Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Charles Ferguson
Bruce says: “Critics of the Bush Administration’s war in Iraq have been quick to disagree with almost every important decision made along the way. Dismissed as naysayers and accused of lacking patriotism, the critics had difficulty disproving decisions for the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Pratibha Parmar
Michael says: “The Provincetown International Film Festival kicked off with a misstep with this cloying, clumsily scripted film about an Indian family living in Scotland. Nina returns to Glasgow from London for her father’s funeral after fleeing her family and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Tunde Kelani
Starring: Ayo Badmus | Seyi Fasuyi | Sola Asedeko
Bruce says: “The African films I’ve seen recently have all been quite melodramatic; THE NARROW PATH is no exception. Awero (Sola Asedeko), a young village girl is beautiful and much in demand as a potential wife for men in neighboring
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Martial Fougeron
Starring: Nathalie Baye | Olivier Gourmet | Victor Sévaux
Bruce says: “**Spoilers** “Nathalie Baye is billed as ‘cast against type’ in MY SON. One wonders who might have been the right type for the psychotic nightmare of a mother, other than Isabelle Huppert, of course. Ms. Baye proves that
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Patrick Grandperret
Starring: Céline Sallette | Gianni Giardinelli | Hande Kodja
Bruce says: “MURDERERS (MEURTRIÈRES) is a pointless film – it’s not a character study, cautionary tale, or sociological study. It has been given the air of a mystery or possibly a thriller but it fall flat in those departments as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Bruce says: “Mr. Vig is 82. His ‘old ambition is to create something enduring’ and to that end he has decided to give his estate, Hesbjerg Castle, to a Russian Orthodox religious order. As the film begins, Sister Ambrosija arrives
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Brian Scott Lederman
Starring: Adam LeFevre | Brian Scott Lederman | Erik Per Sullivan | Margo Martindale | Shayna Levine
Michael says: “That MO got made is something to admire, at the very least. Making a feature film is no easy thing, and even though the subject clearly means a lot to director Brian Lederman, it takes more than one
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Péter Forgács
Bruce says: “Tracking down home movies and combining them with other (usually professional) archival footage is an intriguing way of telling a story, creating a verité effect while providing a history lesson. Péter Forgács is a founder of the Private
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Keven Undergaro
Starring: Danielle Weeks | Mitch Malem | Wayne Previdi
Jason says: “For all I know, the most amusing part of “IN THE LAND OF MERRY MISFITS won’t even be included when it finally gets whatever sort of distribution it winds up getting. The festival screening opened with a rapid-fire summarization
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Jimmy Jay Frieden
Jason says: “The subject that inspired Gary Marino’s MILLION CALORIE MARCH – both the documentary and the event itself – is certainly worth the audience’s attention; adult and child obesity is a major problem in the United States. As a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Bruce says: “Anyone glued to the nightly news during the saga of journalist Daniel Pearl knows the sad ending of his harrowing kidnapping story. A MIGHTY HEART is based on the writings of his wife Mariane, herself a journalist. Daniel
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Adam Kaufman
Jay says: “Do people still actually say ‘metrosexual?’ In today’s internet-speed environment, pop culture memes have an average half-life of about six months, and ‘metrosexual’ peaked two or three years ago. Not that it really matters; the title character’s metrosexuality
Read the review...Meanwhile (Argentina/France; 90 min.) directed by: Diego Lermanstarring: Valeria Bertuccelli, Maria Merlino, Claudio Quinteros Bruce says: “‘Meanwhile’ has two meanings – ‘during the interval’ and ‘at the same time’ – either of which are appropriate for Diego Lerman’s second
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: James D. Scurlock
Bruce says: “MAXED OUT is the first film I’ve been able to see at the Chlotrudis sponsored Sunday Eye Opener series at the Brattle Theater. MAXED OUT is not the film I had thought it would be. Judging by its
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Jack Black | Jennifer Jason Leigh | John Turturro | Nicole Kidman | Zane Pais
Michael says: “Stories about dysfunctional families often make for great comedic and dramatic fodder, both in novels and in films. Noah Baumbach was successful mining this territory in 2005’s THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, but while I enjoyed that film,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Bruce says: “MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is a portrait of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky who is known for his landscapes. The title refers to a series of photographs he shoots on a trip to Asia. Rather than photograph the natural wonders of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Vivien Lesnik Weisman
Bruce says: “This documentary film is an excellent primer for understanding issues of Cubans exiles, particularly those in South Florida. The title refers to the subject of the film Max Lesnik, a former resident of Havana, Cuba, and now a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ang Lee
Jason says: “LUST, CAUTION is almost long enough to contain its own sequel, although more in the literary mode where an author revisits characters in a way that seems almost disconnected from the initial work. Ang Lee’s latest doesn’t quite
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Yôji Yamada
Starring: Mitsugoro Bando | Rei Dan | Takuya Kimura
Jason says: “As Yôji Yamada’s samurai dramas have become bigger and bigger hits in their native Japan, their American distribution has shrank. This is a real shame, because all three (THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI, THE HIDDEN BLADE, and now LOVE AND
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Starring: Hermila Guedes | Maria Menezes | Zezita Matos
Bruce says: “The film starts out with a home movie of ‘The Day I Got Pregnant.’ Hermila dances around the beach with a blue blanket. She was determined to make this day ‘the happiest day of her life or die
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