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Anita Katz
Anita Katz's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).
Movies reviews only
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Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) |
This rousing, rich, significant film is caringly thought out and joyously free-flowing. Thompson, who was handed amazing material and knew what to do with it, has given the monumental cultural event the documentary it deserves. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jul 01, 2021
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Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It (2021) |
Whether sitting in a chair and reminiscing or making decorations for her own birthday party, Moreno is an outstanding documentary subject -- self-aware, funny, and wonderfully outspoken. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 25, 2021
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Summer of 85 (2020) |
This sun-streaked French heartbreaker is still a wildly engaging tale of teenage self-discovery and amour fou. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 25, 2021
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All Light, Everywhere (2021) |
It is a stimulating consideration of how photographic material that is widely considered truthful and objective can be the opposite of that, and how those in power have long kept a troubling eye on the powerless. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 11, 2021
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Censor (2021) |
The ambiguity, meanwhile, when at its finest, results in some challenging intrigue, due in part to the assuredness with which Bailey-Bond presents it. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 11, 2021
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Changing the Game (2019) |
This documentary gives needed visibility to teens who are impressively changing the rules and, through sports, enabling others to believe in themselves. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 03, 2021
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Tove (2020) |
As conventionally presented biopics go, Tove enhances the basic goods. It also contains a terrific protagonist. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 03, 2021
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Cruella (2021) |
Stone, sporting a rascally glint in her eye as Cruella plots her moves, and Thompson, whose baroness, suggesting a meaner version of Meryl Streep's Devil Wears Prada character, all hauteur and ruthlessness, are a kick to watch. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 28, 2021
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Port Authority (2019) |
An uneven but moving indie drama about love and family, set in the world of New York City's kiki ballroom scene. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 28, 2021
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Final Account (2020) |
Few accounts in the film are extraordinary. But combined, they form a substantial document of the more mundane aspects of Nazi operations and of the human denial mechanism at work. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 21, 2021
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Dream Horse (2020) |
Collette, who is Australian but fits right in with her Welsh costars, plays both a sports-movie-style coach and a woman realizing her potential, and she shines. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 21, 2021
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The Killing of Two Lovers (2020) |
Crawford, leading an excellent cast, creates a scary yet richly human portrait of a decent man who, unable to contain his rage, might do something terrible. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 13, 2021
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Riders of Justice (2020) |
The movie is also about coming to terms with the meaninglessness of life's realities, and, most movingly, as the characters form a makeshift family, it is about how human connection assists healing. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 13, 2021
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The Human Factor (2019) |
The wonky documentary has some bias problems, but Moreh's subjects tell fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 07, 2021
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En Route pour le Milliard (2020) |
This doc is stirringly alive as Hamadi captures his subjects' sense of purpose and collective sprit. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 23, 2021
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Together Together (2021) |
Unfortunately, the ideas are superior to the presentation of them in this film, whose most important ingredient, the Matt-Anna relationship, too often plays out blandly and flatly. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 23, 2021
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The Last Animals (2017) |
This isn't rosy viewing. But believing that, as residents of the planet, we should take serious note of the extinction crisis, Brooks lays out the facts and makes clear the urgency. This film deserves attention. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 16, 2021
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Gunda (2020) |
Few, if any, films have more effectively documented an animal's capacity for deep and complicated feeling. Kossakovsky merits applause for bringing this amazing appreciation of farm animals into being. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 16, 2021
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Slalom (2020) |
Renier brilliantly makes Fred's behavior despicable while giving Fred just enough humanity to make him a credible character instead of a one-note monster. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 09, 2021
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The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020) |
The Syrian refugee crisis meets the western art market in The Man Who Sold His Skin, writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania's uneven but compelling (and Oscar-nominated) social satire, refugee-condition tragicomedy and love story, - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 09, 2021
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The Father (2020) |
In the potentially dreary role of a devoted daughter dealing with a parent experiencing one of human physiology's saddest realities, Colman helps make the movie an unsentimental heartbreaker. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 26, 2021
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The Truffle Hunters (2020) |
Dweck and Kershaw have put some contagiously positive spirit on the screen. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 26, 2021
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Groomed (2021) |
Van de Pas structures her film efficiently, creating, despite the dark topics, a highly watchable mix of facts and figures and trauma and healing. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 19, 2021
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Martha: A Picture Story (2019) |
Upbeat, zippy and thoroughly enjoyable. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 19, 2021
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Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) |
For the movie's merits as a thriller and a drama, credit goes to Jaroslaw Kaminski's taut editing and to Djuricic's sensational lead performance. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 12, 2021
