Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Adrian Garcia Bogliano
Jason says: “A nifty thing about SCHERZO DIABOLICO: It feels like a black comedy for much of its running time, but you’ll likely struggle to remember any actual jokes afterward. The comedy is almost entirely from the discomfort and absurdity
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Ding Sheng
Jason says: “It’s often said, by those longing for a past golden age, that the movies were better decades ago when filmmakers had to deal with restrictions, whether imposed by the industry or communities – from pressure, the argument goes,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Eugène Green
Starring: Arianna Nastro | Christelle Prot Landman | Fabrizio Rongione | Ludovico Succio
Kyle says: “LA SAPIENZA opens with an exquisite Italian lake shot accompanied by Claudio Monteverdi’s six-part ‘Magnificat’ from 1610, transitioning into an Italian Baroque vista and a contemplation of architectural, sculptural, and painting details. We are watching the main titles,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Keishi Otomi
Jason says: “RUROUNI KENSHIN: KYOTO INFERNO and RUROUNI KENSHIN: THE LEGEND ENDS were released within a month and a half of each other in Japan, emphasizing how they function more as a two-part sequel to 2012’s first film than as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Jungyi Ceng
Jason says: “This thing was the highest-grossing movie in the world last weekend, and I’m hoping like heck that China turning out for it in large numbers doesn’t give Hollywood any ideas. It’s vaguely worrisome enough that this sort of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Lee Won-suk
Jason says: “I’ve been looking to make a ‘costume drama’ joke about this film ever since I first heard of it, but it initially didn’t quite seem appropriate – for the first half or so, this is mainly a very
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Brie Larson | Jacob Tremblay | Joan Allen | Rom McCanus | Sean Bridgers | Wendy Crewson | William H. Macy
Diane says: “Hey, fans of the book–you won’t be disappointed. I’ll be giving ROOM noms for Best Adapted Screenplay (happily, by the book’s author and Best Actress. This movie was as emotionally intense as any I’ve seen. As THE ROAD
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Lee Ka-wing
Jason says: “ROBBERY is one of several movies in the festival that I didn’t expect to be nearly as funny as it wound up being, and unlike HE NEVER DIED, this is full-out anything goes material, going for the big
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Gren Wells
Kyle says: “The first line of dialogue in THE ROAD WITHIN takes place during a funeral service, as a young man with Tourette’s Syndrome shouts out at the presiding priest, ‘Shut up, fucking pedophile!’ After a few more wildly inappropriate
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 0 cats
Director: Helen Hunt
Kyle says: “35 minutes into the seemingly interminable running time of the twaddle titled RIDE, which accurately describes what anyone who sits through this is being taken for, I had exhausted the wait for one single believable moment, curiosity about
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: Fouad Mikati
Kyle says: “If you’ve been longing for a movie about rape and revenge, this one is for you. I extend my apologies for allowing my impatience with films like this to repeating IMDB ‘Plot Keywords’ instead of venting purple prose
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Starring: Alain Chabat | Elodie Bouchez | John Glover | Jon Hader | Jonathan Lambert | Kyla Kenedy
Jason says: “A sad thing about how peculiar movies like those made by Quentin Dupieux are likely to be more readily available to a larger audience via the various on-demand services is that I’m certain that, at some point while
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Kevin Derek
Jason says: “There have always been a fair number of documentaries like THE REAL MIYAGI, but I wonder if there are a lot more in the future. Equipment to shoot/record fairly well in 2K is readily available, if not quite
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Alex Ross Perry
Kyle says: “QUEEN OF EARTH opens with a closeup of the tear-stained face and disheveled hair of Catherine (Elisabeth Moss) sobbing bitterly while asking, ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ The ‘you’ is boyfriend James (Kentucker Audley), and we
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Taisuke Kawamura
Jason says: “Though the audience for comic books in America – and symbiotically, comic-book movies – has been growing broader in the past few years, the variety of material has lagged a bit, and we’ll probably never catch up to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: Christopher Denham
Starring: Aaron Staton | Cody Saintgnue | Michael Chacon | Nick Saso | Pablo Schreiber | Wrenn Schmidt
Kyle says: “I pulled up the IMDB listing before watching PRESERVATION. As soon as I read the Plot Keywords (singing in a car, hunting trip, hairy chest, self surgery, hiding in a sewer pipe — there are actually 126), and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Samuel Ortí Martí
Jason says: “There are some spoofs that cast such a broad net for their targets that they maybe slip out of the category of parody altogether, and then there are things like POSSESSED which is clearly one-third THE EXORCIST, one-third
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Philip Yung Chi-kwong
Jason says: “PORT OF CALL looks like it’s going to be a police procedural, and certainly acts like one during the early going. But then the answer to ‘who killed Wang Jiamei?’ presents itself, and Aaron Kwok’s Inspector Chong keeps
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Yûichi Satô
Jason says: “I’m not sure when INSIDE OUT opened in Japan, but I do wonder how many folks there saw it as less incredibly creative and insightful compared to their American counterparts, considering that the Poison Berry in My Brain
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Shoojit Shircar
Jason says: “Even if you’re not a real fan of Indian film but just sort of generally aware of it (and maybe not even that), the cast of PIKU should make you take note: Amitabh Bachchan is an institution who
Read the review...