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Olivia Popp
Tomatometer-approved critic
Based in Berlin, Olivia Popp is a writer and graduate student examining cinema, transnationalism, critical theory, and queer imagination. She is an alum of the Far East Film Festival Campus and the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium. Her writing has been published in Catapult, Vague Visages, SYFY Wire, StarTrek.com, Mental Floss, Unwinnable, The Bold Italic, and more.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Falling Sky (2024) |
It thus becomes a double-edged sword: an admirable impulse to champion indigenous voices while being anti-Eurocentric, challenged by the struggle to be heard at all. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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In Retreat (2024) |
Ali isn’t fixated on a political message: rather, In Retreat invites the viewer to reflect on how the personal, political and cultural are entwined in ways that are perhaps different for everyone. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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Baby (2024) |
Viewers leave with not just a story, but also a fuller picture of many possible lives and moments in São Paulo — to be queer, to feel alive, to run from the police, to celebrate your birthday with your friends. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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Ghost Cat Anzu (2024) |
Regardless, the animation here stands up to scrutiny, and the filmmakers bring a charming and warm, handmade quality to the film. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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Niki (2024) |
It’s easy to side with Le Bon’s Niki and her strong-willed nature when placed in a patriarchal environment that dismisses women as hysterical, but it’s not enough to fully get a grasp on why the artist should be truly memorable for the viewer. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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Nasty (2024) |
The directorial trio crafts a tightly spun, tension-filled documentary that is just as much fun as a match against Nǎstase. - Cineuropa
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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All Shall Be Well (2024) |
Yeung's latest feature is generous but never indulgent, taking the approachable genre of the family drama and placing it in the context of topical issues in today's queer Hong Kong. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted Mar 19, 2024
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My Sextortion Diary (2024) |
Franquesa triumphs in reappropriating her narrative, even embedding censored versions of her own intimate photos within the film in a Foucauldian rejection of social discipline of the body. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Mar 18, 2024
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Mamifera (2024) |
Embedded within Mamífera is a powerful sense of weighty realism, with Torres’ reflective story captured by DOP Lucía C. Pan’s calm camerawork. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Mar 18, 2024
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The Black Sea (2024) |
Partially inspired by Harden’s experiences in Bulgaria, the film delivers with tenderness on its promise of found family in the most unexpected of places, complete with comedic strokes. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Mar 18, 2024
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Sleep with Your Eyes Open (2024) |
Wohlatz navigates effortlessly between different communities with shared histories but disparate presents, further reflected in its co-production credits. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Mar 08, 2024
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My Favourite Cake (2024) |
It resolutely joins a fresh wave of movies celebrating the conviviality and complexity of the lives of older women. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Feb 25, 2024
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Small Things Like These (2024) |
The difficult moments that puncture Bill’s daily life are propped up on a skeleton frame of close-ups on the (always-effective) harrowed eyes of Murphy, but it’s not enough to fill in the emotional blanks. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Feb 25, 2024
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No Other Land (2024) |
No Other Land is at its best when it achieves cinematographic mobility, the camera acting as an extension of this activist interrogation of violent Israeli occupation and not as a detached observer. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Feb 25, 2024
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The Missing (2023) |
Papa’s inventive use of form is one of the film’s successes, where the removal of body parts can be experienced by the viewer quite viscerally — for him, the loss is not metaphorical. - Zippy Frames
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| Posted Feb 06, 2024
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Concerning My Daughter (2023) |
“Concerning My Daughter” offers a glimmer of hope, but with a healthy dose of hesitance: Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel for tightly wound families facing similar interpersonal conflict, whether about queerness or otherwise. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted Dec 18, 2023
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Sprinter (2021) |
“Sprinter” demonstrates the skillset of talented writer-director Choi Seung-yeon, who shows great merit through the film's overall cohesiveness and watchability. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted Dec 18, 2023
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Queer My Friends (2023) |
“What can we do when we are not accepted for who we are?” Ah-hyun asks, clear that she can't answer this question by herself. This isn't just about being gay in Korea — or anywhere in the world, for that matter. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted Dec 18, 2023
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The Siren (2023) |
Although the animation style holds back the feature from reaching its true heights, Farsi’s first animated effort is a stirring attempt that admirably tackles the human dimension of one of the longest international wars in contemporary global history. - Cineuropa
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| Posted Dec 18, 2023
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A Moment of Romance (1990) |
Put simply, “A Moment of Romance” has it all — fiery action and stunt sequences, an unforgettable love story, quick-witted humor, a beautiful score, sweeping cinematography, and more. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted Jul 11, 2023
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Chan Is Missing (1982) |
Wang simply chooses to ignore conventional bounds altogether, instead creating a film that acts as geopolitical primer, a delicate portrait of a community, and meditation on identity politics and border anxieties in contemporary America, all in one. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted May 21, 2023
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Salam Cinema (1995) |
Shot to look and even function like a documentary, the filmmaker illuminates the undercurrents of humanity, and by examining humanity, he illuminates the undercurrents of cinema. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted May 21, 2023
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The Clone Returns Home (2008) |
Nakajima carefully explores what happens when a loss is too strong, too severe, and too lasting — and the lengths to which the mind, heart, and soul will go to try and remedy it. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted May 21, 2023
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Downpour (1972) |
Shooting in black and white, Beyzaie strips away all that is unnecessary for this story, leaving just two people in love and the tragic inevitabilities of life. - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted May 21, 2023
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Finding Her Beat (2022) |
“Finding Her Beat” remains an insightful look into an influential art form that also defies a false and frequently misconstrued binary between tradition and modernity, featuring interesting subjects that viewers will quickly warm to... - Asian Movie Pulse
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| Posted May 04, 2023
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The Sales Girl (2022) |
Without being didactic, Sengedorj puts forth that liberation involves expressing one’s sexuality, desirability, and personal boundaries, with sex as merely one aspect that enables freedom rather than the sole gateway to it. - easternKicks.com
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| Posted May 04, 2023
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Woman in Motion (2019) |
A new documentary titled "Woman In Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek, and the Remaking of NASA" details the powerful, revealing, and uplifting story of Nichols's advocacy ... in shaping the American space program we know today. - Mental Floss
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| Posted Mar 02, 2022
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Bring It On (2000) |
Under the film's spry surface and Kirsten Dunst's sunny smile, there's a brutal critique of the sports meritocracy (and, more broadly, meritocracy as a supposed system that justly rewards hard workers). - Screen Queens
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| Posted Feb 16, 2022
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The Virgin Suicides (1999) |
Although the events in "The Virgin Suicides" may not be presented through an innately nostalgic lens, they become a binding source of nostalgia by viewing the film 20 years after its initial wide release. - Vague Visages
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| Posted Feb 16, 2022
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No Hard Feelings (2020) |
"No Hard Feelings" drives toward queer futurity in unexpected ways and is an absolutely remarkable debut for the young director. - Vague Visages
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| Posted Feb 16, 2022
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Girl Picture (2022) |
The lighthearted slice-of-life storytelling in "Girl Picture" gives viewers a healthy sampling of what Haapasalo has to offer and, ultimately, a fulfilling and effervescent exploration of teenage sexuality. - Vague Visages
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| Posted Feb 16, 2022
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Against the Current (2020) |
Sveinsson's "Against the Current" defines itself as an idiosyncratic, deeply personal character study of a remarkable woman, who the world eagerly waits upon to see what she accomplishes next. - Vague Visages
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| Posted Feb 16, 2022
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