Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Nanette Burstein
Michael says: “I was intrigued to see this documentary focusing on the lives of teens today that has been the subject of much praise and controversy on the festival circuit. Burstein spent a year immersed in an Indiana community, seeking
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jean-Pierre Lledo
Bruce says: “Every country has its horror stories. Algeria has more than its share. Most recently, civil war tore Algeria asunder from 1990-1998. In his film ALGERIA, UNSPOKEN STORIES Jean Pierre Lledo focuses on an earlier period. In July 1962
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
Starring: Galina Vishnevskaya | Raisa Gichaeva | Vasily Shevtsov
Bruce says: “Operatic diva Galina Vishnevskaya plays against type as Alexandra Nikolaevna, an aged Russian grandmother who travels to the front lines in Chechnya to see her grandson whom she loves dearly. As the film begins we see the back
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Ari Gold
Starring: Adrian Grenier | Ari Gold | Jane Lynch | Michael McKean | Shoshannah Stern | Steven Williams
Bruce says: “Two hours before the screening of the comedy ADVENTURES OF POWER at the Provincetown International Film Festival I attended the Awards Ceremony where Jane Lynch was one of the honorees. Ms. Lynch was entertaining and informative as she
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Cristian Mungiu
Starring: Alexandru Potocean | Anamaria Marinca | Laura Vasiliu | Vlad Ivanov
Bruce says: “4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS paints a vivid picture of what life in Romania was like in 1987. Covering a period of about twenty four hours, the bleakness of Ceausescu’s Romania is craftily conveyed by superb
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Takayuki Yakamura
Bruce says: “A number of years ago the New York Times printed a feature on New York’s most famous homeless persons. I was surprised at how many I recognized as fixtures on well traveled New York streets. YOKOHAMA MARY is
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Goran Dukic
Starring: Patrick Fugit | Shannyn Sossamon | Shea Whigham
Jeff says: “The place you go after you commit suicide resembles one of the seedier neighborhoods of Los Angeles. You might think you’re still living on earth, except there are no stars, nobody ever smiles, and your friend’s car has
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Paprika Steen
Starring: Lars Brygmann | Nicolaj Kopernicus | Rasmus Bjerg | Sidse Babett Knudsen | Søren Pilmark
Bruce says: “Jan (Lars Brygmann), manager of the upscale dining room on one of the day ferry lines in the Baltic, arrives at work with a black eye. ‘Is there a problem?’ his boss Erilk (Søren Pilmark) asks. Jan makes
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Larry Fessenden
Starring: Connie Britton | James LeGros | Jamie Harrold | Joanne Shenandoah | Kevin Corrigan | Pato Hoffman | Ron Perlman | Zach Gilford
Jason says: “It would be completely wrong of me spoil the thing in THE LAST WINTER that made me go from thinking it was a nice little ‘isolated area (and maybe something else) starts messing with people’ horror movie to
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Cam Archer
Starring: Fairuza Balk | Kim Dickens | Max Paradise | Michael Stumpf | Patrick White | Tom Gilroy
Chris says: “Gus Van Sant is listed as one of the executive producers, but throughout this positively odd but rarely boring first feature from director Cam Archer, I was expecting to see Todd Haynes’ name instead. As I watched this
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Harry Moses
Bruce says: “This film is a perfect companion piece for WHO GETS TO CALL IT ART?, a film that explains how Henry Geldzahler became a power broker for the contemporary art scene in New York during the latter part of
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Rob VanAklemade
Bruce says: “This film would make a great double feature with AUDIENCE OF ONE. Both feature overzealous ministers who stop at nothing to accomplish goals which are both ill-defined and elusive. WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? is the story of Reverend
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Starring: Chen Shiang-Chyi | Lee Kang-Sheng | Yang Kuei-mei
Michael says: “Tsai Ming-Liang’s THE WAYWARD CLOUD, is a sequel of sorts to the brilliant WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? It was a brilliant film, but definitely not quite what I was expecting. THE WAYWARD CLOUD is a sweetly subversive,
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Dong-hun Choi
Starring: Hye-su Kim | Seung-woo Cho | Yun-shik Baek
Jason says: “It’s probably not a good idea to try to learn about a game by seeing a movie about it. Based upon THE WAR OF FLOWER (aka TAZZA: THE HIGH ROLLERS), I’m dumbfounded at the idea that hwatu could
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Adrienne Shelly
Starring: Adrienne Shelly | Cheryl Hines | Jeremy Sisto | Keri Russell | Nathan Fillion
Michael says: “How can you review WAITRESS without thinking about the tragic circumstances surrounding writer/director Adrienne Shelly’s demise? It is a testament to Shelly’s talents, particularly as a writer, that WAITRESS is a delightful film that rises above the harsh
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Fredi M. Murer
Starring: Julika Jenkins | Teo Gheorghiu | Urs Jucker
Bruce says: “**Spoilers** “VITUS is a surprisingly slick and competent drama about a child prodigy who desperately wants to be normal. When we first see Vitus (Teo Gheorghiu) he is twelve and has stolen a private plane which he is
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Olivier Dahan
Starring: Emmanuelle Seigner | Gerard Depardieu | Marion Cotillard | Pascal Gregory | Sylvie Testud
Bruce says: “Edith Piaf remains one of the all time great vocal stylists – a voice filled with great character and emotion, a voice that simultaneously reflects personal heartbreak and resilience. I became a big Piaf fan while still in
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Roger Michell
Starring: Jodie Whittaker | Leslie Phillips | Lynn Redgrave | Peter O’Toole | Richard Griffiths
Bruce says: “O’Toole plays Maurice, a well-known actor with a reputation as a womanizer, who is definitely in his twilight years. He and his friend Ian (Leslie Phillips) fret about recurring infirmities and approaching senility. Maurice occasionally stops by to
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Francis Veber
Starring: Alice Taglioni | Daniel Auteuil | Gad Elmaleh | Kristin Scott Thomas | Virginie Ledoyen
Bruce says: “After the screening of THE VALET it was announced that Dreamworks had purchased the film for a Hollywood remake. Adam Sandler is my guess for the title role which is played by Gad Elmaleh. Like Jamel Debbouze (AMELIE,
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Henriette Mantel | Steve Skrovan
Bruce says: “‘A reasonable man adapts himself to suit his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’ When George Bernard Shaw wrote these words he
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