Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Rob Grant
Starring: Bradley Duffy | Chelsea Reist | John Fitzgerald | Mike Kovac | Scott Wallis | Teagan Vincze
Jason says: “MON AMI, despite its title, is in English, so its audience needn’t fret about having to deal with subtitles. It’s still rather off the beaten path, a buddy black comedy, with as much enthusiasm as gags involving grievous
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Yûya Ishii
Starring: Aoi Nakamura | Keiko Saito | Miyoko Inagawa | Riisa Naka | Ryo Ishibashi
Jason says: “The previous film by Yuya Ishii to play Fantasia was called ‘SAWAKO DECIDES’, and to be completely honest, this one could do with a little more deciding and acting on those decisions. As nice as this movie and
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Rating: 2.7 cats
Director: Gerardo Naranjo
Starring: Irene Azuela | James Russo | Jose Yenque | Miguel Couturier | Noe Hernandez | Stephanie Sigman
Bruce says: “At the end of MISS BALA a statement about drug wars flashes across the screen to inform us how insidious the multi-billion dollar drug business can be in terms of human life – 36,000 people have been killed
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Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring: Chai Bhatana | Jenjira Pongpas | Maiyatan Techaparn | Sakda Kaewbuadee
Thom says: “Again another major disappointment as wonderful Weerasethakul was another director on the verge of TOP 10 inclusion. After TROPICAL MALADY, SYNDROMES & A CENTURY, & UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES he was this close for
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Allison de Fren
Jason says: “It’s not an uncommon occurrence – you see a documentary at a film festival and there’s a Q&A afterward. Someone asks an interesting question, the director gives an interesting answer, and you’re glad you came but kind of
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Jacopo Olmo Antinori | Sonia Bergamasco | Tea Falco | Tomasso Ragno | Veronica Lazar
Tom says: “It’s been 9 years since Bertolucci’s last film, the very disappointing THE DREAMERS, a film with a distinct lack of conviction, but the Italian master has been responsible for some of my all-time favorite films including THE COMFORMIST,
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Ambyr Childers | Amy Adams | Joaquin Phoenix | Laura Dern | Lena Endre | Philip Seymour Hoffman
Bruce says: “Much has been said about THE MASTER being a thinly disguised biopic of L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology. Hubbard may have been the inspiration for the film but THE MASTER is about cultism in general.
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Steven Kostanski
Starring: Adam Brooks | Conor Sweeney | Ludwig Lee | Matthew Kennedy | Meredith Sweeney
Jason says: “For what it is, MANBORG is damn impressive. Director Steve Kostanski estimates that he and his friends made the movie for about a thousand dollars, although I suspect that is the sort of estimate that severely underestimates the
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Ferzan Ozpetek
Starring: Anna Proclemer | Beppe Fiorello | Elio Germano | Margherita Buy | Massimilliano Gallo | Paola Minaccioni
Bruce says: “When directors have had multiple successes there is no reason to doubt that subsequent films will fall flat; yet that is exactly the situation with Ferzan Ozpetek. Here’s hoping that MAGNIFICENT PRESENCE lost its continuity, among other things,
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Stephen Soderbergh
Starring: Alex Pettyfer | Channing Tatum | Joe Manganiello | Matthew McConaughey | Olivia Munn | Reid Carolin
Bruce says: “If you have ever seen Channing Tatum on a talk show, you know that he is very open about his former career as a male stripper. Steven Soderbergh has his own mission of bringing more stories to the
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sean Byrne
Starring: Jessica McNamee | John Brumpton | Richard Wilson | Robin McLeavy | Victoria Thaine | Xavier Samuel
Jason says: “What sort of movie is THE LOVED ONES? It’s the sort of movie where, when a carpet is lifted from the floor to reveal hinges, we in the audience are given a bit of time to ponder just
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Doze Niu
Starring: Amber Kuo | Ching-Tien Juan | Eddie Peng | Mark Chao | Qi Shu | Wei Zhao | Yi-han Chen
Jason says: “LOVE is exactly the sort of movie that gets released for Valentine’s Day, which is when it showed up in Taiwan and a few larger American cities. It’s not a classic romance, but it sets the mood well,
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ho-Cheung Pang
Starring: Mini Yang | Miriam Yeung Chin Wah | Shawn Yue | Zheng Xu
Jason says: “The vagaries of North American release patterns of foreign films have resulted in LOVE IN THE BUFF reaching theaters here before LOVE IN THE PUFF, the movie to which it is a sequel, has been available on anything
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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
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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
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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
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