club scene takes place soon after Chito and Alfredo go to a nightclub in Los Angeles to meet up with drug kingpin Bullet Sloane (played by Percy “Master P” Miller), just to tell him that they won’t intrude on business in Los Angeles. A lot of “Clika” looks like the director watched too many rap videos from the 1990s because Miller looks like he’s trying to audition to be a Notorious B.I.G. impersonator in “Clika.”
Even by low-budget standards, “Clika” is often cringeworthy to watch. Unfortunately, JayDee can’t bring his on-stage charisma as a singer to the skills needed to be a dramatic actor. JayDee delivers his lines of dialogue in the movie like he’s reading a textbook. “Clika” has a few co-stars who have much more acting experience—such as Roberts, Miller and Peter Greene (who plays a cop named Lieutenant Jones)—but their performances aren’t much better. And the music in this tired and uninspiring movie is very forgettable.
Worst of all, “Clika” is a movie that glorifies illegal drug dealing as a “fake it till you make it” way of becoming a music star. The movie excuses drug dealing and the crimes associated with it as indiscretions that should have no consequences if the person committing the crimes really wants to be famous entertainer. And ultimately, it’s hard to take the Chito character seriously when his name rhymes with a Frito-Lay orange junk-food snack.
Columbia Pictures released “Clika” in select U.S. cinemas on January 23, 2026.
Culture Representation: Taking place in the Philippines, in 2025 (with some flashbacks to 2015), the comedy/drama film “Call Me Mother” features a predominantly Filipino cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A transgender woman, who has been a longtime coach for beauty pageant contestants, is the legal guardian of a 10-year-old boy whom she has raised since he was a baby, but her plans to legally adopted him become threatened when his wealthy biological mother comes back into his life.
Culture Audience: “Call Me Mother” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and are interested in movies about transgender people who want to become adoptive parents.
Vice Ganda, Lucas Andalio and Nadine Lustre in “Call Me Mother” (Photo courtesy of Star Cinema)
“Call Me Mother” has some overwrought melodrama, but the movie has plenty of charm, thanks to a charismatic performance from Vice Ganda. It’s a bittersweet story of a transgender mother’s quest to adopt a 10-year-old boy whom she’s raised since his infancy. The movie has some very broad comedy, but it remains respectful of a sensitive topic: transgender people who want to become adoptive parents.
Directed by Jun Robles Lana, “Call Me Mother” was co-written by Lana, Daisy G. Cayanan and Daniel S. Saniana. The movie takes place in the Philippines, primarily in the city of Pasic. “Call Me Mother” was filmed on location in the Philippines. Most of the story’s timeline is in 2025, but there are some flashbacks to 2015.
“Call Me Mother” begins in 2015, when Twinkelito “Twinkle” Paoros de Guzman, also known as Twinkelito “Twinkle” Paoros Reyes (played by Ganda) is shown doing what she loves to do the most as a job: being a coach for beauty pageant contestants. Twinkle (who is in her late 40s) lives openly as a transgender woman. She has to be one of the luckiest transgender women in the world because the movie somewhat unrealistically shows that everyone whom Twinkle interacts with is completely accepting of her being transgender.
Twinkle is a strict and demanding coach, but she truly cares about the women whom she coaches. Twinkle also has a fun-loving side to her when she’s not working. One of the women whom Twinkle coaches is Mara de Jesus (played by Nadine Lustre), who has what it takes to be a winning contestant for the televised Miss Uniworld Pageant, which has various contestants representing various major cities in the Philippines. Mara comes from a wealthy family and has a domineering mother named Mila (played by Carmi Martin), who expects Mara to be perfect.
“Call Me Mother” doesn’t waste a lot of time before showing Twinkle becoming a mother. It happens when Twinkle’s own mother dies, and Twinkle becomes the guardian for a baby son named Angelo (played by Jarren Aquino), who had been recently adopted by Twinkle’s single mother. Nothing else is really told about Twinkle’s personal experiences before this story takes place. For example, there is no mention of when Twinkle came out as transgender, and there is no mention of her having any romances.
Twinkle treats Angelo as if he were her own biological son. But there’s a major complication to Angelo’s adoption story. Angelo is really the biological son of Mara. (This is not spoiler information because it’s revealed in the movie’s trailer.) Mara got pregnant and gave birth to Angelo when she was 18. The biological father of Angelo is not mentioned at all.
A flashback shows Mara was in her first trimester of her pregnancy when she competed in the 2015 Miss Uniworld Pageant. She kept her pregnancy a secret from everyone except the people closest to her. During the pageant’s interview segment on stage, Mara was asked if she had to choose between having a child or having a career, which would she choose? Mara was so flustered by this question, she fainted before she gave an answer. This fainting caused her to lose in the pageant.
Mila was furious that Mara was pregnant and demanded that Mara give baby Angelo up for adoption. Mila decided that Twinkle’s single mother, the housekeeper for the de Guzman family, would be the person to take care of Angelo, after Twinkle’s mother offers to adopt Angelo. Mila thinks if Mara kept the child, then it would tarnish Mara’s reputation and ruin Mara’s chances of becoming a successful beauty pageant contestant.
In 2025, Angelo (played by Lucas Andalio) is a vivacious and sensitive child. He is very attached to Twinkle, who is an adoring and attentive mother. Twinkle’s work as a beauty pageant coach doesn’t pay enough for a family of two, and the job demands too much of her time as a single parent. She has “retired” from this type of work and now has a job in retail sales at a store that sells beauty products.
Twinkle has promised Angelo that she will take him to Disneyland in Hong Kong. But in order to do that, they need passports. And in order to get the passport, Angelo has to be legally adopted. Twinkle takes the necessary steps to start the adoption process, with help from an adoption social worker officer named Mutya (played by Chanda Romero), who is friendly and professional.
