Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Tom Volf
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “As an opera singer, Maria Callas had an undeniably great voice, but in her time she was also unmatched as to how she embodied her roles onstage (and offstage as well.) Tom Volf’s documentary is a lovingly assembled
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Antonio Santini | Don Sickles
Starring: documentary
Diane says: “Caught this Sundance winner doc at a small theater today. The central figure is a friend of director Dan Sickles’ (co-director is Antonio Santini; their first was MALA MALA). We land in the middle of the lives of
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Carolyn Saint-Pé | Emma Stone | James Smith | Mark Gatiss | Nicholas Hoult | Olivia Colman | Rachel Weisz | William Dalby
Thom says: “In nine short years Greek director Lanthimos has vaulted to my TOP 10 Living Directors. I’ve been unable to find his first two features MY BEST FRIEND and KINETTA, but his five films that followed have all received
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Ian Bonhôte | Peter Ettedgui
Starring: documentary
Julie says: “This was a very well done doc. I recommend it. I think it painted a very clear, honest, intriguing and endearing portrait of Susanne Bartsch’s life and those around her as well as the important times in which
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Josephine Decker
Starring: Helena Howard | Miranda July | Molly Parker
Chris says: “An admittedly frustrating but always fascinating puzzle box of a film. On the surface, it appears to be about teenager Madeline (Helena Howard), her antagonistic relationship with her single mother (Miranda July) and her after-school participation in an
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring: Kirin Kiki | Lily Franky | Mayu Matsuoka | Sakura Andô
Chris says: “Naming a favorite film by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda is like doing the same for his closest progenitor, Yasujiro Ozu–nearly impossible, given their tendencies to revisit and refine themes of domesticity and humanism while maintaining a higher-than-average consistency.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Starring: Aleksey Rozin | Maryana Spivak | Matvey Novikov
Chris says: “Not as sharp a political allegory as LEVIATHAN, nor does it possess that film’s necessary gallows humor (which might’ve been out of place here, anyway.) However, Andrey Zvyagintsev (whose greatest film remains his first, THE RETURN remains a
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Armando Iannucci
Starring: Jeffrey Tambor | Michael Palin | Paddy Considine | Simon Russell Beale | Steve Buscemi
Chris says: “Excessively funny and appropriately dark, from the ‘musical emergency’ opening to the slapstick moving-of-the-body to a deliriously profane argument playing out in front of a small child. I may need a second viewing to determine whether this is
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Matt Tyrnauer
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “Never a movie star but definitely a character, Scotty Bowers’ life was inadvertently custom-built for a documentary. He ran a brothel inside a Hollywood Blvd. gas station in the years following World WarII, one that infamously catered to
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Debra Granik
Starring: Ben Foster | Jeffery Rifflard | Thomasin McKenzie
Chris says: “Although far less prolific, I’d like to think of Debra Granik as the American Mike Leigh for her depiction (consideration, even) of the working-class without condescending to them. Not as seminal or all-out engrossing as WINTER’SBONE, but teenager
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hong Sang-soo
Starring: Cho Yunhee | Kim Min-hee | Kim Sae-byeok | Kwon Hae-hyo
Michael says: “THE DAY AFTER is a Koren film from prolific director Hong Sang-Soo. This film that starts with our lead, Bongwan (Kwon Hae-hyo),a respected literary critic who runs his own publishing house, being accused by his wife (Cho Yun-hee)
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen
Starring: Clancy Brown | Danny McCarthy | David Krumholtz | James Franco | Tim Blake Nelson | Willie Watson
Chris says: “Pretty consistent for what amounts to six separate stories only related by genre (in this case, the Western); also solid for a Coen Brothers film, given how scattershot the last one was. Not as fully realized as NO
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Carlose Peralta | Daniela Demes | Diego Cortina Autrey | Marco Graf | Marina de Tavira | Yalitza Aparicio
Brett says: “Jaw-dropping cinematography perfectly fits a form-follows-function approach in which the audience eavesdrops and hovers around the tale, which is a sort of ominous love letter or thank-you note to the voiceless. Clearly a personal film for director Alfonso
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Dana Adam Shapiro
Starring: documentary
Julie says: “This was pretty interesting. The woman running the show Suzanne Mitchell reminds me of my Mom’s best friend back in Texas re some of her mannerisms in her old age. She’s a character for sure. They go back
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Amy Seimetz | Charlie Plummer | Chloe Sevigny | Steve Buscemi | Travis Fimmel
Chris says: “Expanding his palette beyond the more contained worlds of 45 YEARS and WEEKEND, English director Andrew Haigh adapts a Willy Vlautin novel for his first American feature. The protagonist, transient 16-year-old Charlie (Charlie Plummer) unexpectedly finds solace when he
Read the review...At Eternity’s Gate (Switzerland/UK/France/USA; 110min.) directed by:Julian Schnabelcast: WillemDafoe; Rupert Friend; Oscar Isaac; Mads Mikkelsen; Mathieu Amalric;Emmanuelle Seignier Chrissays: “In theory, Willem Dafoe seems a misguided choice to play VanGogh, given the age difference, lack of resemblance, etc. Happily, hemakes
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ruben Östlund
Starring: Claes Bang | Dominic West | Elizabeth Moss | Terry Notary
Chris says: “The title refers to a highly-touted conceptual piece on display at a Stockholm Art Museum, but as we know, a square is not always just an object. Could it actually refer to a person, like curator Christian (Claes
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Bruno Ganz | CherryJones | Cillian Murphy | Emily Moritmer | Kristin Scott Thomas | Patricia Clarkson | Timothy Spall
Thom says: “This little seen independent feature is short, sweet, with a shocking ending that can do nothing but please. Of special note here is that this indie stars five must-see actors: Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Emily Mortimer, Kristin Scott
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: David Zellener | Nathan Zellner
Starring: David Zellner | Mia Wasikowska | Nathan Zellner | Robert Pattinson
Chris says: “The Zellner Brothers’ previous film, KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER, may end up on my top ten list for the decade, so this is a slight comedown. The less one knows going into it, the better, so I’ll just
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Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring: Cai Cohrs | Ina Weisse | OliverMasucci | Paula Beer | Saskia Rosendahl | Sebastian Koch | Tom Schilling
Brett says: “Featuring a somewhat melodramatic style, this film from Germany showcases a touching story of art as it progresses through the decades of developing fascism before and during World War II all the way through east German socialism. As
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