Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Christian Gregori | Héloïse Godet | Jessica Erickson | Kamel Abdeli | Richard Chevallier | Zoé Bruneau
Jason says: “My second impulse where Jean-Luc Godard’s GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE is concerned is to write nothing at all about it. That’s in large part because my first is to cry that the emperor has no clothes, but I think
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Ann Hui
Starring: Ding Jiali | Feng Shaofeng | Hao Lei | Huang Xuan | Tang Wei | Wang Zhiwen | Zhu Yawen
Jason says: “Most of the descriptions of Xiao Hong biography THE GOLDEN ERA spend some time talking about what made her remarkable as a writer, and the film does give those of us not terribly familiar with 1930s Chinese literature
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: John Slattery
Starring: Caleb Landry Jones | Christina Hendricks | Eddie Marsan | John Turturro | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Richard Jenkins
Jason says: “There are moments, especially toward the end of GOD’S POCKET, when I wonder if John Slattery has made a Trojan Horse of a movie, giving an audience expecting an honest-but-affectionate story about earthy folks in a tough neighborhood
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stuart Murdoch
Starring: Emily Browning | Hannah Murray | Olly Alexander | Pierre Boulanger
Jason says: “GOD HELP THE GIRL is hardly the first time someone has taken a set of songs with an existing strong narrative and made a movie out of them, and as such not the first to demonstrate that slavish
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Starring: Arash Marandi | Dominic Rains | Marshall Manesh | Mozhan Marnò | Rome Shadanloo | Sheila Vand
Kyle says: “Every year in late March, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art co-produce a festival called New Directors/New Films. Screenings take place at the FSLC’s Walter Reade Theater, and at MoMA’s Ray and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jeremy Leven
Starring: Louise Monot | Nora Tschirner | Paddy Considine | Stephane Debac | Vincenzo Amato
Kyle says: “I would love to recommend GIRL ON A BICYCLE to fans of quirky European-flavored romantic comedies, but my heart would not be in it. This kind of cute is killing to my soul. “Paolo (Vincenzo Amato) is a
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Mizuho Nishikubo
Starring: Junya Taniai | Kota Yokoyama | Masachika Ichimura | Saburo Kitajima | Yukie Nakama
Jason says: “There’s a whiff of nostalgia to the start of GIOVANNI’S ISLAND, although it’s more for childhood in general than the yearning for simpler, presumably better times that can often infect Japanese cinema, but that passes. Indeed, it’s hard
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Ron Krauss
Starring: Ann Down | Brendan Fraser | James Earl Jones | Rosario Dawson | Stephanie Szoatak | Vanessa Hudgens
Jason says: “There was applause in the theater at the end of GIMME SHELTER and even if I don’t think it’s a particularly impressive movie, I don’t begrudge anybody that reaction. Who doesn’t want to applaud a shelter that helps
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Tate Taylor
Starring: Chadwick Boseman | Craig Robinson | Dan Aykroyd | Jill Scott | Lennie James | Nelsan Ellis | Viola Davis
Thom says: “Strangely, I can maybe blame my age for taking so long to see this gem of a bio-pic. While I have oodles of quibbles about the film the overall effect it left on me was empowering and greatly
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Phillip Kadelbach
Starring: Katharina Schüttler | Ludwig Trepte | Miriam Stein | Tom Schilling | Volker Bruch
Kyle says: “GENERATION WAR is a three-part German television series which is being shown as two movies in the U.S. before complete showings on cable television. Its origin as an attempt to continue the national discussion about German complicity and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: Darren Stein
Starring: Andrea Bowen | Michael J. Willett | Molly Tarlov | Paul Iacono | Sasha Pieterse | Xosha Roquemore
Kyle says: “G.B.F. for fossils like me stands for Gay Best Friend. If nothing else, this programmer establishes clearly that independent cinema can be every bit as stupid and regressive as big budget corporate Hollywood endeavors. Unless you regard as
Read the review...Do I Sound Gay? (USA; 77 min.) directed by: David Thorpedocumentary Chris says: “Increasingly asking the titular question following a breakup with his boyfriend, first-time filmmaker David Thorpe examines the origins and aesthetics of the ‘gay voice’: the effeminate, theatrical
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Yosuke Fujita
Jason says: “Huh. I missed something about this movie when reading the program description, although on a certain level it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that this is a big-hearted, charming movie that pays off in some unexpected
Read the review...From Vegas to Macau (Hong Kong/China; 93 min.) directed by: Wong Jingstarring: Chow Yun-fat; Nicolas Tse; Hui Shiu-hung; Chapman To; Jing Tian; Gao Hu Jason says: “It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of the original GOD OF GAMBLERS
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Carla Azar | Domhnall Gleeson | François Civil | Maggie Gyllenhaal | Michael Fassbender | Scoot McNairy
Jason says: “Not being a drinker, I’m probably appropriating a terrible metaphor here, but this movie strikes me as being like a certain kind of binge: You start out down, but soon the alcohol gets you and everything is crazy
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.9
Director: Bennet Miller
Starring: Channing Tatum | Mark Ruffalo | Sienna Miller | Steve Carell | Vanessa Redgrave
Jason says: “A quick bit of research suggests that FOXCATCHER, aside from seeming to compact its events into a shorter period of time, only hints at some of the more obviously bizarre parts of the story. In doing so, one
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Ian Gabriel
Starring: Abduragman Adams | Brendon Daniels | Jerry Mofokeng | Jezzriel Skei | Lindiwe Matshikiza
Jason says: “I must admit to not having a particular affinity for movies about gangs, and I kind of worry that being drawn to this one because it is set in South Africa rather than an American city doesn’t speak
Read the review...Fort Tilden (USA; 95 min.) directed by: Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogersstarring: Bridey Elliot; Clare McNulty; Jeffrey Scaperotta; Griffin Newman Jason says: “Comedy’s a delicate thing. The intent of FORT TILDEN is probably that the audience kind of likes its
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Andrew Mudge
Jason says: “Anybody who has ever owned a globe or a world map has probably found himself or herself curious about Lesotho; the small landlocked kingdom in the middle of South Africa is one of only two or three nations
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.8 cats
Director: Ruben Östlund
Starring: Clara Wettergren | Johannes Bah Kuhnke | Kristofer Hivju | Lisa Loven Kongsli | Vincent Wettergren
Bruce says: “In the face of danger a man fends for himself rather than protect the ones he purportedly loves. The concept is not new in cinema – in fact, Julia Loktev’s THE LONELIEST PLANET dealt with the subject fairly
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