Mara is now a famous fashion model/humanitarian who is engaged to marry a wealthy heir named Anton Villeneuve (played by River Joseph), who knows that Mara gave a son up for adoption in 2015. Anton has kept this secret, which very few people know outside of their family. Anton is also very loving and supportive of Mara in whatever decisions she makes.
Angelo knows he’s not Twinkle’s biological son, but Twinkle and Mutya avoid telling Angelo direct answers when he asks for details about his biological family. Twinkle and Mutya say that Angelo will be told the details when the time is right. Angelo accept this response, but you just know that “Call Me Your Mother” is the type of movie where Angelo will find out the truth in a way that will upset him.
Twinkle needs Mara to sign off on this formal adoption. And it just so happens that Mara wants something from Twinkle: Mara wants Twinkle to be her coach for Mara’s beauty pageant “comeback.” Mara wants to compete in the 2025 Miss Uniworld Pageant to “redeem” herself and win the pageant that she thought she would’ve won in 2015, if she hadn’t fainted on stage.
Twinkle agrees to be Mara’s coach under three conditions: (1) Twinkle wants a big salary raise from the most recent time that she was a coach. Mara agrees to pay four times the amount of Mara’s previous coach salary. (2) Mara has to stay away from Angelo. (3) Mara has to sign the necessary documents to allow Twinkle to legally adopt Angelo.
Mara agrees to these terms. But in a movie like “Call Me Mother,” it isn’t long before she breaks one of the rules. She doesn’t do it on purpose though. Mara ends up meeting Angelo by chance when she sees him outside Twinkle’s house and prevents an unnamed teenage bully (played by Bon Lentejas) from stealing Angelo’s computer tablet. In the tussle that ensues, the tablet falls on the ground and breaks.
Twinkle comes out of the house and sees what happens right at the moment that Mara tells a sobbing Angelo that Mara can buy a new tablet for Angelo, and Angelo hugs Mara. This interaction infuriates Twinkle, who mistakenly thinks that Mara deliberately set up this meeting with Angelo and is trying to buy Angelo’s love. An argument ensues in front of a confused Angelo, who doesn’t know that Mara is his biological mother.
Mara explains to Twinkle that she went to Twinkle’s house because she left her phone inside the house and came to retrieve the phone. Twinkle accepts this excuse but feels very annoyed and anxious that Angelo has now met Mara, and Angelo seems to like Mara a lot. Angelo will also be seeing more of Mara, now that Twinkle is coaching Mara again. For now, Twinkle and Mara act like Mara is a friend of the family.
“Call Me Mother” takes the issue of adoption seriously, but it tends to erase or ignore the hateful bigotry that transgender people experience in everyday life. Not once does Twinkle’s transgender identity become an obstacle to her adoption plan. Even in the most politically progressive nations, transgender people adopting through a social services agency can be controversial. Twinkle also doesn’t experience any discrimination for being transgender from any strangers either.
The biggest prejudice depicted in the film has to do with socioeconomic status. Much of the conflict in the story is about Twinkle being insecure and jealous that Mara can buy and do things for Angelo that Twinkle can’t afford. Mara starts to have an increasing maternal affection for Angelo, so Twinkle is understandably paranoid that Mara will change her mind about letting Twinkle adopt Angelo.
An inevitable rivalry develops between Twinkle and Mara over Angelo. This rivalry is the source of the movie’s scenes that are the most comedic and the most melodramatic. After a while, privileged Mara noticeably acts like Angelo would be better off in a home with a higher income, while Twinkle feels a lot of resentment about Mara giving gifts to Angelo as a way to get closer to Angelo.
“Call Me Mother” has a compelling story about how the definition of “family” can mean different things to different people, but the movie leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Twinkle and Angelo live in a household with five people in their 20s, including Twinkle’s brother Marco (played by Brent Manalo) and Marco’s girlfriend Bea (played by Mika Salamanca). The other housemates are named Ria (played by Shuvee Etrata), Mayet (played by Klarisse de Guzman) and Vince (played by Esnyr Ranollo), who is the housemate who stands out the most because he’s a flamboyant drag queen or transgender woman.
It’s never really explained why Twinkle is in this living situation with all these people, but she acts like a “house mother” to all of them. Vince seems to be involved in helping Twinkle with some of her pageant coaching. But whatever these other housemates are doing with their lives remains a mystery in the movie. Do any of these housemates have jobs? Are any of them students? Are any of them unemployed? Don’t expect answers to those questions. These housemates are mostly seen hanging out in the house and giving emotional support to Twinkle.
Twinkle has friends close to her own age, but very little is told about these friends except that they are transgender women. Mama M (played by John “Sweet” Lapus) is Twinkle’s best friend and is the pal most likely to give advice to Twinkle. It’s implied that Twinkle and Mama M helped each other a lot when they began living openly as transgender women. Twinkle’s other close friend is Dorothy (played by MC Muah), who is mostly in the story as comic relief.
Another transgender woman in the movie is Diosdado “Ms. J” Patumbong (played by Iyah Minah), who is Mara’s personal assistant/bodyguard. Ms. J mentions early on in the movie that she recently had her gender surgery. And that’s all the movie really tells about Ms. J because she’s another supporting character with a vague personal life. Ms. J is friendly with Twinkle, but things get awkward for Ms. J when Mara starts to compete with Twinkle over Angelo.
Andalio is adorable as Angelo and gives a talented performance. Viewers should be prepared to see him do a lot of gut-wrenching crying and wailing. It seems like Angelo spends at least half of his screen time crying or being on the verge of crying. And who can blame him? Angelo experiences a lot of deception and betrayal from adults who are only thinking of themselves and their own egos.
