Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Angelina Nikonova
Starring: Olga Dykhovichnaya | Roman Merinov | Sergei Borisov | Sergei Golyudov | Vsevolod Voronov
Bruce says: “The purpose of the New Directors/New Films Festival is to promote emerging talent. The festival has a remarkable track record, having discovered many directors who are now considered leaders in their field. The festival is remarkably open to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Ivana Mladenovic
Starring: Alexandru Mititelu | Dragomir Christian George | Israila Jamir | Papan Chilibar
Bruce says: “Director Ivana Mladenovic admits that the genesis of her film began as a narrative feature film crew got permission to film in a prison using inmates as actors. Although she did not go into detail, that venture fell
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Ágnes Hranitzky | Béla Tarr
Starring: Erika Bók | János Derzsi | Mihály Kormos | Ricsi
Thom says: “In 1889 German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche witnessed the flagellation of a horse while traveling in Turin, Italy. He tossed his arms o’er the horse’s neck to safeguard it then collapsed to the soil. In less than one month,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.25
Director: Flip van der Kuil | Steffen Haarsr
Starring: Flip Van der Kuil | Huub Smit | Steffen Haars | Tim Haars | Wesley van Gaalen
Jason says: “After NEW KIDS TURBO, another festivalgoer and I off-handedly discussed which bit of incessantly repeated profanity was less likely to fly with an American audience. For a certain group, that sort of broad-spectrum political incorrectness is an asset
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Aakash Dahiya | Freida Pinto | Harish Khanna | Neet Mohan | Riz Ahmed | Roshan Seth
Bruce says: “Michael Winterbottom (WONDERLAND, THE TRIP, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO, IN THIS WORLD, WELCOME TO SARAJEVO, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY) is one of the most versatile directors in the history of film.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Grant Hamilton
Jason says: “Instant photography is pretty darn cool, both as concept and technology, and most of the core audience for TIME ZERO: THE LAST YEAR OF POLAROID FILM probably already feels that rather strongly. The rest of the people who
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Brillante Mendoza
Starring: Bembol Roco | Lovi Poe | Mercedes Cabral | Nora Aunor
Bruce says: “I’m a big Mendoza fan. His first film, THE MASSEUR, screened at my first Toronto Film Festival. Since then Mendoza has made wonderful films such as LOLA, FOSTER CHILD, SERBIS and SLINGSHOT; each of these films depict a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jafar Panahi | Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Bruce says: “Although I am not a huge fan of the two Panahi films I have seen (THE WHITE BALOON and THE CIRCLE), the director’s personal story has grabbed my attention. A poster child for freedom in art and human
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.4
Director: Bryan Wizemann
Starring: Adina Porter | David Conrad | Dylan Baker | Lauren Ambrose | Penelope Ann Miller
Thom says: “It’s always nice to see ‘Six Feet Under’ alumnus Ambrose back on the boards and she fits her role here like a glove. Here she plays a down-on-her-luck single mother (Angela) with a precocious young daughter living in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.25
Director: Jill Sprecher
Starring: Alan Arkin | Billy Crudup | Bob Balaban | David Harbour | Greg Kinnear
Jason says: “THIN ICE started life as THE CONVINCER (and played Sundance under that name) before being re-cut and re-scored to its current form, and that name would have put a bit of a target on its back. The movie
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Carrie Preston
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Anne Heche | Kate Rigg | Kellie Overby | Marcia DeBonis | Marylouise Burke | Miriam Shor
Bruce says: “Comparisons to BRIDESMAIDS are inevitable – another female buddy raunch film. That would be unfair. THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID is equally outrageous, but its sentiments are more genuine and its characters have greater depth. And while we’re at
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Mads Matthiesen
Starring: Allan Mogensen | David Winters | Elsebeth Steentoft | Kim Kold | Lamaiporn Hougaard
Bruce says: “Dennis (Kim Kold) is a 38 year old bodybuilder. He still lives with his mother Ingrid (Elsebeth Steentoft) who treats him as though he were just entering his teen years. Theirs is the quintessential co-dependent relationship. Normal boundaries
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.75
Director: Pascal Laugier
Starring: Jessica Biel | Jodelle Ferland | Samantha Ferris | Stephen McHattie | William B. Davis
Jason says: “THE TALL MAN tries to do something worthy and interesting, at least at points, and those intentions certainly seem praiseworthy, but it just doesn’t work. the whole thing simply isn’t very well-constructed, to the extent that whether one
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sarah Polley
Starring: Diane D'Aquila | Jennifer Podemski | Luke Kirby | Michelle Williams | Sarah Silverman | Seth Rogen
Bruce says: “TAKE THIS WALTZ will have more impact for those who have not seen Michelle Williams in BLUE VALENTINE or WENDY AND LUCY. In all of these films she plays young women in search of something undefinable and elusive.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stephen Fung
Starring: Angelababy | Eddie Peng | Qi Shu | Tony Leung Ka-fai | Yuan Xiaochao
Jason says: “I knew going in that TAI CHI ZERO had a follow-up coming out in fairly rapid succession (a one month gap in China, three in North America), and was still a bit surprised that the movie saves its
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Haofeng Xu
Starring: Cheng-Hui Yu | Yang Song | Yuanyuan Zhao
Jason says: “It might not be obvious from the opening, which is a fine action sequence, but THE SWORD IDENTITY perhaps works best as the straightest-faced spoof of martial arts films imaginable. It’s more than that, of course, but its
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Kern Saxton
Starring: Andy Mackenzie | Cortney Palm | Danny Trejo | James Duval | Mark Hamill | Noah Hathaway | Tony Todd
Jason says: “Ugh, what an unpleasant movie. Sure, it’s the sort of grittily flamboyant crime flick that has an audience, but it’s a hollow, mean-spirited thing that isn’t nearly clever or well executed enough to be worth it. “After serving
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ole Christian Madsen
Starring: Adriana Mascialino | Anders W. Berthelsen | Jamie Morton | Paprika Steen | Sebastian Estevanez
Bruce says: “Paprika! Whoever suspected she would end up in a romantic comedy in Buenos Aires? Anna (Paprika Steen) is a football fanatic and, wearing an agent’s hat, she brokers deals between businessmen and athletes. Her current client is the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Kang Hyung-chul
Starring: Go Su-hee | Jin Hee-kyung | Kang So-ra | Kim Min-yeong | Park Jin-joo | Sim Eung-kyeong | Yu Ho-jeong
Jason says: “SUNNY is flagrant nostalgia bait, but don’t count that against it – it’s genuinely funny, heartfelt nostalgia bait, and while that might seem odd to world cinema fans – few films that reach North America set in 1980s
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Aaron Houston
Starring: Amatai Marmorstein | Ben Cotton | Johannah Newmarch | Kacrey Rohl | Patrick Gilmore | Peter New
Jason says: “Even as mock-documentary movies go, SUNFLOWER HOUR looks kind of bare bones, but partly by design. Of course, even when cheapness is part of the aesthetic, that doesn’t mean a filmmaker knows how to use it – despite
Read the review...