On the Rocks (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Bill Murray | Jenny Slate | Marlon Wayans | Rashida Jones
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Morgan Neville
I Am Greta (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Nathan Grossman
Starring: António Guterres | Arnold Schwarzenegger | Greta Thunberg
Chris says: “It’s one thing to think of Greta Thunberg as a sound bite or a headline—the outspoken, determined, teenaged Swedish climate change activist; this doc presents her as something more by recording her journey from lone striker sitting on
Read the review...The Water Man (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: David Oyelowo
Starring: Alfred Molina | Maria Bello | Rosario Dawson
Chris says: “Solid directorial debut for actor David Oyelowo, who also appears as the father of Gunner, a young aspiring graphic novelist. Along with Gunner’s mom (Rosario Dawson), they’ve just moved to a small town Oregon, where the title figure
Read the review...Spring Blossom (2021)
By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Suzanne Lindon
Starring: Arnaud Valois | Frédéric Pierrot | Suzanne Lindon
Chris says: “‘I’m bored with people my own age,’ notes Suzanne Lindon’s self-named teenaged protagonist; in her first feature, which she wrote, directed and starred in (at age *19*), you can see why. Gawky and plainspoken (resembling a young Charlotte
Read the review...Another Round (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Lars Ranthe | Mads Mikkelsen | Thomas Bo Larsen
Chris says: “Pleasantly buzzed while celebrating a birthday at a fancy restaurant, history teacher Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) and his three male colleagues decide to test an obscure theory as to whether one’s life is enhanced if a 0.05% alcohol level
Read the review...Fauna (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Nicolás Pereda
Starring: Francisco Barreiro | Gabino Rodríguez | Luisa Pardo
Chris says: “Strange little thing about a woman introducing her boyfriend to her family. It plays like a Mexican episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm directed by Roy Andersson: slow, deadpan, full of crossed wires and subtle digressions. I alternately laughed
Read the review...Bandar Band (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Manijeh Hekmat
Chris says: “Musical trio braves its way through a flood in a camper van in order to make it to a “Battle of the Bands” in Tehran where they believe fame and fortune will surely be theirs. The setting/situation makes
Read the review...Wildfire (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Cathy Brady
Starring: Kate Dickie | Martin McCann | Nora-Jane Noone
Chris says: “Kelly (Nika McGuigan) returns home to her Northern Ireland border town after running away the year before, to both the relief and consternation of her family, including her close sister Lauren (Nora-Jane Boone). What Kelly ran away from
Read the review...Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Clive Oppenheimer | Werner Herzog
Chris says: “Werner Herzog’s at it again and he’s brought back his co-director Clive Oppenheimer from INTO THE INFERNO along for the ride. The subject this time is meteorites, which takes the two across the globe, from Mecca to ultra-remote
Read the review...Concrete Cowboy (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ricky Staub
Starring: Caleb McLaughlin | Idris Elba | Lorraine Toussaint | Method Man
Chris says: “Urban western or sentimental coming-of-age tale? A bit of both, as a troubled teen sent to gritty North Philadelphia to spend the summer with the father he never met learns to love himself and find a purpose in
Read the review...MLK/FBI (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Sam Pollard
Chris says: “As much about the acronym after the slash as the one before it, this slick but stimulating doc tracks both the slain civil rights leader and the J. Edgar Hoover-led government agency throughout the 1960s. As King’s influence
Read the review...Summer of 85 (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Benjamin Voisin | Félix Lefebvre | Philippine Velge
Chris says: “Francois Ozon’s umpteenth feature is cinematic comfort food, a queer, coming-of-age period romance set in a beautifully shabby town off the Normandy coast. The twist (partially revealed at the start) and flashback structure distinguishes this from other like-minded
Read the review...76 Days (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Hao Wu | Weixi Chen
Chris says: “Verité doc clandestinely filmed inside an ICU unit in Wuhan, China during the 76-day lockdown earlier this year. Expectedly difficult to watch (especially the heightened panic of the early days) but also genuinely life-affirming. This is an invaluable
Read the review...New Order (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Michel Franco
Starring: Dario Yazbek Bernal | Patricia Bernal | Samantha Yazareth Anaya
Chris says: “After a flurry of brief, tantalizing, brutal images, NEW ORDER begins at a Mexico wedding attended by one-percenters; it’s best to go into the rest not knowing much more except that the first third is near-perfect in how
Read the review...Nomadland (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Chloé Zhao
Starring: David Straithairn | Frances McDormand | Gay DeForest | Linda May | Patricia Grier | Swankie
Chris says: “Already a lot of hype for this one and much of it is justified—if anything, it’s an advance on Chloe Zhao’s last film, THE RIDER, and not necessarily because she’s now working with an Oscar-winning actress (though McDormand
Read the review...Pieces of a Woman (2020)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Starring: Ellen Burstyn | Molly Parker | Shia LaBeouf | Vanessa Kirby
Chris says: “The first half-hour, which mostly consists of an extended tracking shot is not only an impressive technical feat but also an effective choice in what it depicts (a nerve-wracking home childbirth.) However, the remainder vindicates my mixed feelings
Read the review...Limbo (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Ben Sharrock
Starring: Amir El-Masry | Grace Chilton | Kwabena Ansah | Vikash Bhai
Chris says: “A group of Middle-Eastern and African men are stranded in a refugee camp off the coast of Scotland. Our protagonist, Omar, is a musician from Syria and carries his oud wherever he goes. The refugees spend their time
Read the review...Shiva Baby (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.7 cats
Director: Emma Seligman
Starring: Danny DeFerrari | Dianna Agron | Fred Melamed | Jackie Hoffman | Molly Gordon | Polly Draper | Rachel Sennott
Chris says: “Snappy cringe-com feature debut from filmmaker Emma Seligman with a near-perfect ensemble (esp. Fred Melamed and Polly Draper as the lead’s parents), along with a pressure-cooker environment and score both somewhat reminiscent of MOTHER! (thankfully, no one eats
Read the review...The Disciple (2021)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Chaitanya Tamhane
Starring: Aditya Modak | Arun Dravid | Sumitra Bhave
Chris says: “A deep dive into Raag (Indian classical music) via Sharad, a performer/enthusiast of the stuff whom we first see accompanying his guru in concert. Where this varies from most films of this stripe is that, as it unfolds
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