It would be too easy to put Mara in the role of “villain,” but “Call Me Mother” doesn’t have that judgmental attitude. Instead, the movie is empathetic about Mara’s feelings of guilt and doubt about making the decision to give Angelo to someone else to raise. And to be fair, it’s implied that Mara made this decision mostly because of enormous pressure from her mother because Mara initially wanted to raise Angelo herself. Lustre adeptly portrays Mara as someone who is much more complicated than being a “spoiled princess” type.
The glue that holds “Call Me Mother” together, when it could easily fall apart, is how director Lana skillfully balances the movie’s comedy and the drama. Ganda’s acting as Twinkle can get a little too hammy in the scenes intended to make people laugh, but Ganda’s overall performance shows a convincing range in all the emotions that Twinkle has in the movie. “Call Me Mother” doesn’t make Twinkle a saintly parent. Twinkle makes some bad mistakes, but she’s wiling to admit when she’s wrong and learn from these mistakes.
When there are movies about biological parents who want custody of kids who were primarily raised by other people, these movies can often have hokey and unrealistic endings. “Call Me Mother” has moments of unabashed sentimentality, but it has a clear-eyed view of how an adoption process like the one shown in this movie can be painful for everyone because difficult decisions need to be made. The movie has a meaningful message that it’s up to the adults involved in the situation to truly do what is in the best interest of the children, who are often the ones who suffer the most.
Star Cinema released “Call Me Mother” in select U.S. cinemas on January 9, 2026. The movie was released in the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand on December 25, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the United States, from 1969 to 2016, the dramatic film “The Chronology of Water” (based on writer Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Lidia Yuknavitch experiences a troubled life of substance addiction, self-harm and trauma from childhood sexual abuse in her journey to becoming a celebrated writer.
Culture Audience: “The Chronology of Water” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Yuknavitch, filmmaker Kristen Stewart, the movie’s headliners, and well-acted biographical movies about talented but tortured artists.
Thora Birch and Imogen Poots in “The Chronology of Water” (Photo courtesy of The Forge)
Bold and intentionally chaotic, the biographical drama “The Chronology of Water” takes viewers into the troubled mind of writer Lidia Yuknavitch, with a tour-de-force performance from Imogen Poots. It’s an unsettling but memorable film. Some viewers won’t like the stream-of-consciousness format of the film, while others will appreciate that the movie is like a puzzle telling the story of Yuknavitch’s life, with not all the puzzle pieces being found at the end. “The Chronology of Water” has a lot of quick-cut editing, to reflect the fragmented memories depicted in the movie.
Written and directed by Kristen Stewart, “The Chronology of Water” is Stewart’s feature-film directorial debut. Stewart is also one of the producers of the film. “The Chronology of Water” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The movie is based on Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir of the same name. “The Chronology of Water” (whose timeline is from 1969 to 2016) takes place in various parts of the United States. The movie was actually filmed in Malta.
Poots portrays Yuknavitch (who was born in San Francisco on June 18, 1963) from her teenage years until her early 50s. She also does voiceover narration that often sounds like poetry readings. The movie chronicles Yuknavitch’s journey from surviving sexual abuse from her father; going from being a swimming star at her high school to a failed attempt at becoming an Olympic swimmer because of substance addiction; and her eventual discovery of her talent as a writer. Yuknavitch’s bisexuality, three marriages and her experiences with pregnancy are also depicted in the movie.
For the purposes of this review, the real people will be referred to be their last names. The movie characters will be referred to by their first names. “The Chronology of Water,” which is told in five chapters, has occasional flashbacks to Lidia’s childhood to show the abuse that she suffered from her cruel father Mike (played by Michael Epp), who had a Jekyll and Hyde personality. The abuse is not shown in explicit details, but there are sound effects of the beatings and rapes that leave no doubt about what is happening.
In real life, Yuknavitch’s birth surname was Yukman. She changed her surname to Yuknavitch as an adult. In order to avoid confusion, the movie makes Lidia have the surname Yuknavitch during her childhood and teen years. To the outside world, her family seems to be a typical middle-class family in Gainesville, Florida. But behind closed doors, the family was very dysfunctional and hiding years of horrific abuse.
Lidia at 6 or 7 years old (played by Anna Wittowsky) is seen as someone who was very close to and almost worshipful of her sister Claudia (played by Marlena Sniega), who is about seven or eight years older than Lidia. Claudia experiences abuse from their father too, but since the movie is told from Lidia’s perspective, Claudia’s pain is hinted at but not fully explored. Claudia tries to protect Lidia, but since they both live in fear of their father and because Claudia is also a child, there’s a limit on what Claudia can do to stop the abuse. The sisters’ mother Dorothy (played by Susannah Flood) has alcoholism and is often too drunk to notice or care that her daughters are being abused.
As a teenager, Lidia excels as a swimming athlete, but even her accomplishments are fraught with experiences that damage her self-esteem. An unnamed and unseen male coach does weigh-ins of the female swimmers on the school’s team and gives them a hard spank on the rear end for each pound of extra weight that he thinks the swimmer should lose. And when Lidia gets only partial (not full) swimming scholarship offers from colleges and universities, her father is furious and treats her as if she’s a loser.
Just like many kids abused by a parent, Lidia has hatred of the abusive parent but still loves the parent and wants the parent’s approval. Mike has criticisms of almost everything that Lidia does. If she doesn’t wear feminine clothes, he snarls at her, “Are you trying to look like a man?” He tries to control everything that she does and plays mind games with Lidia about how he feels about her.
A scene that shows Mike’s bizarre moodiness takes place in the garage of the family’s house. Lidia, who is in her late teens and close to graduating from high school, wants to run away from home. Her father sees her in the garage and tells her in a gentle voice, “I want you to know that I love you,” before his face fills with rage and he snaps, “You fucking whore!” It’s implied that Mike has an undiagnosed mental illness, but that’s still no excuse for his disgusting abuse.