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The Inheritance (2020) |
Asili has made an excitingly alive and innovative cinematic collage that remembers the past and embraces identity, community and equality. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 12, 2021
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The World to Come (2020) |
A moving, engrossing period drama about the plight of two farming women trapped in unhappy marriages. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 05, 2021
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Stray (2021) |
The film solidifies into a moving rumination on what it means to be an outcast, and on our tendency to equate worthiness with social acceptance and validity with documentation. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Mar 05, 2021
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Test Pattern (2021) |
Hall and Brill deliver essential, terrific chemistry, and Ford addresses numerous underlying topical concerns -- consent, boundaries, self-blame, patriarchal attitudes, relationship power dynamics -- perceptively and affectingly. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021) |
In the end, Day, Billie's activism, and the song Billie champions are worthy of attention. But this vastly uneven movie doesn't do them justice. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 26, 2021
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A First Farewell (2018) |
Wang's down-to-earth tone, familiarity with the subject matter, and success in inspiring natural and sometimes delightful performances from the nonprofessional young cast result in a thoroughly engaging, believable, and quietly moving story. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 18, 2021
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Nomadland (2020) |
The movie also contains scenic grandeur -- deserts, plains, forests -- and Zhao derives superb human-connection moments from her cast. These can be profoundly moving. McDormand helps bring about the magic. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 18, 2021
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Sator (2019) |
Acting as writer, director, cinematographer editor, and composer, Graham has made a deeply personal and thoughtfully conceived movie that fictionalizes his family's struggles with mental illness into an unusual horror narrative. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) |
Terrific together, Allen and Newton breeze through even the weakest material with a winning rapport and provide essential chemistry and spirit. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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Two of Us (2019) |
The movie sometimes borders on overblown melodrama as the characters machinate, but fortunately, Meneghetti doesn't lose touch with what's at its heart: Madeleine and Nina's bond. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 06, 2021
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A Ghost Waits (2020) |
While too light and slight to be able to deliver its darker material with the impact it calls for, the supernatural romance A Ghost Waits presents its tale of love and loneliness with refreshing heart and sweetness instead of the expected scares and gore. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Feb 06, 2021
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The Night (2020) |
Ahari provides the requisite jump scares, while simple light and shadow create striking visual imagery. Angsty sound effects convey the mounting unease. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 30, 2021
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Dear Comrades! (2020) |
A riveting depiction of the Soviet bureaucracy, a stirringly angry condemnation of the Novocherkassk massacre and cover-up, and an unsentimentally affecting story of a mother's love. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 30, 2021
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Identifying Features (2020) |
Identifying Features calls attention to the terror occurring in northern Mexico, through a quietly compelling story about a mother searching for her missing son on terrain made deadly by the drug wars. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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The White Tiger (2021) |
While viewers may not entirely embrace Balram's dark side, Gourav's charismatic, multifaceted, energetic performance makes it possible for them to stick with him for two hours. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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Some Kind of Heaven (2020) |
The film rambles somewhat, and a split-screen sequence clashes tonally with the rest of the film. But overall, it shines as a seriocomic document of how fantasy can't cure conditions like unhappy marriages and loneliness. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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One Night in Miami (2020) |
King juggles many elements in the movie and drops none. One Night in Miami is a blast of momentous social history and a stimulating watch. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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Herself (2020) |
Bright as well as dark, the film also impresses as a celebration of friendship and as a reminder of the joy that can flow when people help each other. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 08, 2021
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The Dissident (2020) |
Director-cowriter Bryan Fogel presents the story like a political thriller, and while he sometimes goes overboard in achieving that, the film is gripping. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 08, 2021
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Sylvie's Love (2020) |
Not much may exist beneath the film's appealing surfaces, but for satisfying escapism, Sylvie's Love delivers. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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The Last Blockbuster (2020) |
If the phrase "Be kind, rewind" rings a nostalgic bell in your heart, this doc will likely qualify as an enjoyable diversion. But expect nothing more. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 18, 2020
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To the Ends of the Earth (2019) |
Best known for his paranormal dramas, Kurosawa has made a thoughtful, gentle movie about cultural divides, tourist disorientation, and a young woman's realization of her potential. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 18, 2020
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Wander Darkly (2020) |
Miller helps this emotionally complicated material to succeed. She is willing to take Adrienne to dangerous and unlikable places and is believable as a possible ghost, a shattered trauma survivor, and a romantic heroine. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 12, 2020
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76 Days (2020) |
It also casts a deserved spotlight on Wuhan's frontline medical workers, and, by extension, medical workers who have, over the months, been battling the virus with commitment and compassion nearly everywhere. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 12, 2020
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Mayor (2020) |
As Osit shows Hadid working to make Ramallah a place its people can take pride in, the mayor becomes an extraordinary documentary subject and we want to thank Osit for introducing us to Hadid and taking us inside his city. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 09, 2020
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