7 Best Releases From ZDF Studio

The sea is always a great setting for a story. It’s both soothing and menacing; water is cleansing and purifying, and a consistently replenishing source of food. But it’s also dangerous and uncompromising. Water is one of nature’s greatest antagonists, it can get into virtually anything, softening it, weakening it, eventually breaking it apart. But nothing on earth would survive without it. It’s a brilliant metaphor for so many things, as it’s constantly changing and moving and covers wondrous and monstrous secrets. It works even better in visual mediums like TV and film because it’s beautiful to both look at and listen to. The CW’s new eco-thriller, The Swarm, makes good use of its watery locations in establishing an aura of tranquil menace: everything seems calm and orderly, but there’s trouble bubbling up just below the surface. Continue Reading →

Spare a thought for the white male writer in your life. Christian Petzold just roasted him so bad they’re beyond saving; just grab a marinade and sides. The enigmatic German formalist lets it all hang down in Afire, his loosest film in many moons, a comedy of ill manners, withheld emotion, and confusing flirtation, and his best film since 2014’s Phoenix. Continue Reading →

Cecilia (Leonor Varela) is in a bad way. She’s been twisted by years of neglect and disappointment into a coil of razor wire. She’s short with her co-workers and her children, especially queer Tomas (Enzo Ferrada Rosati), whose gender identity is taken as a personal slight. Her brother Bernardo (Marcial Tagle) is so used to her undermining him that he preempts their first meeting with an admission of his weight gain and a refusal to embrace her like a hit dog. Continue Reading →

A motorcycle streaks through the rainy streets of Tel Aviv. Its rider is Ahed Tamini, a Palestinian woman who slapped an Israeli soldier in the face when he was attempting to break into her house. In response, an Israeli parliament member tweeted “In my opinion, she [Tamini] should have gotten a bullet, at least in the kneecap. That would have put her under house arrest for the rest of her life.” Oh wait, that isn’t actually Ahed Tamini. We’re seeing an actress auditioning to play her in an edgy digital video project. The flutter and flurry of disorienting images feel confusing, anxious, and raw. Continue Reading →

Over the past decade, writer-director Christian Petzold has delivered three near-perfect features-- 2012’s Barbara, 2014’s Phoenix, and 2018’s Transit. His work isn't showy, but what he pulls off is challenging - making artfully crafted, sumptuously romantic stories focusing on lonely, easy-going characters finding connection with one another. His latest, Undine, follows in that tradition, and it’s one of his best. Continue Reading →

Look, we all love Dominic Cooper and slim-cut suits, and Dominic Cooper IN slim-cut suits, but are we all just a little tired of spies?  Continue Reading →

A Perfect Planet Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JIs6xEYniM&ab_channel=discoveryplus Continue Reading →