It should come as no surprise that when Lidia moves away from her family to go to college in Texas, she tries to submerge her trauma by abusing alcohol and drugs. One day, when she’s hanging out on a college campus lawn, she sees a mild-mannered student named Phillip (played by Earl Cave), who’s by himself as he sings and strums an acoustic guitar. Lidia can sense that Phillip—who is sensitive, kind, and loving—is the opposite of her father. Lidia sets out to seduce Phillip and succeeds.
But the relationship of Lidia and Phillip is off-kilter from the start because Lidia has so much self-hatred that she’s not in a place in her life where she can truly have a healthy and loving relationship. Phillip’s qualities that initially attracted Lidia to him end up being repulsive to her. She complains to Phillip that he’s passive and “too nice” for her. She purposely instigates mean-spirited arguments with him, almost as if she wants Phillip to break up with her.
Phillip doesn’t mistreat her and he doesn’t want to break up with her, but you know things will not end well for this couple. After the first time that Lidia goes in rehab, Phillip arrives to pick her up in a car when she completes the program and tells her that he’s proud of her. Lidia, who is in a sour mood, then begins to insult him. But by the end of the conversation, she proposes marriage to him, and he says yes. This is her first doomed marriage. Years later, in hindsight, Lidia expresses remorse for how badly she treated Phillip during their relationship.
As adults, sisters Lidia and Claudia (played by Thora Birch) are in and out of each other’s lives, mostly because their lives go in completely different directions. Claudia’s adult life is relatively stable with her husband (who is never seen in the movie), while Lidia’s life is very messy. Claudia remains steadfastly loyal to Lidia whenever Lidia needs her. Their parents show up for milestone events in Lidia’s life, but as an adult, Lidia seems to purposely avoid her parents as much as possible.
Lidia’s talent for writing is noticed by certain people, including her close friend Claire (played by Esme Creed Miles), who later becomes Lidia’s lover. Claire encourages a reluctant Lidia to join a University of Oregon graduate-school program taught by writer/counterculture celebrity Ken Kesey (played by Jim Belushi), whose claim to fame is the 1962 novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and for being a founder of the psychedelic artistic group the Merry Pranksters. In the movie, Ken is portrayed as an eccentric, friendly, drug-taking burnout, who encourages his students to be their best and is haunted by the death of his son. From 1987 to 1988, Lidia is part of this student group that collaborates with Ken on the group-authored book “Caverns.” She eventually gets her Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Oregon.
Lidia’s second marriage is to an avant-garde performance artist named Devin (played by Tom Sturridge), and it’s a different type of failure from her first marriage. Devin also has alcoholism, so their marriage plays out in the movie like fractured memories of someone who had too many drunken blackouts during the relationship. Lidia’s arrest for driving while intoxicated is one of her “rock bottom” moments, but “The Chronology of Water” doesn’t have any details about whether or not Lidia ever had years of sobriety from alcohol and drugs after admitting to having these addictions.
Lidia’s third marriage is to filmmaker Andy Mingo (played by Charlie Carrick), whom she meets in her 40s, when he is a student in her writing class, and she is a semi-famous writer who can’t afford to have a car. Andy is compassionate and patient, but he’s no pushover, like her first husband Phillip. It’s during this part of Lidia’s life that she’s not the self-destructive train wreck that she once was. And although she doesn’t expect to fall in love with Andy, she does.
Poots has done some great acting in movies over the years, but she is usually overlooked for major awards. She is a marvel to watch as Lidia in “The Chronology of Water,” as she embodies every type of emotion in this gutsy and compelling performance. Birch also gives a fantastic performance as the more low-key Claudia, who may not be as outwardly angry as Lidia, but the ways Birch expresses Claudia’s inner agony and turmoil through her eyes and body language are just as credible and impactful.
The movie has an interesting casting choice with Belushi, who is known mostly for his comedic roles. Ken is the closest thing that the movie has for comic relief, but the comedy is bittersweet. Ken is someone who is way past his prime, and he knows it, but he still has a certain zest for life that inspires his students. Kim Gordon (former bass guitarist for the rock band Sonic Youth) is another unexpected casting choice: She has a cameo (about five minutes of screen time) as an unnamed photographer who gives dominatrix service to Lidia.
As a filmmaker, Stewart shows unique artistic vision in “The Chronology of Water,” which purposely avoids pandering to mainstream predictability. And it’s the same reason why some viewers might feel alienated by how this story is presented: There are no trite or easy answers to Lidia’s problems. Some people might think the narrative style of “The Chronology of Water” is too rambling and pretentious. Others will think it’s refreshing and challenging because it will make viewers curious about where the story is headed next. The movie has sharp observations about the beauty, ugliness, joy, despair and everything in between about Lidia’s life.
The movie gets its title from the fact that water is a constant theme in Lidia’s life, whether it is the escape she feels from swimming, or when she is in a shower after cutting herself and blood is seen going down the drain, or she finds comfort from taking a bath in a bathtub. Lidia also experiences some life-altering moments near a beach. “The Chronology of Water” is not supposed to be an easy film to watch. But for people open-minded enough to experience the movie, it offers a clear and hopeful message that recovery from trauma and self-sabotage is difficult but can be possible and is an ongoing process.
The Forge released “The Chronology of Water” in select U.S. cinemas on December 5, 2025, with wider expansion to more U.S. cinemas on January 9, 2026.
Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin (Naija) and English with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in Nigeria, in 1993, the dramatic film “My Father’s Shadow” features an African cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A father and his two pre-teen sons experience various challenges and emotional bonding when he takes them to Lagos for a short visit during political unrest.
Culture Audience: “My Father’s Shadow” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching a drama that shows the intersections between government turmoil and family relationships.
Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Godwin Egbo in “My Father’s Shadow” (Photo courtesy of MUBI)
“My Father’s Shadow” makes an emotional impact not from melodrama but from showing the quiet steadiness of a father’s guidance and love as he spends time with his two sons. The ending of the movie is jarring and unforgettable. “My Father’s Shadow” is an example of how time with loved ones can be precious and should not be taken for granted.
Directed by Akinola Davies Jr., “My Father’s Shadow” was written by Akinola Davies and his brother Wale Davies. The movie is Akinola Davies’ feature-film directorial debut. “My Father’s Shadow” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and then made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2025, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival and AFI Fest. The movie is the United Kingdom’s official selection for Best International Feature Film for the 2026 Academy Awards, but the movie didn’t make the shortlist to be nominated in this category.
“My Father’s Shadow” takes place in Nigeria in 1993. The movie was filmed in the Nigerian cities of Ibadan, Nigeria. Most of the movie takes place over a two-day period when the father and his sons make a short trip to Lagos. This trip takes place before, during, and immediately after Nigeria’s presidential election on June 12, 1993. There were widespread protests after military dictator General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the victory of Chief MKO Abiola.
“My Father’s Shadow” begins in an unnamed Nigerian city, where a man named Folari (played by Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) has returned home after spending many weeks away because he has a job in Lagos. Folari is dismayed to see that his wife Bola (played by Efòn Wini) is not at home to look after their two sons: 11-year-old Remi (played by Chibuike Marvelous Egbo) and 8-year-old Aki (played by Godwin Egbo, Chibuike’s real-life younger brother), who say that Bola has made a short trip into “the village.”
Folari is there for a brief stay and then has to go back to Lagos. Instead of waiting for his wife to come home, Folari invites his sons to go with him. Remi is more excited than Bola to take this trip. Folari leaves a note for Bola to let her know that their sons are with him.
Folari (who has some type of factory job) has not been paid for the past six months. He’s been promised that he will get the salary that’s owed to him after the presidential election. Part of the movie shows the frustrating experience that Folari has when trying to get paid. But the political unrest is simmering like a powder keg ready to burst.
The trip has several unexpected tension-filled occurrences, as well some lovely moments of family bonding, especially when Folari and his sons take a spontaneous trip to a beach. At the beach, Folari reveals something from traumatic from his past that deeply affects him. It also affects Folari’s perspective as a father who doesn’t have the privilege to see his sons every day. “I have missed you boys growing up,” Folari says. “You are growing up so fast.”
Dìrísù gives a wholly credible performance as a father trying to do the best for his family while facing an uncertain future during this tumultuous time in Nigerian history. Real-life brothers Chibuike Marvelous Egbo and Godwin Egbo also do well in their roles. Most of the movie revolves around these three actors. “My Father’s Shadow” is a movie that has a way of catching viewers off guard. Just when you think the movie might end a certain way, something is revealed that packs an emotional wallop that will change viewers’ perceptions about many of the things that happened before in the movie.
MUBI will release “My Father’s Shadow” in select U.S. cinemas on February 13, 2026. The movie was released in Nigeria on September 19, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Hyderabad, India, the comedy/drama film “Patang” features an Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Two best friends become enemy rivals when they both fall for the same woman, and they decide to have a kite-flying contest to settle their differences.
Culture Audience: “Patang” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching unrealistic, poorly acted movies about romance and friendship.
Gautham Vasudev Menon and Preethi Pagadala in “Patang” (Photo courtesy of Rishaan Cinemas)
“Patang” is a long-winded and irritating comedy/drama about a love triangle that results in a kite-flying competition with tacky visual effects. The movie gets worse as it drags to its over-stretched ending. This is the type of movie that looks like it was conceived by a teenager who grew up to be a filmmaker who didn’t bother to update the adult characters to act like how real adults would act.
Written and directed by Praneeth Prattipati, “Patang” (which means “kite” in Telugu) takes place in Hyderabad, India. The movie has such a long build-up to this kite-flying contest, the contest doesn’t happen until the last 30 minutes of this 162-minute film. By the end of the movie, you won’t really care who wins, as long as you don’t have to see these flaky and annoying characters again.
“Patang” begins by showing the kite-flying contest taking place in a stadium. And even though the stadium is only about 40% full, it’s a major sporting event that’s being televised and has other extensive media coverage. Is this an event between kite-flying professionals? No.
As the movie explains, this event is happening because two former best friends are angry with each other because they both want to date the same woman. “Patang” doesn’t bother with pesky details, such as who would pay to rent a stadium over something this trivial. Viewers are supposed to believe that Hyderabad is treating this kite-flying contest as a major sporting event.
The woman at the center of this love triangle is sitting by herself in the stadium before the kite-flying contest begins. Her name is Aishwarya (played by Preethi Pagadala), and she’s a college student who’s studying architecture. But what she really wants to do with her life, as revealed later, is open her own cafe.
The stadium stetting for this grudge match is unrealistic enough. The movie gets even more unrealistic when filmmaker/actor Gautham Vasudev Menon (portraying a version of himself) sits down next to Aishwarya, introduces himself, and asks her why this kite-flying contest is happening. Aishwarya then tells the story about the two best friends and the love triangle that got them to this point, but she plays coy and doesn’t tell him right away that she’s the person at the center of the love triangle.
The movie then goes into flashback mode, as Aishwarya tells the story, before circling back to the kite-flying contest that happens toward the end of the movie. Aishwarya goes all the way back to the childhoods of best friends Vishnu “Whisky” Krishna and Arun, who met while kite flying when they were about 8 or 9 years old. Amasa Bhanu Prakash has the role of childhood Whisky. Ruthvik Varma has the role of childhood Arun.
Whisky is the more extroverted and more charismatic of the two friends. He’s a natural leader. Arun is quieter, more introverted and more of a follower. Arun becomes so close to Whisky, Arun asks his parents (played by S.P. Charan and Anu Hasan) if he can transfer to the same school as Whisky. Anu’s parents allow this transfer.
