remarkably efficient exercise in tension building (or just raw tension in general as the whole film is kind of excruciating) that feels akin to a horror movie in its technical precision and ability to provoke despite being accepted as a drama by virtue of its subject matter -- truly great

Tickets and Showtimes

From the internationally acclaimed director of THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (1973) (screening in 35mm on Saturday, August 24) and EL SUR (1983): Víctor Erice’s first feature film in 31 years, CLOSE YOUR EYES. Centered around a lurid film-within-a-film, a mysteriously disappeared actor and the stalled late-career filmmaker who becomes obsessed with finding him, Erice masterfully paints a literal journey from Madrid to the Andalusian coast, and a profoundly poetic (and semi-autobiographical) one — through memory, disappointment, and, finally, the magic of cinema.

A FILM MOVEMENT RELEASE

Plays June 14, 15, 18, 19, 2024 at SIFF Cinema Uptown as part of The Early Films of Lee Chang Dong. New 4K Restoration | siff.net/cinema

Self-love leaps to a new height in Bruce LaBruce’s brazenly queer family affair, where a hunky biker searches for—and falls in love with—his long-lost twin. Counting immoral monks and lesbian witches among its host of characters, Saint-Narcisse counters social taboos with subversive naughtiness.

Now streaming here.

"Diễm’s fly-on-the-wall approach allows her to capture heart-wrenching moments, such as when Vang’s family comes to take Di with them forcibly. As the girl is dragged, kicking and screaming, she calls out to Diễm for help. And yet the documentarian does not interfere, although we briefly glimpse her pained expression as the camera tussles in the commotion. This sequence leaves the viewer questioning their culpability in observing these intimate moments in Di’s life without any recourse for their own inaction."

[Full review at RogerEbert.com]