Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Valerie Weiss
Starring: Bitsie Tulloch | John Billingsley | Kethleen Robertson | Miranda Kent | Reid Scott | Theo Alexander
Jason says: “I try not to get too worked up about science in movies, but given that LOSING CONTROL is about a scientist trying to apply the scientific method to her personal life and the title is a pun that
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Julia Loktev
Starring: Bidzina Gujabidze | Gael García Bernal | Hani Furstenberg
Thom says: “A loving couple arrive in Georgia (the country) and absorb the local culture. They hire a local guide (a guide in real life who had to be coerced into acting in his first and last film) to take
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Juan Martínez Moreno
Starring: Carlos Areces | Gorka Otxoa | Luis Zahera | Manuel Manquina | Secun de la Rosa | Tomas Cimadevilla
Jason says: “First, forget that stupid English-language title; Juan Martínez Moreno hates it (there’s no game involved) and hopes whoever picks it up in English-speaking territories just goes with LOBOS DE ARGA. Instead, focus on what a really great horror-comedy
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Valeria Sarmiento
Starring: Catherine Deneuve | Isabelle Huppert | Jemima West | John Malkovich | José Afonso Pimentel | Mathieu Amalric | Miaris Paredes | Nuno Lopes | Soraia Chaves
Thom says: “This historical epic was originally a project for the great Chilean director Raoul Ruiz and was actually in pre-production when Ruiz passed away. The project was then handed to long-time Ruiz collaborator and wife Sarmiento. The film concerns
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Daniel Day Lewis | David Strathairn | Hal Holbrook | James Spader | Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Sally Field
Diane says: “I am in love with Abraham Lincoln! At least as played by the superlative Daniel Day-Lewis. I feared the Spielbergization of what is already mythic, but Day-Lewis makes the hero of LINCOLN specific, odd, and complicated. The movie
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jacob Rosenberg
Jason says: “Most extreme sports movies sell spectacle; if one has been booked for a night or two at a local theater before hitting the shelves at the local ski/surf/skate shop, you can usually bet on quality photography of impressive
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Johnnie To
Starring: Ching Wan Lau | Courtney Wu | Denise Ho | Felix Wong | Richie Ren | Siu-Kei Lee | Terence Yin
Thom says: “Beloved Johnny To returns to TIFF with an atypical entry from the Hong Kong master. Instead of the usual shoot-‘em-up gangster film that To has refined to the finest degree we get an imperiled financial world drama, that
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Josh Radnor
Starring: Allison Janney | Elizabeth Olsen | Elizabeth Reaser | Josh Radnor | Kate Burton | Richard Jenkins
Michael says: “Written, directed, and starring Josh Radnor (of TV’s ‘How I Met Your Mother’) offers a film revolved around nostalgia, and looking back at your college days as they high point of your life. Jesse (Radnor) is living an
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hiroyuki Okiura
Starring: Cho | Ikuko Tani | Karen Miyama | Takeo Ogawa | Toshiyuki Nishida | Yoshisada Sakaguchi
Jason says: “You can do a movie like A LETTER TO MOMO with live-action nowadays, and it’s increasingly common, but animation of the traditional variety still seems the best medium for this sort of fantastical but relaxed family entertainment: It
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Starring: Catherine Keener | Christopher Walken | Imogen Poots | Mark Ivanir | Phillip Seymour Hoffman | Wallace Shawn
Jason says: “A LATE QUARTET starts out with a fair amount of promise: It’s got a cast full of fine character actors, a somewhat unusual setting in the world of classical music, and a premise that is easy to grasp
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Eric Hayden
Starring: Alec Gillis | Brian Baumgartner | James Madio | Khary Payton | Lance Henriksen
Jason says: “THE LAST PUSH is a movie by space nuts but for a larger audience, and I very much hope that it will find one on the festival circuit. The filmmakers give themselves the opportunity to do a lot
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: David Thewlis | Jonathan Raggett | Jonathan Woodhouse | Michelle Yeoh | Susan Wooldridge
Jason says: “In addition to directing his own films, Luc Besson has spent the past decade or two writing and producing action movies tailored to their stars; Michelle Yeoh was arguably the biggest female action star in the world during
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Mikkel Nørgaard
Starring: Casper Christensen | Frank Hvam | Iben Hjejle | Marcuz Jess Petersen | Mia Lyhne | Niels Weyde
Thom says: “I might have passed on this Danish uproarious comedy that is not without a cruel, macabre streak, had it not been a free viewing and I was delightfully suprised. This was adapted from the smash Danish television series
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Yeong Sang-ho
Starring: Ben Van den Heuvel | Eva van der Gucht | Mickey | Noor Ben Taoeut | Thomas Coumans
Jason says: “Animation fans will spend a great deal of time telling the rest of the world that the medium is good for more than children’s entertainment, and will point to movies with either violent content or mature themes to
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Emile Hirsch | Gina Gershon | Juno Temple | Matthew McConaughey | Thomas Haden Church
Jason says: “It happens to nearly every writer, musician, or film director who doesn’t die young: Because they never really retire, they’ll eventually have an unimpressive period that runs longer than even a long run of success. Take William Friedkin,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Emma Fryer | Harry Simpson | Michael Smiley | MyAnna Buring | Neil Maskell | Struan Rodger
Thom says: “This is the final TIFF 2011 film that I review, excepting others I will most likely see after this date. Quite a few are already playing in theaters including LE HAVRE, THE DESCENDANTS, MONEY PIT, & others. Wheatley
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne | Luc Dardenne
Starring: Cécile de France | Egon Di Mateo | Fabrizio Rongione | Jérémie Renier | Thomas Doret
Bruce says: “The Dardennes are back with another tale of disillusioned youth. This time the subject child is Cyril (Thomas Doret) a child who has been dumped in an orphanage after his father Guy (Jérémie Renier) abandons him. Cyril’s first
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Starring: Cho Jae-hyun | Kim Kyung-suk | Lee Kwan-hun | Na Tae-joo | Petchtai Wongkamiao | Ye Ji-won
Jason says: “THE KICK is frickin’ truth in advertising, living up to its title in every way it can. Not only does it feature more or less non-stop martial arts action, but it’s a kick – light, pure fun that
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Rating: 3.9
Director: Guy Maddin
Starring: Brooke Palsson | David Wontner | Isabella Rossellini | Jason Patric | Louis Negin | Udo Kier
Jason says: “Winnipeg-based director Guy Maddin has never been anything less than unconventional, but some of his more recent efforts have met the mainstream halfway; they were peculiar films but the audience didn’t have to take up residence in Maddin’s
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Ira Sachs
Starring: Julianne Nicholson | Paprika Steen | Souleymane SySavane | Thure Lindhardt | Zachary Booth
Chris says: “A fictional work based on a filmmaker’s own personal events risks a failure to resonate with or even translate to an audience. That’s exactly the problem with the latest from FORTY SHADES OF BLUE director Ira Sachs, which
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