Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kyu-Dong Min
Starring: Ah-in Yu | Jae-wook Kim | Ji-ho Choi | Ji-hun Ju
Jason says: “Part of what makes seeing foreign popular cinema fun is that the genre barriers often aren’t quite in the same place, so while what you see is mostly familiar, it can quickly go to unexpected places. Seldom has
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg | Willem Defoe
Thom says: “I’m flat out going to warn you, without giving away any plot details, do not see this film if you are the tiniest bit disturbed by graphic torture scenes. It comes very close to being the most despairing
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Cherien Dabis
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Hiam Abbass | Joseph Ziegler | Melkar Muallem | Nisreen Faour
Bruce says: “Muna (Nisreen Faour) is a single parent raising her son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) in Bethlehem. Each day they spend considerable time negotiating checkpoints, often humiliated by Israeli soldiers. Muna works at a bank and Fadi attends private school
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Maher Sabry
Starring: Ayman | Julian Gonzalez Esparza | Jwana | Mehammed Amadeus | Munir Bayyiri | Youssef El-Shareif
Bruce says: “ALL MY LIFE is billed as the first gay Egyptian film. It has been banned in Egypt which should not come as a big surprise since the film contains sex scenes that border on soft porn. Maher Sabry
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: R. W. Goodwin
Starring: Dan Lauria | Eric McCormack | Jenni Baird | Jody Thompson | Robert Patrick
Jason says: “If you go to enough genre-oriented film festivals or keep an eye out for would-be cult films, you will probably feel like you see a new movie like ALIEN TRESPASS every month or two – a fifties sci-fi
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Alexander H. Browne | Christopher Browne
Diane says: “From the Boston Jewish Film Festival, this docu is about a soccer team from the Arab-Israeli town of Sakhnin in Galilee. The team, made up of Arabs, Jews and foreigners, has it ups and downs compounded by anti-Arab
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Havana Marking
Michael says: “In a culture where dancing is forbidden, it seems strange that Afghan Idol, the middle eastern country’s cousin to the very popular western television reality show, American Idol, would be so incredibly popular… or perhaps not so strange.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Atom Egoyan
Starring: Arsinée Khanjian | Devon Bostick | Kenneth Welsh | Scott Speedman
Michael says: “Atom Egoyan is my favorite filmmaker, so I am predisposed to enjoy his films. I like the themes he explores and the way he explores them. With his latest film, ADORATION, he once again explores the nature of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Diane says: “Even though it’s only 80 minutes long, I’m giving myself permission to stop watching this screener. ACT OF GOD is a docu about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. Intriguing, no? “Early on, there’s a ten-minute
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Cheang Pou-Soi
Starring: Alexander Chan | Louis Koo | Michelle Ye | Richie Ren | Shui-Fan Fung | Suet Lam
Bruce says: “Not often do I wish that a foreign film would be remade by Hollywood but ACCIDENT is the perfect candidate. My hope is that some clarity would be added to the film, thus ratcheting it up the cat
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Ahmad Mehranfar | Golshifteh Farahani | Mani Haghighi | Marila Zare’I | Peyman Moaadi | Rana Azadvar | Saber Abbar | Shahab Hosseini | Taraneh Alidoosti
Bruce says: “ABOUT ELLY is gathering laurels on more the one continent. Director Asghar Farhadi won directorial award at the Berlin Film Festival earlier in 2009 and the film recently won the Best Picture award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tatia Rosenthal
Starring: Joel Edgerton | Josef Ber | Leon Ford | Tom Budge
Jason says: “Movies made up of a group of intersecting stories often get downright peculiar. After all, one of the basic ideas is that the people passing in and out of our lives that we think of as background lead
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jean Mach | Nicolas Alberny
Starring: Ahlima Mhamdi | Alain Azerot | Eloïssa Florez | Matthew Géczy | Robert William Bradford
Jason says: “The ‘virtual country’ has been a favorite device of science fiction authors for a while now. The idea is that an online community would grow large and organized (and, perhaps, wealthy) enough to be more of a player
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Chloe Moretz | Clark Gregg | Geoffrey Arend | Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Zooey Deschanel
Michael says: “It’s nice to see a movie not about two people falling in love and living happily ever after, but two people embarking on a relationship that doesn’t work leaving on with a broken heart. That is the premise
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Alex Descas | GrégoireColin | Mati Diop | Nicole Dogue
Beth Curran says: “Michael will be very happy. So far (end of Day 4) this is my favorite film of the festival. It’s a character study, a few days or so in the lives of a father and adult daughter
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jia Zhangke
Starring: Jianbin Chen | Joan Chen | Liping Lu | Tao Zhao
Bruce says: “Years from now there is no doubt in my mind that Jia ZhangKe will be considered one of the great documentarians of the great Chinese migration from a planned economy to a market-driven economy. 24 CITY is a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tim McCanlies
Starring: Cody Kasch | Devin Ratray | Leonardo Nam | Mika Boorem | Tyler Francavilla
Jason says: “Writer/Director Tim McCanlies described THE 2 BOBS as his attempt to do a Kevin Smith movie, which is funny since Smith most recently released his attempt at a Judd Apatow movie. Depending how you define that, he’s either
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Martin Gero
Starring: Aaron Abrams | Carly Pope | Diora Bair | Josh Cooke | Josh Dean | Kristin Booth | Sonja Bennett
Michael says: “The Canadian film YOUNG PEOPLE FUCKING (which Netflix has so coyly renamed YPF) won the award for Best First Feature at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. While it raised some eyebrows with its storyline of 4 couples
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stephen Walker
Carolyn says: “I don’t recall if there was a motive behind teaching these older people to sing fun songs. But it was enjoyable to see them struggle with new songs and then hear them perform when they have mastered the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Cao Hamburger
Starring: Caio Blat | Daniela Piepszyk | Eduardo Moreira | Germano Haiut | Michel Joelsas | Simone Spoladore
Bruce says: “Three ideas for a story converge in THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION: the 1970 World Cup Games in which Pele led his country to their third world championship; the insularity of the Jewish community in Sao
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