— Currently my favorite film of 2023 —

The world is full of conversations with women I’ve never met. “Hi, how are you?” “Yeah? Me too.” “Nah, no way!” “Sure, I’d love to.”

The words go 360° and land back at my feet, ever constrained in a magically perfect world where things are clockwork. But truth isn’t a warm blanket; and your heart is never warmer than a Siberian summer.

A different kind of singularity approaches, merging fantasy with truth.…

— Currently my 3rd favorite film of 2021 —

This is the best Bangladeshi film I've ever seen.

Championing Bangladeshi cinema has been an uphill battle as most films from the country still lack a certain sophistication and finesse, both fundamentally and technically, that limits their ability to compete at the global level. With its selection into Cannes' Un Certain Regard, Rehana Maryam Noor certainly hinted at changing that—yet, I avoided watching the film for the longest time due to…

— Currently my 6th favorite film of 2025 —

Watched Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or-winning It Was Just an Accident (2025) again last night, and this time, I picked up a layer that I initially missed: this isn't just a film about revenge and guilt, it's also about the persistence of trauma regardless of revenge. The way it examines how extremist tendencies take root in countries is sharp enough on its own, but a key character's polarizing actions—and how it compares…

I've met Park Chan-wook three times in my life: At a signing for Oldboy at Tower Records in Soho, then at the NYFF premiere of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and once again at a Q&A for Thirst at the same festival. Only at the last event did I get to ask him whom his favorite inspirations were: He said Kim Ki-young and Yasuzo Masumura—which led me to binge on the latter’s works.

But now, having watched The Last Witness, it's…