Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Lisa Dapolito
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “Gilda Radner may not have been the most original or technically accomplished comedienne, but she was unquestionably one of the most likable–as the cliche goes, she lit up whatever room she entered. Lisa D’Apolito’s sympathetic documentary gets this
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O’Dowd | Ethan Hawke | Kitty O’Beirne | Rose Byrne
Chris says: “This was my favorite Hornby novel since High Fidelity (he’s at his best writing about music), but as film adaptations go, it’s no HIGH FIDELITY. It doesn’t fall flat, exactly—how it could it with such ideal casting as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Pawel Pawilkowski
Starring: Adam Woronowicz | Agata Kulesza | Borys Szyc | Cédric Kahn | Jeanne Balibar | JoannaKulig | Tomasz Kot
Chris says: “Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow-up to IDA is cut from the same fine-polished glass: set in post-war Poland and shot in 1:33 black-and-white by cinematographer Łukasz Żal, it spans a fifteen-year period (leading up to roughly the time of the
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jaron Albertin
Starring: Alessandro Nivola | Eli Haley | Johnny Knoxville | Julianne Nicholson | K. Todd Freeman | Phoebe Young
Michael says: “WEIGHTLESS is notable to me for giving the handsome and talented Alessandro Nivola a challenging leading role as Joel, a troubled man working in a landfill in rural America. There’s reference to mental illness, and an occasional explosion
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Clea DuVall
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Clea DuVall | Cobie Smulders | Jason Ritter | Melanie Lynskey | Natasha Lyonne
Michael says: “THE INTERVENTION also has a summary that might give you pause.Ruby and Peter join three other couples on a holiday weekend at a beautiful family home in the bayou, but discover that their friend Annie has engineered the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jeremiah Zagar
Starring: Evan Rosado | Isaiah Kristian | Josiah Gabriel | Raúl Castillo | SheilaVand
Michael says: “As many of us are viewing films for nomination purposes, which is less than a month away, I’ d like to put in a plug for Jeremiah Zagar’s WE THE ANIMALS, now available on streaming on Amazon., and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Julien Faraut
Starring: documentary
Beth Ca says: “I saw this film at the Provincetown Film Festival this summer and loved it. It’s a spectacular film, especially with the editing and visual design (it is winning awards for editing, and other categories). The film uses
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.2 cats
Director: Marielle Heller
Starring: Anna Deveare Smith | Ben Falcone | Dolly Wells | Erik LaRay Harvey | Jane Curtin | Melissa McCarthy | Pun Bandhu | Richard E. Grant
Chris says: “It’s not so much that Melissa McCarthy is a revelation here as that she finally has a role that allows her to be more than just silly or weird (although she’s occasionally those things too.) The real-life story
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Christopher Landon
Starring: Blaine Kern III | Charles Aitken | Israel Broussard | JessicaRothe | Laura Clifton | Phi Vu | Ruby Modine
Thom says: “My friends all know I love horror films even though a high percentage of them are atrocious. This was supposed to be a one-off on my recent trip to New York but despite the GROUNDHOG DAY rip-off HAPPY
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Brady Corbet
Starring: Jude Law | Natalie Portman | Raffey Cassidy | Willem Dafoe
Brett says: “VOX LUX is a demolition derby of themes that keep colliding after the initial premise is introduced. Just when the viewer thinks that he/she has a finger on what this movie is, another head-on impact from writer/director Brady
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Barry Jenkins
Starring: Aujanue Ellis | Colman Domingo | Ebony Obsidian | KikiLayne | Michael Beach | Regina King | Stephan James | Teyonah Parris
Chris says: “Barry Jenkins’ follow-up to MOONLIGHT is nearly that film’s sequel in that it further showcases his considerably humane approach to character and story even as he adapts someone else’s text (in this case, a James Baldwin novel.) The
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jonah Hill
Starring: Catherine Waterston | Lucas Hedges | Sunny Suljic
Diane says: “The reason I went to see MID 90S, Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, was so I could admire Sunny Suljic’s hair again. (Sunny was the sweet little boy in KILLING OF A SACRED DEER.) Here Sunny plays Stevie, a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sophie Fiennes
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “Cutting back and forth between concert and cinema verité footage is initially somewhat jarring, particularly for those who know little about Jones’ life offstage (i.e., most viewers). Fortunately, the latter’s contrast with the former grows more compelling as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Tim Wardle
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “A stranger-than-fiction doc even *more* fun than but almost disturbing as CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS? No wonder it’s the feel-good-then-feel-bad indie hit of the summer. The first half hour or so is immensely entertaining; the increasingly wacko plot twists
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Ian Bonhôte | Peter Ettedgui
Starring: documentary
Beth CA says: “This film is interesting, and it’s worth watching because of the subject – and the video and photographic footage was excellent. However, when a film aims to document an artist’s life and work, the film ought to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Agnès Varda | JR
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “Given that 2008’s THE BEACHES OF AGNÈS was supposed to be Agnès Varda’s swan song, we’re just lucky at all to get one more film from the now 89-year-old Godmother of the French New Wave. And while this
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Cory Finley
Starring: Anton Yelchin | Anya Taylor-Joy | Olivia Cooke
Chris says: “Starts off a little boring and leaden, with two rich girls(Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy, both very good) in a passive-aggressive pas de deux. It achieves some focus once the what-to-do-about-the-creepy-stepfather problem is established—a narrative we’ve seen too
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Kate Novack
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “Fairly pedestrian for a profile documentary—more worthy of CNN than a theatrical release, really. But Andre Leon Talley’s personality is welcome in almost any setting. Just as he nearly stole the show from no less than Anna Wintour
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mazen Khaled
Starring: Carol Abboud | Hadi Bou Ayash | Hamza Mekdad | Moustafa Fahs | Raneem Mourad | Rashad Nasreddine
Michael says: “There’s some major symbolism going on in the Lebanese film,MARTYR by Mazen Khaled, possibly about the state of Beirut, where the film takes place, but the gorgeous shots of water, and actor Hamza Mekdad’s nude body lean more
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Hirokazu Korreda
Starring: Koji Yakusho | MasaharuFukuyama | Shinnosuke Mitsushima
Chris says: “A legal thriller from a director best known for his Ozu-worthy family dramas? It slots more neatly into his oeuvre than you’d expect, primarily because the mystery per se is steeped in familial relationships, only this time with
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