First Class Rock Steady (17 North Parade, VP Records). Review by Generoso Fierro.

Lily and Generoso spoke at length with writer/director Phạm Thiên Ân, whose stunning and pensive feature, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, garnered the Camera d’Or at the most recent Cannes Film Festival.

For Lily and Generoso, 2023 was a fantastic year at the cinema! They select and review their ten favorite films, six supplemental features, and one extraordinary repertory release seen at microcinemas, archives, and festivals.

During AFI Fest 2023, Lily and Generoso interviewed director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, whose impressive debut feature, City of Wind, carefully examines the juxtaposition between the identity of place and tradition against the powers of modernity in contemporary Mongolia.

Since 2015, Lily and Generoso have reviewed the offerings from the American Film Institute’s annual festival. With AFI Fest 2023 in the books, they are here to present their top ten favorite features from this year’s impressive slate of 140 films!

During AFI Fest 2023, Lily and Generoso spoke at length with director Radu Jude about his darkly comedic feature, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, the winner of the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Locarno Film Festival and Romania’s entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.

Director Pietro Marcello follows up his heralded adaptation of Jack London’s Martin Eden with Scarlet, a bold reimagining of Aleksandr Grin’s classic 1923 novel, Scarlet Sails. Lily and Generoso review Marcello’s exceptional contemporary take on this beloved fairy tale.

On Friday, May 5, 2023, Ashley McKenzie’s emotionally complex and intimate second feature, Queens of the Qing Dynasty, opens at the Metrograph in New York City. Lily and Generoso sat down and spoke with her about her process, the film’s Unama’ki Cape Breton setting, and the roles that technology and reality play in her work.

The winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2021 Viennale, The Tale of King Crab has documentarians Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis creating their first hybrid-fiction feature, which expands on the provocative mythologies birthed in the town of Vejano, Italy. Generoso and Lily review this immersive and imaginative film.

Lily and Generoso review Hold Me Tight, the sixth feature directed by renowned actor Mathieu Amalric. Centered around a brilliant performance from Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, Bergman Island), Hold Me Tight is an unpredictable and remarkable psychological drama.

Winner of the Jury Prize of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria subtly draws viewers into a connective reality shaped by the sounds and images emerging from the unknown. Lily and Generoso share their thoughts on the film, currently touring North America.

Generoso and Lily review the taut family drama, A Chiara, currently in limited release around the country. The winner of the Directors’ Fortnight Award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film is the final installment of director Jonas Carpignano’s Calabrian triptych.

On December 8, 2021, we lost the great Robbie Shakespeare, who along with Sly Dunbar, formed one of the most coveted rhythm sections and production teams in music history.

Shortly after AFI Fest 2021 wrapped, Generoso spoke at length with director, Araceli Lemos about her award-winning and potent feature debut, Holy Emy. Lemos’s film uses elements of body horror in her story about the exoticization of two Filipina sisters living in Greece and how that exploitation creates a distance between them.

Generoso speaks with director Alonso Ruizpalacios, whose dynamic new feature, A Cop Movie, utilizes a unique and effective hybrid documentary style to examine police corruption in and around Mexico City. A Cop Movie was the winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival.

Generoso sits down with guitarist and composer Mike Baggetta to discuss his work with Mike Watt and Stephen Hodges in mssv and the challenges of creating during the pandemic.

After several orphaned children are found murdered in a remote Kazakh village, and the suspects mysteriously die in custody, a reporter is sent in to investigate potential police corruption in director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s impressive neo-noir, A Dark, Dark Man.

The latest feature from the surrealist comedy mind of Quentin Dupieux, Mandibles is that timeless story of two clueless lifelong friends who toil relentlessly to train their giant house fly Dominique to rob banks for them.

Opening on VOD through independent theaters on March 5th, Keep An Eye Out is director Quentin Dupieux’s (Rubber, Deerskin) deviously surreal and comedic take on the police procedural.

The Sparks Brothers is director Edgar Wright’s (Baby Driver, Shaun of the Dead) long awaited documentary on Ron and Russell Mael’s legendary musical outlet, Sparks, which has released over 25 albums during their career. Generoso reviews the film fresh from its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.