Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Michael Johnson
Starring: Danny DeVito | Evan Ross | Isabelle Fuhrman | Kodi Smit-McPhee | Virginia Madsen
Kyle says: “ALL THE WILDERNESS is another in a very very long line of films about a troubled teenager resisting the forces of socialization, having withdrawn into a world of his own making following the suicide of his father. The
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.9 cats
Director: Giovanni Zelko
Starring: Ben Youcef | Candice Coke | Harry Lennix | Josh Pence | Said Faraj | Tara Holt | Zuhair Hadad
Jason says: “It’s easy to see the kind of thriller that THE ALGERIAN’s makers want it to be, so plain on its face that the two or three actors that audiences recognize from more polished material can seem far out
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Chris Messina
Starring: Chris Messina | Derek Luke | Don Johnson | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Katie Nehra | Mary Elisabeth Winstead | Matthew Del Negro | Skylar Gaertner
Kyle says: “ALEX OF VENICE is a modest miniature about the emotional disruptions of marital break-up and the unexpected new details of daily life, a comedy of manners in which a comfortable lifestyle is a house of cards whose collapse
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Starring: Andrew Garfield | Laura Dern | Michael Shannon | Noah Lomax | Tim Guinee
Chris says: “It’s no surprise that it took so long for someone to dramatize the housing mortgage crisis that brought on the 2008 recession. Although many were impacted, it’s not the most interesting subject matter for a film, unless perhaps
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Yann Demange
Starring: Adam Nagaitis | Barry Keoghan | Jack Lowden | Jack O'Connell | Joshua Hill | Paul Popplewell
Kyle says: “Recipient of various international film festival awards as well as BAFTA nominations for Best British Film and Outstanding Debut, Yann Demange’s ’71 is a superlative U.K. political thriller about ‘the troubles’ in Belfast prior to Bloody Sunday in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Charlotte Rampling | David Sibley | Dolly Wells | Geraldine James | Sam Alexander | Tom Courtenay
Bruce says: “Haigh’s feature follow-up to the critically acclaimed WEEKEND (not counting the ill-fated TV series, LOOKING), demonstrates his artistic consistency. Charlotte Rampling is nothing short of sensational as a wife whose 45th wedding anniversary celebration is skewered by ghosts
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Benoît Jacquot
Starring: Benoît Poelvoorde | Catherine Deneuve | Charlotte Gainsbourg | Chiara Mastroianni
Kyle says: “Opening Night of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s series ‘20th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema’ was Benoît Jacquot’s 3 HEARTS in its U.S. Premiere. Those who like their French films about doomed affairs of the heart intense and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.9 cats
Director: Leste Chen Cheng-tao
Jason says: “When I said I’d be interested in seeing a remake of Korean comedy MISS GRANNY when I saw it at the Fantasia Festival last August, I didn’t realize that one was already shooting in China. It’s no shock
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Matt Chow
Jason says: “I see a fair number of movies from Hong Kong – just about every one that plays local theaters or the festivals I attend – but I’ve still somehow managed to miss almost the entire career of Sandra
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Bent Hamer
Bruce says: “Bent Hamer specializes in stories about those who don’t fit into society in any conventional sense. He first came under my radar with KITCHEN STORIES; then followed O’HORTEN and HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. 1001 GRAMS is a slight departure
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Carlos Marques-Marquet
Starring: David Verdaguer | Natalia Tena
Kyle says: “10,000 KM is a film I do not want to belittle with faint praise, especially since there are so few titles out there worth seeing at all. So I apologize in advance if I write that this is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Masaharu Take
Jason says: “Sakura Ando wears some baggy clothes toward the start of 100 YEN LOVE, because she’s actually fairly attractive but this is a character who needs to burn off her frustrating slacker exterior, and that’s how it’s going to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jordan Rubin
Starring: Chad Anderson | Cortney Palm | Hutch Dano | Jake Weary | Lexi Atkins | Peter Gilroy | Rachel Melvin
Jason says: “ZOMBEAVERS gives the audience what they want from a movie with that title, pretty much the way they want it, and that way involves puppets. Puppets and blood. “Director Jordan Rubin and co-writers Al & Jon Kaplan are
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.4
Director: Terry Gilliam
Jason says: “I wonder if writer Pat Rushin ever thought something along the lines of ‘this script is so screwed if we don’t get Terry Gilliam’ when writing THE ZERO THEOREM. There are other directors who would dive into the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Tom Shoval
Starring: David Cunio | Eitan Cunio | Gita Amely | Moshe Ivgy | Shirli Deshe
Kyle says: “YOUTH is the feature film debut of writer and director Tom Shoval. The fact of its co-production between Israel and Germany is attention grabbing. The title is a statement of age and experience, as well as a reference
Read the review...Yasmine (Brunei Darussalam; 105 min.) directed by: Chan Man Ching and Siti Kamaluddin starring: Liyana Yus; Resa Rahadian; Aryl Falak; Mentari De Marelle; Roy Sungkono; Nadiah Wahid; Agus Kunc Jason says: “A lot of what audiences see in YASMINE will
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Jason says: “RUBBER was surreal. WRONG was bizarre. Spinoff WRONG COPS is peculiar. At this rate, Quentin Dupieux is only a few films away from doing something eccentric but basically sensible. Fortunately, he’s not there yet, and the plentiful gags he
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Ai Hashimoto | Asuka Kurosawa | Fumi Nikaido | Koji Yakusho | Nana Komatsu | Satoshi Tsumabuki
Jason says: “The latest from Tetsuya Nakashima is not quite so sublime as his mid-aughts peak (KAMIKAZE GIRLS and MEMORIES OF MATSUKO is a heck of a one-two punch), and it kind of stretches out too long, padded by some
Read the review...Women Who Flirt (China; 97 min.) directed by: Pang Ho-cheung starring: Huang Xiaoming; Zhou Xun; Sonia Sui Ta; Xie Yilin Jason says: “WOMEN WHO FLIRT (or, to use its full Chinese name, ‘Women Who Know How to Flirt Are the
Read the review...Wolf Children (Japan; 117 min.) directed by: Mamoru Hosada starring: Aoi Miyazaki Takao Ohsawa; Amon Kabe; Haru Kuroki; Yukito Nishii Jason says: “While there are many reasons to be concerned about the health of animation as a medium in Japan,
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