Teaching audiences to view films actively
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,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Jason says: “When Hayao Miyazaki discussed his work on the film that eventually became THE WIND RISES soon after the Fukushima disaster, he spoke of how his next film would be upsetting as a reaction to that. Now, that film
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Gaby Hoffman | Keene McRae | Laura Dern | Michiel Huisman | Reese Witherspoon | Thomas Sadoski
Thom says: “I’d noticed the Cheryl Strayed account of her 1,100 mile solo hike on the Pacific Coast Trail in 1995 atop or near the top of national Best Seller lists (It’s still #4 on the New York Times Paperback
Read the review...Wild Canaries (USA; 102 min.) directed by: Lawrence Michael Levinestarring: Sophia Takai; Lawrence Michael Levine; Alia Shawkat; Jason Ritter; Annie Parisse; Kevin Corrigan Jason says: “WILD CANARIES is not quite THE THIN MAN, but it’s better at that sort of
Read the review...Wicker Kittens (USA; 52 min.) directed by: Amy C. Elliottdocumentary Jason says: “On my coffee table, underneath the piles of other stuff that has been dropped there over the course of the last couple of years, is a half-completed jigsaw
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Sion Sono
Jason says: “So it’s come to this: The festival program describes Sion Sono’s latest as an ode to 35mm cinema, and while ‘ode’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘requiem’, it’s often not far off. Fortunately, even if this is a eulogy for
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Benny Chan
Jason says: “Sometimes, it’s not enough for someone to be shot in the chest. They have to fall off a cliff, and there have to be alligators in the river below. That is the attitude Benny Chan brings to THE
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Gregg Araki
Starring: Angela Bassett | Ava Acres | Christopher Meloni | Dale Dickey | Eva Green | Shailene Woodley | Sheryl Lee | Shiloh Fernandez | Thomas Jane
Jason says: “I saw WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD referred to as a coming of age movie, and I don’t necessarily think that designation fits. Not every drama where the characters haven’t graduated from high school yet needs that label;
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Damien Chazelle
Jason says: “So far, three of the four films that Damien Chazelle has written and/or directed have been about musicians, and for all I know, his script for THE LAST EXORCISM II had one in a prominent supporting role. In
Read the review...The Search for Weng Weng (Australia; 92 min.) directed by: Andrew Leavoldstarring: Tikoy Aguiluz; Roy Arabejo; Tilman Baumgaertel; Don Gordon Bell; Celso Ad. Castillo; Beth Chai Jason says: “Going in, I half-thought that I had seen THE SEARCH FOR WENG
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Shira Piven
Chris says: “Welcome to The Kristen Wiig Show—what other famous comedic actress could you possibly cast as Alice Klieg, a woman diagnosed with borderline personality disorder who wins the lottery and spends all her earnings funding her very own Oprah-esque
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Roger Michell
Jason says: “Vicarious travel is one of the more underrated joys of going to the movies even if it can’t carry a film itself, and LE WEEK-END uses it well: It could have just been another nicely-acted argument that runs
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