As adults in their early 20s, Whisky (played by Vamsi Pujit) and Arun (played by Pranav Kaushik) are mischief makers who love to get drunk, smoke marijuana, and carouse on the streets of Hyderabad. They hang out in a group with other like-minded guys named Basha (played by Venkatesh), Shiva (played by Rajeshwar Vemula), Rambo (played by Vishal Silveru) and Pencil (played by Guarav Sunil), who also like to get intoxicated and play pranks. The six pals are first seen together getting into trouble for dressing up as women to rob people on the street.
Much later in the movie, the six pals are shown doing a much more dangerous and heinous prank that could get people killed: They place a lot of broken glass on a railroad track before a train passes through the tracks. The glass is placed on the part of the track where the train wheels go. An idiotic movie like “Patang” shows a train approaching the track but doesn’t show the consequences of this crime.
Arun’s parents have a tension-filled marriage where they are constantly arguing with each other. Arun’s mother doesn’t approve of Arun hanging out with Whisky and the other troublemakers and worries that unemployed Arun is wasting his potential. She tells Arun that she won’t dictate who his friends are, but she makes it clear that she thinks Arun’s friends are “bloody scumbags.”
Whisky’s parents (played by Bindu Chandramouli and Sivannarayana) are not featured as prominently in the movie as Arun’s parents. Whisky has a small food stand to make money. It’s how he meets Aishwarya, who buys pani puri from him. Whisky is instantly smitten with Aishwarya.
Whisky flirts with Aishwarya by telling her that today is her lucky day because she’s a customer who’s won free unlimited pani puri from him. Aishwarya comes back for more pani puri the next and the next. Whisky continues to flirt with her and lets her know that he wants to date her, but she plays hard to get.
But after Whisky doesn’t Aishwarya for four consecutive days, he begins to worry and starts looking for her. He finds out that Aishwarya is in a hospital for food poisoning from eating his pani puri. Aishwarya is annoyed with Whisky shows up in her hospital room, but she is charmed by his apology and his persistence, so she agrees to date him.
Things are going smoothly between Whisky and Aishwarya until one night when Aishwarya ends up having a conversation with Arun. Aishwarya is intrigued when Arun, who is traditionally better-looking than Whisky, describes himself as unlucky in love because women he wants to date always put him in the “friend zone.”
During this date, Arun ends up punching a cop (don’t ask), so Arun and Aishwarya end up in jail. Arun’s father and Whisky bail out Arun and Aishwarya. Arun says jubilantly that it’s been the best night of his life. Aishwarya begins to become more attracted to Arun, because now she thinks he’s a “bad boy.”
Arun and Aishwarya begin having secret meet-ups where Aishwarya says they should act on their attraction to each other. Arun expresses a lot of reluctance and discomfort about betraying Whisky, but Aishwarya says that if Whisky is a true friend, then Whisky will forgive Arun. Aishwarya and Arun begin a secret affair.
Because this love triangle is already revealed in the movie’s trailer, you can easily predict that Whisky is going to find out about Aishwarya cheating on him with Arun. It leads to arguments that result in Whisky breaking up with Aishwarya, Aishwarya breaking up with Arun, and Whisky becoming bitterly estranged from Arun and Aishwarya.
It takes an awfully long time to get there. In between, there are some fairly entertaining song-and-dance numbers, but the spoken dialogue is kind of awful. The movie’s tone veers back and forth between over-the-top melodrama and silly comedy.
By the time the kite-flying contest challenge is declared, viewers will be thinking, “Get on with it already.” But no. There’s another long, drawn-out section of the movie where Arun has to assemble a kite-flying team because his pals Basha, Shiva, Rambo and Pencil are siding with Whisky in this feud and are on Whisky’s kite-flying team.
In the end, Arun recruits his teenage sister Aditi (played by P. Vignani); a nerdy pal named Kiwi (played by Kvish Kautilya), who likes to play video games with Arun; Arun’s platonic female friend Lakshmi (played by Vishika), who’s been in love with Arun since childhood; and Arun’s father Shekar, who is also the team’s coach. Arun’s team, which wears purple, is called the Pizza Panthers because Aditi likes to make pizza. Whisky’s team, which wears orange, is called the Biryani Boyz because Whisky likes to make biryani.
There’s hardly any kite-flying in the movie until the actual contest, which is just a repetitive back-and-forth of the contestants trying to use the kite ropes to slice an opponent’s kite ropes. It would be an understatement to say that none of it looks believable. Even after the contest is over, “Patang” drags on with more stupidity.
“Patang” has some underlying misogyny that is also very off-putting. Lakshmi is treated like a pathetic nuisance until Arun and Whisky both use her for their selfish purposes. Aishwarya is portrayed as manipulative temptress, as if Arun shouldn’t have equal responsibility in betraying Whisky. “Patang” tries to resolve all of these conflicts in ways that are grating, tiresome and definitely don’t make kite-flying look fun or attractive.
Rishaan Cinemas released “Patang” in select U.S. cinemas on January 1, 2026. The movie was released in India on December 25, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in France, the comedy/drama film “A Private Life” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A psychiatrist plays amateur detective with her ex-husband when she suspects that a former client died by murder instead of suicide.
Culture Audience: “A Private Life” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and well-acted movies that combine dark comedy with psychological drama.
Jodie Foster and Virginie Efira in “A Private Life” (Photo by Jérôme Prébois/Sony Pictures Classics)
“A Private Life” is an occasionally uneven dark comedy about a psychiatrist who teams up with her ex-husband when she suspects a former client was murdered. Jodie Foster’s appealing performance keeps the movie interesting. To its credit, “A Private Life” doesn’t get too convoluted when it comes to the investigation for this suspected murder.
