Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Abhimanyu Dasani | Prateek Parmar | Radhika Madan | Satyajit Ganu
Brett says: “Perhaps a somewhat controversial statement against a film that many will love, the fact that it’s such an easy film to like is exactly what turns me off from it. I have yet to understand how formulaic Bollywood
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Carol Morley
Starring: Aaron Tveit | Jacki Weaver | James Caan | Mamie Gummer | Patricia Clarkson | Toby Jones
Brett says: “When viewing OUT OF BLUE, it’s difficult to believe one is not seeing the film on a low-rate cable channel instead of the big screen. I expected big things out of Patricia Clarkson as a detective unraveling a
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Aidan Gillen | Allen Leach | Ben Hardy | Gwilym Lee | Joseph Mazzello | Lucy Boynton | Mike Myers | Rami Malek | Tom Hollander
Thom says: “Here’s the over-produced, super-hyped, hugely successful biopic of Queen, but more importantly Freddie Mercury as ostensibly, there would be no Queen sans Freddie, although, truth to tell, I might wait t o see how well the revitalized Queen
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Isold Uggadottir
Starring: Babetida Sadjo | Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir | Patrik Nökkvi Pétursson
Michael says: “In a moment of rare alignment, my favorite film at the Provincetown Film Festival also won the Audience Choice Award. I truly hope this film gets a domestic release, because it is really well done. This Icelandic film
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Bing Liu
Chris says: “Man, this movie… it just *wrecked* me, even though it’s not necessarily a tragedy (while still covering a lot of sensitive stuff). It captures both the euphoria and turmoil (and every emotion in between) of everyday life via
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Augustine Frizzell
Starring: Atheena Frizzell | Camila Morrone | Joel Allen | Kendal Smith | Kyle Mooney | Maia Mitchell | Matthew Holcomb
Chris says: “Less the Gen-Z GHOST WORLD it wants to be than a distaff, sillier, low-budget SUPERBAD. Upped half a notch for inspired use of a certain Michael Bolton song. Camila Morrone, however, is nearly as good as a young
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jean-Pierre | Luc Dardenne
Starring: Adele Haenel | Fabrizione Rongione | Jérémie Renier | Marc Zinga | Olivier Bonnaud | Olivier Gourmet
Thom says: “This Dardenne project was nominated for a Buried Treasure Award for Chlotrudis and I approached this with my usual cautiously optimistic view. These Belgian brothers have been highly lauded throughout their careers with numerous international world-class festival awards,
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Andrew Bujalski
Starring: Ann LeuVoy | Dylan Gelula | Elizabeth Trieu | Haley Lu Richardson | Krista Hayes | Regina Hall | Zoe Graham
Chris says “Building on the underrated RESULTS, Andrew Bujalski’s sixth feature might be his most satisfying one to date. Using a Hooter’s-like restaurant called Double Whammie’s as its unlikely setting, he portrays what amounts to a makeshift workplace family that
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sandi Tan
Chris says: “As a 19-year-old student in her native Singapore, Sandi Tan wrote and starred in an independent feature film she made with her friends and her much older male mentor, but it was never finished, as said mentor absconded
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Brady Jandreau | Cat Cliffortd | Leroy Pourier | Lily Jandreau | Mooney | Tim Jandreau
Chris says: “At a time when filmmaking is more accessible than ever, it’s heartening to still see real talent emerge. Chloe Zhao has such a firm handle on what she’s trying to depict and express in this film about Native
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Director: Etienne Comar
Starring: Bea Palya | Bimbam Merstein | Cécile de France | Gabriel Mireté | Johnny Montreuil | Reda Kateb
Julie says: “I really liked this one! Great acting, pd,cin,use of music,story…..very well done and very interesting. I had no ideaa about the life and struggles of this famous musician. “One interesting side note is that when I was in
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Chris Metzler | Jeff Springer | Quinn Costello
Chris says: “Further proof that one can make a movie about *anything*–in this case, twenty-plus pound swamp rats (technical name: nutria) infesting coastal Louisiana and beyond. Fun, educational (Wendell Pierce should narrate everything) and not for the squeamish. 3 cats“
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Bo Burnham
Starring: Daniel Zolghadri | Elsie Fisher | Emily Robinson | Fred Hechinger | Imani Lewis | Jake Ryan | Josh Hamilton | Luke Prael | Missy Yager | Thomas John O'Reilly
Chris says: “I can’t overstate how terrific Elsie Fisher is as Kayla, an awkward, average fourteen-year-old who’s quirky enough to stand apart from any other similarly-aged protagonist you’ve seen before and also recognizable to an almost painfully universal degree. Delectably
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: David Moorst | Maxine Peake | Pearce Quigley | Rachel Finnegan | Rory Kinnear | Simona Bitmate | Tom Meredith
Thom says: “This film appears to have been critically overlooked by almost everyone. Mike Leigh has to be considered one of the greatest directors currently working and his huge number of top-rated gems with me rings in at 13, including
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Amanda Seyfried | Bill Hoag | Cedric the Entertainer | Ethan Hawke | Michael Gaston | Philip Ettinger | Victoria Hill
Chris says: “I believe any work of art has the potential to be both ridiculous and sublime, however rarely one achieves such a tricky balance is. To its credit, FIRST REFORMED is often firmly the latter—the austere opening credits sequence with
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats | 4 cats
Director: Nadine Labaki
Starring: Boluwatife Treasure Bankole | Fadi Kamel Youssef | Kawthar Al Haddad | Yordanos Shiferaw | Zain Al Rafeea
Chris says: “If anything, Nadine Labaki has a talent for coaching great performances from child actors: Zain Al Rafeea, the 12-ish-year-old lead is exceptional for his age, but one-year-old Boluwatife Treasure Bankole nearly goddamn steals the show from him. Loses
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Todd Douglas Miller
Chris says: “Not to diminish all the great moon-landing footage, what stuck with me most here was the first half-hour: a fascinating time capsule of what this country and its people looked like fifty years ago, restored to appear as
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Danny Clinch | T.G. Herrington
Chris says: “Ephemeral but heartfelt and engaging, particularly whenever it shows the dialogue occurring organically between the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Cuban musicians (it spends a little too much time telling us about it.)”
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Zhangke Jia
Starring: Fan Liao | Feng Xiaogang | Tao Zhao | Xu Zheng | Zhang Yibai
Chris says: “Jia Zhangke’s last film, MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART is my favorite of his assessments of how much China has evolved in his lifetime; although this repeats many of that film’s tropes (plus sneaks in a callback to STILL LIFE,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Matt Spicer
Starring: Aubrey Plaza | Billy Magnussen | Elizabeth Olsen | O'Shea Jackson Jr. | Wyatt Russell
Thom says: “One of my favorite things about seeing films is when I cash in on someones recommendation and the film blows me away. Such was the case from Chlotrudis reporters for their strong reviews of this sharp indie winner.
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