Michael says: “With an outstanding cast and a handful of Independent Spirit Award nominations (including Best Director, Best Feature, and Best Supporting Actress), I would have thought that Karen MoNcrieff’s somber, powerful film, THE DEAD GIRL, would have had better
Bruce says: “Algeria, 1943. Men are marching through the streets urging others to join them in saving France from Nazi Germany. ‘We must liberate France, Mother,’ exclaims Saïd (Jamel Debbouze). ‘I prefer poverty to losing you,’ his mother replies. DAYS
Chris says: “SPOIERS AHEAD! “It’s ideal to go into Julia Loktev’s remarkable debut feature not knowing anything, but it’s also damn near impossible to write about it without disclosing what it’s about. (However, basic knowledge of the plot did not
Jay says: “DASEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS is based on an internet comic strip, and it’s got that kind of manic energy: It starts out with a whole bunch of quick, raunchy gags that aren’t much more than crude but don’t really
Bruce says: “Characters in a Wes Anderson film are often smug, have an oversized sense of entitlement and lack empathy. That description fits most of the characters in THE DARJEELING LIMITED. One year after their father died, three brothers –
Jason says: I ‘missed’ this one at Fantasia – it wasn’t one I was really super-excited to see anyway, but I would probably have gone if the schedule lined up right. The program made it out to sound like a
Bruce says: “Director Christophe Honoré has created a delightful offbeat comedy about family, friendship, love and loss. Louis Garrel begins by facing the camera and telling the audience he will be the narrator of the story. We don’t know who
Bruce says: “Custodio translates as bodyguard in English. Ruben (Julio Chávez) is a personal bodyguard for the Planning Minister (Osmar Núñez) in the Argentine government. The Minister is a social animal – weaving work and pleasure as he darts from
Hilary says: “This documentary gives new weight to the maxim that some people’s truth is stranger than fiction. “Burt Pugach and Linda Riss met and embarked on a rocky romance in the late ’50s. Burt was a successful ambulance-chasing lawyer
Bruce says: “COWBOY ANGELS begins with an eleven year old playing pinball in a smoky bar. We can tell it is late by the apparent drunkenness of the patrons. His mother (Françoise Klein) is at the bar, spilling her drinks
Barbara says: “Definitely one of my favorites this year. A film that makes you think about chance and how we react to what life throws at us. Hard to figure out who the heroes really are. The Coens have done
Chris says: “Why did Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis hang himself at the age of 23? Was it misery brought on by marital infidelity, an uneasy mixture of meds prescribed for his epilepsy, stress at the onset of fame, or
Beth says: “I have to confess that I succumbed to that festival affliction – eyes falling shut midfilm – during this film, but thankfully figured out rather quickly what I missed, and that it wasn’t a significant plot point, whew!
Michael says: “This past week at the Sunday Eye Opener, we got to act as a bit of an informal test screening audience for a new film called COLMA: THE MUSICAL. I was contacted by the film’s distributor, Eric d’Arbeloff,
Beth says: “This film received low ratings on netflix, rotton tomatoes, and metacritic (~60%). But I really liked it. This film is a about a friendship between two young adult women, Mirit (Neama Shendar) and Smadar (Smadar Sayar), fulfilling their
Bruce says: “While I enjoyed DISTANT, Celylan’s last film, I found its many flaws curbed my enthusiasm. I have not seen Ceylan’s earlier films so I have no way of knowing whether there was ever an inkling of such an
Bruce says: “The subject of CHINA BLUE is the denim industry in China. Less than twenty years ago it was not possible for those living in rural areas to migrate to cities where work in factories was plentiful. The Chinese
Bruce says: “CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR is not a film I was looking forward to seeing. To my surprise it was my favorite among the Hollywood year-end fare. Had I thought it through I might have not been so surprised. After
Michael says: “Most filmmakers should be so lucky to come across Jimmy Mirikitani, an elderly Japanese-American man who was living on the streets of lower Manhattan in 2001. A self-proclaimed ‘Grand Master’ of an artist (with the work to back
Bruce says: “In the 70’s Argentina had a Dirty War. Those who criticized or opposed the government were frequently disappeared. Over 30,000 missing persons have been reported. What is lesser known is many of the women captured during that time