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, “A Private Life” was written by Zlotowski, Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and made the rounds at other film festivals in 2025, including the Telluride Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “A Private Life” takes place primarily in Paris and was filmed on location in Paris and in Normandy, France.
In “A Private Life,” Foster is protagonist Lillian Steiner, a psychiatrist who leads an orderly life. Lilian, who lives alone and who works from her home office, has been divorced from her ex-husband Gabriel “Gaby” Haddad (played by Daniel Auteuil) for at least 20 years. Lillian and Gaby have one child together: a adult son named Julien Haddad-Park (played by Vincent Lacoste), who has recently become a first-time father to an infant son named Joseph. Lillian adores her grandson but is slightly uncomfortable with the reality that she is now a grandmother.
Near the beginning of the movie, Lillian is concerned that her client Paula Cohen-Solal (played by Virginie Efira) has skipped their past three sessions. Paula has been Lillian’s client for the past nine years. Paula is a cellist in a classical music orchestra. Paula’s husband Simon Cohen-Solal (played by Mathieu Amalric), who is domineering and arrogant, is the orchestra’s conductor.
Meanwhile, another client named Pierre Hallam (played by Noam Morgensztern) tells Lillian during a session that it will be his last session with her. Pierre had been trying to quit smoking, and he says he recently underwent hypnotism, which he believes has “cured” him of the desire to smoke. Therefore, Pierre tells Lillian, he no longer needs Lillian as a therapist, and this will be their last session together.
Soon after Lillian loses Pierre as a client, Lillian gets even worse news: Paula has died. Lillian finds out when Paula’s young adult daughter Valérie Cohen-Solal (played by Luàna Bajrami) tells Lillian about Paula’s death, which has officially been ruled as a suicide. Valérie asks Lillian if Lillian knows why Paula would want to kill herself, but Lillian says she can’t reveal that information because of patient/therapist confidentiality.
Valérie invites Lillian to the shiva wake for Paula. At the shiva wake, Simon verbally lashes out at Lillian, whom he blames for Paula’s death. Simon orders Lillian to leave. Lillian knew that Paula was unhappily married to Simon. Simon’s hostile reaction to Lillian makes her wonder if Paula was murdered.
The rest of “A Private Life” shows Lillian’s suspicions increasing as she finds out other things that indicate Paula could have been murdered, especially when she discovers that Simon had a mistress named Perle Friedman (played by Aurore Clément). Lillian tells Gaby about her suspicions, and they decide to become amateur sleuths. Along the way, the former spouses also confront past resentments and unresolved issues about the demise of their marriage. Gaby was the one who wanted the divorce because he felt that Lillian didn’t love him anymore.
“A Private Life” features a few quirks to the story. Lillian has a vivid dream that she was a male musician colleague of Paula’s in the same orchestra, and Paula was having a secret affair with this colleague. Lillian begins to wonder if she has psychic abilities. Lillian’s eyes also keep watering for unknown reasons.
During the investigation, Lillian discovers more about Paula and more about herself. Foster and Auteuil’s scenes together are entertaining to watch, as Lillian and Gaby feel rekindled sparks of attraction to each other and have to decide whether or not to act on this attraction. Despite a few areas of the movie that drag, “A Private Life” is a relatively brisk psychological mystery that has engaging performances and should satisfy most viewers who are inclined to be interested in this genre.
Sony Pictures Classics released “A Private Life” in select U.S. cinemas on December 5, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on January 16, 2026. The movie was released in France on November 26, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Oklahoma and in Mexico, the dramatic film “King Ivory” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people and Native Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Various people are affected by the fetanyl drug trade, including a drug law enforcement officer; his teenage son who gets hooked on fentanyl; and the drug traffickers who want to keep their business thriving by any means necessary.
Culture Audience: “King Ivory” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and can tolerate watching often-violent dramas with intertwined storylines about the effects of drug trafficking.
Michael Mando in “King Ivory” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
“King Ivory” is a flawed but absorbing drama with multiple storylines about people affected by the buying and selling of fentanyl. The talented acting performances hold the movie together during the most cumbersome moments. The second half of the movie is better than the first half.
Written and directed by John Swab, “King Ivory” gets its title from King Ivory being one of the street nicknames for fentanyl, an opioid that is more potent than heroin. “King Ivory” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival. The movie takes place in Oklahoma and in Mexico. “King Ivory” was filmed in Oklahoma.
“King Ivory” begins by showing two drug dealers getting shipment of raw fentanyl on a boat in the Pacific Ocean, near Sinaloa, Mexico. The movie then abruptly cuts to a brutal raid of a drug dealer’s house in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A team of officers, led by Layne West (played by James Badge Dale), storm through the house. A shootout ensues, resulting in the deaths of the drug dealer and a woman in an upstairs bedroom. A boy, who’s about 5 or 6 years old, is found hiding in fear in a bathroom.
It’s just another day for drug enforcement officer Layne, who is able to keep his personal life and his career separate until these two worlds come crashing together when his teenage son Jack (played by Jasper Jones) becomes addicted to fentanyl. Layne’s work colleagues include his partner Ty Grady (played by George Carroll) and FBI counterpart Beatty (played by Rory Cochrane), who are fighting an uphill battle to stop the flow of fentanyl into Oklahoma.
“King Ivory” jumps back and forth between the storyline of the West family (which includes Layne’s wife Tess West, played by Sam Quartin) and storylines for some of the criminals responsible for trafficking fentanyl in the Tulsa area. These drug traffickers include Ramón Garza (played by Michael Mando), a bilingual Mexican cartel worker who recruits desperate Mexican immigrants to work for him; Holt Lightfeather (played by Graham Greene), an incarcerated Indian Brotherhood War chief, who runs a drug operation from Oklahoma State Penitentiary (also known as Big Mac) in McAlester, Oklahoma; and three family members of the local Irish Mafia: cold-blooded killer George “Smiley” Greene (played by Ben Foster), who is released from Big Mac during the course of the story; Smiley’s doting single mother Ginger Greene (played by Melissa Leo); and Smiley’s meth-addicted uncle Mickey (played by Ritchie Coster), who is a confidential informant for the police.
