Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Emmanuelle Bercot
Starring: Camille | Catherine Deneuve | Claude Gensac | Gérard Garouste | Nemo Schiffman
Jason says: “At one point in ON MY WAY, Catherine Deneuve’s Bettie looks at the kid singing some English-language song in the passenger seat, then at the freeway outside the window, and grumbles that she feels like she’s in America.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Starring: Adam Bakri | Iyad Hooran | Leem Labany | Samer Bisherat | Waleed Zuaiter
Jason says: “OMAR starts with its title character scaling a wall to travel between two Palestinian areas of Jerusalem, and while I don’t know the exact rationale for that arrangement, a spy movie can do a heck of a lot
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Kyle says: “OF HORSES AND MEN marks an impressive feature film debut by Icelandic stage director Benedikt Erlingsson, as well as film debuts by many of his theater actor colleagues. Beautifully conceived and observed, with the exquisite but forbidding landscapes
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Starring: David Cross | Gabe Liedman | Gaby Hoffmann | Jake Lacy | Jenny Slate | Polly Draper | Richard Kind
Kyle says: “OBVIOUS CHILD is the title of a song by the great Paul Simon, with its pointed lyric ‘Why deny the obvious child?’ Why indeed? Donna (Jenny Slate) is a rising standup comic whose specialty is talking dirty and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg | Christian Slater | Jamie Bell | Jean-Marc Barr | Mia Goth | Shia LaBeouf | Sophie Kennedy Clark | Stacy Martin | Stellan Skarsgård | Udo Kier | Uma Thurman | Willem Dafoe
Kyle says: “NYMPHOMANIAC Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 are recent works by the most provocative director on the current international cinema scene. Lars von Trier has been thrice recognized by Chlotrudis with nominations for Original Screenplay for DOGVILLE (2003), and for
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jay Craven
Starring: Bruce Dern | Geneviève Bujold | Jacqueline Hennessey | Jessica Hecht | Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick
Jason says: “Having lived in New England my entire life, I’m mildly curious as to whether Jay Craven’s ‘Northern Kingdom’ films were ever particularly visible outside the region. They’re local and low budget, but fairly well made, and usually have
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Lee Jeong-beom
Starring: Alexander Wraith | Brian Tee | Dana Lee | Jang Dong-gun | Kim Joon-sung | Kim Min-hee
Jason says: “Lee Jeong-beom’s last film as director was THE MAN FROM NOWHERE, an action thriller spectacular enough that I’ve spotted people who usually don’t like their movies with subtitles telling other folks that they’ve got to see it. Lee
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Dakota Fanning | Jesse Eisenberg | Katherine Waterston | Peter Sarsgaard
Chris says: “One phrase my professors repeated throughout film school was ‘show, don’t tell.’ Seems like a pretty obvious tenet until you consider how many filmmakers do exactly the opposite, from Hollywood hacks to indie auteurs. Watching this film, I
Read the review...Next Goal Wins (UK; 97 min.) directed by: Mike Brett and Steve Jamison documentary Jason says: “NEXT GOAL WINS is an inspirational sports story that follows a familiar enough template that if it were fictional, we might be tempted to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kung-Lok Lee
Jason says: “I wonder how many of the critics who regularly make sure to include something along the lines of ‘don’t pay the extra for 3D, there’s nothing that merits it’ for seemingly every movie released in the format will
Read the review...Big Muddy (Canada; 104 min.) directed by: Jefferson Moneostarring: Nadia Litz; Justin Kelly; Stephen McHattie; James Le Gros; David La Haye Chris says: “Saskatchewan neo-noir? Well, if Joel and Ethan Coen can turn Minnesota into a convincing genre locale, why
Read the review...Mr. Go (South Korea/China; 123 min.) directed by: Kim Yong-hwa starring: Jiao Xu; Kim Hee-won; Sung Dong-il; Joe Odagiri Jason says: “I’m not going to sugar coat this – MR. GO is not the best possible movie that could be
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Dorothy Atkinson | Karl Johnson | Marion Bailey | Paul Jesson | Timothy Spall
Jason says: “This is Mike Leigh’s third historical biography, which is somewhat surprising considering what a loosely outlined style he is famous for using – improvisation and recreation do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. And yet, somehow, this winds up an
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Talya Lavie
Jason says: “Having a crappy job or two is often a rite of passage for folks in their late teens and early twenties, and if you live in a country like Israel with mandatory military service, having that turn out
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Anton Corbijn
Jason says: “I must admit to bring a little surprised that John le Carré is still with us and writing contemporary works; I had sort of aimed he faded away with the end of the Cold War. This, it turns
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: Aissa Maiga | Audrey Tautou | Charlotte Le Bon | Gad Elmaleh | Omar Sy | Romain Duris
Chris says: “Michel Gondry’s most ambitious film to date, MOOD INDIGO alternately plays like one of the director’s early, playfully innovative music videos stretched to feature-length, or ETERNAL SUNSHINE without brakes, or AMELIE on crack. An adaptation of a beloved
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Hideo Nakata
Starring: Motoki Ochiai | Satomi Ishihara | Takayuki Yamada | Tatsuya Fujiwara
Jason says: “2011’s HAUNTERS was an excellent Korean movie that established a simple premise – two people with opposite superpowers (mind control and rapid healing) on a collision course – and delivered with entertaining action pieces, a likable cast of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Xavier Dolan
Starring: Alexandre Goyette | Anne Dorval | Antoine-Olivier Pilon | Patrick Huard | Suzanne Clément
Chris says: “Those familiar with Quebecois wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s small, extraordinary oeuvre may notice the title and remember that his first feature was called I KILLED MY MOTHER. This, his fifth, is not a sequel, but it occasionally scans as
Read the review...The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (Japan; 130 min.) directed by: Takashi Miikestarring: Toma Ikuta; Mitsuru Fukikoshi; Kenichi Endo; Shinichi Tsutsumi; Riisa Naka Jason says: “A few weeks ago, someone recommended a comedy to me by saying ‘it’s great –
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Rithy Panh
Jason says: “I passed on seeing THE MISSING PICTURE one night this week, overstating in my head how tight a squeeze it would be to get to the theater on time because I wasn’t in the mood for it that
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