Other characters in the movie include a bilingual Mexican immigrant named Lago (played by David De La Barcena), who is mentored by Ramón; Jack’s girlfriend Colby (played by Kaylee Curry), who introduces him to fentanyl and who is a customer of Lago’s; and Brotherhood War member Jai (played by James Whitecloud), who works with Smiley after Smiley is released from prison. “King Ivory” weaves all of these storylines together in a way that isn’t always seamless, but the movie could hold viewers’ interest to see how it will end.
The acting performances move the story forward, even if some of the dialogue and scenarios are very stereotypical. Among the standouts is Dale, who gives a credible portrayal of a father who’s caught between doing his duty as a drug-enforcement officer and being in denial about his teenage son’s increasing drug problem. Foster does yet another depiction of an unhinged criminal. “King Ivory” might get some comparisons to director Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning 2000 film “Traffic,” but “King Ivory” is not an Oscar-worthy film. However, “King Ivory” is a solid option for viewers to see a gritty saga that looks at drug trafficking from different angles.
Saban Films and Roadside Attractions released “King Ivory” in select U.S. cinemas on November 14, 2025. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released “King Ivory” on digital and VOD on December 16, 2025. “King Ivory” will be released on DVD on February 10, 2026.
Culture Representation: Taking place from the 1920s to the 1990s, across various places in China, the fantasy drama film “Resurrection” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: In a world where beings who can dream are called Deliriants and are in the minority, a Deliriant experiences various dreams as a cinematic transformations where the Deliriant experiences being different people in different decades.
Culture Audience: “Resurrection” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Bi Gan, and deeply layered artistic films about reincarnations.
Shu Qi in “Resurrection” (Photo courtesy of Janus Films)
The fantasy drama “Resurrection” has the ability to either transfix or bore viewers, depending on whether or not viewers are willing to go on an unusual journey about a being’s transformations across time and space. At 156 minutes long, “Resurrection” can be an endurance test if viewers don’t feel curious about what will happen next. It’s not always an easy film to understand at all times, but it’s an artistically unique movie that is a marvel to behold.
Written and directed by Bi Gan, “Resurrection” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a special jury award. “Resurrection” also screened at several other film festivals in 2025, including the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. The movie takes place from the 1920s to the 1990s, across various places in China. “Resurrection” was filmed in China and in Denmark.
The beginning of “Resurrection” takes place in a movie theater in the 1920s and is filmed as if inspired by German expressionism cinema. People inside the movie theater scatter. “Resurrection” is stunning-looking movie whose production design and cinematography are among the film’s strongest assets.
It’s explained later in the movie that “Resurrection” takes place in a world where the majority of people (called the Other Ones) have given up their ability to dream in order to have longevity. Those who have kept their ability to dream are called Deliriants, who are either envied or treated like threatening monsters. Deliriants are rare, and what happens to a Deliriant who is discovered by an Other One.
An on-screen caption then explains, “There is one Deliriant, whose true form is unknown because he has been hiding in an ancient, forgotten past. That is film! Those who can see through illusions are the Big Others. To bring these Deliriants back to reality, they can mutate into the gentlest forms the Deliriants love the most. Could this Deliriant be hiding in an opium den?”
“Resurrection then shows a labyrinth-like opium den, where shadowy giant figures above and the occasional giant hand that reaches in the opium den suggest Big Others are hovering around this opium den, which has the size of a miniature dollhouse to the Big Others. A Big Other named Miss Shu (played by Shu Qi) finds a Deliriant (played by Jackson Yee), which looks like an hunched-over ogre, inside the basement of the opium den.
Miss Shu doesn’t want the Deliriant to hurt her. The Deliriant gives her flowers, as Miss Shu lets the Deliriant see his reflection in her eyes. The Deliriant falls on the ground, eats the flowers, and exclaims: “I don’t want to live in that fake world! Kill me now!”
Instead of killing him, Miss Shu allows the Deliriant to live out his dreams as if they were movies. The rest of Resurrection is told in five chapters, with each chapter showing the Deliriant being reincarnated as a new character in a new decade. It’s fascinating concept that “Resurrection” could have done a better job of explaining in the beginning of the film.
Because the Deliriant becomes several different people during the course of the story, actor Yee plays several different characters from the 1950s to the 1990s. In addition to the Deliriant, Yee has the roles of Qui, a man accused of murder; a thief named Mongrel; a con artist named Jia Shengjung; and a thug named Apollo. Yee gives skillful portrayals of each character by immersing himself into each role.
Other characters in “Resurrection” include Mark Chao as a police commander who is leading a murder investigation; Li Gengxi as Tai Zhaomeix, a mysterious singer; Huang Jue as Mr. Luo, the owner of the karaoke bar where Zhaomeix works; Chen Yongzhong as the Spirit of Bitterness; and Guo Mucheng as a girl who befriends Shengjun and becomes involved in Shengjun’s con games. All of these supporting cast members perform well in their roles, but there’s nothing particularly outstanding about their acting.
“Resurrection” has several suspenseful scenes, while other scenes move along at a leisurely pace. It’s a valid argument to say that “Resurrection” will be considered too long for an average movie viewer. Ultimately, “Resurrection” is worth watching for a unique cinematic experience that tells several anthology-styled stories within one memorable and beautifully filmed movie.
Janus Films released “Resurrection” in select U.S. cinemas on December 12, 2025. The movie was released in China on November 22, 2025.
