Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Alison Pill | Denis O’Hare | Diego Luna | Emile Hirsch | James Franco | Josh Brolin | Sean Penn | Stephen Spinella | Victor Garber
Bruce says: “Many might call MILK Gus Van Sant’s return to content from his concentration on form in recent films such as GERRY, ELEPHANT, LAST DAYS and PARANOID PARK. The one thing that MILK does have in common with the
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ji-hun Kim
Starring: Ahn Sung-kee | Kim Sang-kyung | Lee Jun-ki | Lee Yo-won
Jason says: “I don’t know if mentioning the date of May 18th even without including a year has the same immediate, nearly-universal effect on South Koreans that bringing up September 11th has on Americans, but it must strike a chord
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ira Sachs
Starring: Chris Cooper | Patricia Clarkson | Pierce Brosnan | Rachel McAdams
Michael says: “Ira Sachs (FORTY SHADES OF BLUE) leaves his tested theme of outsiders living in the modern-day South and enters 1950s, northwestern suburbia to look at the domestic difficulties of marriage in MARRIED LIFE. The talented acting pair of
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: James Marsh
Chris says: “In 1974, Philippe Petit, an impish, excitable young Frenchman did an impossible thing—he managed to string a tightrope across the roofs of the World Trade Center twin towers and walk on it (although ‘dancing’ seems a more fitting
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Director: Nicholas Fackler
Starring: Adam Scott | Elizabeth Banks | Ellen Burstyn | Martin Landau
Marilyn says: “On Wednesday we saw a sweet, poignant film called LOVELY, STILL, starring Ellen Burstyn and Martin Landau. It is a love story about a couple dealing with the separation caused by Alzheimer’s. It is touching and beautiful. Landau
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Christophe Honoré
Starring: Chiara Mastrioanni | Clothilde Hesme | GrégoireLeprince-Ringuet | LouisGarrel | Ludivine Sagnier
Bruce says: “This film is the type that haunts one’s memory long after seeing it. Audacious and totally unconventional, LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR is an UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG without Michel Legrand. Almost half of the film is sung; at the most
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Amei Wallach | Marion Cajori
Bruce says: “Films about artists often fall short because the filmmaker does not know how to balance the personal life of the artist with the product he or she has created. The two universes seem not to even intersect in
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Julian Schnabel
Bruce says: “Following his years with The Velvet Underground (1965-1970) and his gigantic success with ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ in 1972, Lou Reed recorded ‘Berlin’ in 1973 at the age of 29. The album was a commercial failure. He
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Daniel A. Miller | Jeremy Newberger | Seth Kramer
Jason says: “The situation laid out at the start of THE LINGUISTS sounds familiar from tales of the Amazon rain forest being despoiled; the difference is that instead of unknown animal species being lost, it is ways to communicate. There
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Henrik Dahl | Kåre Hedebrant | Karin Bergquist | Lina Leandersson | Per Ragnar
Jason says: “In short: Best vampire film in a long time, but almost impossible to review without a big-time spoiler for something that happens relatively early on. I don’t know when and how this will actually come out, but you
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Catherine Breillat
Starring: Asia Argento | Claude Sarraute | Fu’ad Ait Aattou | Michael Lonsdale | Roxane Mesquida | Yolande Moreau
Michael says: “A new Catherine Breillat film is always something that sparks my interest, and in her latest film, the first after the director endured a serious stroke, Breillat tries her hand at a period piece… a true costume drama
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner
Starring: Christian Redl | Daniel Brühl | David Kross | Paula Kalenberg | Robert Stadlober
Beth Curran says: “Based on a beloved story/myth/folktale (couldn’t quite get a bead on which) – in 15th century Germany in the midst of plague and the 30 Years War, Krabat is a homeless boy who heeds a mysterious call
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Simon Welsford
Starring: Adam Shaw | Alex Reid | Cal Macaninch | Jamie Draven | Shauna MacDonald
Jason says: “JETSAM certainly opens with a nifty hook – a man and a woman have apparently washed up on the seashore. She checks to see that she still has a USB drive and then looks for him, but he
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Etgar Keret | Shira Geffen
Starring: Gera Sandler | Ilanit Ben Yaakov | Ma-nenita De Latorre | Nikol Leidman | Noa Knoller | Sarah Adler
Michael says: “JELLYFISH won the Golden Camera, and the Screenwriter’s Award at Cannes earlier this year. Now it comes to Toronto, and in a couple of months, the Boston Jewish Film Festival co-presented by Chlotrudis! I didn’t know what to
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Mabrouk El Mechri
Starring: François Damiens | Jean-Claude Van Damme | Karim Belkhadra | Zinedine Soualem
Michael says: “I wonder who came up with the idea of having aging, C-list, action-star Jean-Claude Van Damme make a film comeback playing himself in a pseudo-action film nearly as self-referential as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. Was it a producer trying
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Philippe Claudel
Starring: Elsa Zylberstein | Jean-Claude Arnaud | Kristin Scott Thomas | Laurent Grévill | Serge Hazanavivius
Bruce says: “It is always startling to find an actor who one respects but never would consider brilliant turn in one of the best performances in recent memory. Such is the case with Kristen Scott Thomas. Coincidentally I saw her
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Jamie Babbit
Starring: Carly Pope | Guinevere Turner | Melanie Diaz | Melanie Mayron | Nicole Vicius
Philip says: “Director Jamie Babbit’s, ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE is the cure for any one wondering where all the great new lesbian indy films are. You may recall Babbit’s spoof of the ex-gay movement, BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER (1999). It’s
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow | Jeff Bridges | Leslie Bibb | Robert Downey Jr | Terrence Howard
Michael says: “IRON MAN was big, loud and waaaay overrated. Surprisingly enough, my favorite part was Gwyneth Paltrow’s dignified, slightly goofy (just like the comic book character) portrayal of Pepper Potts. 2 ½ cats.”
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sam Garbarski
Starring: Dorka Gryllus | Jenny Agutter | Kevin Bishop | Marianne Faithfull | Miki Manojlovic | Siobhan Hewlett
Bruce says: “**Spoilers** “It is impossible to write about IRINA PALM without including spoilers. There is no question that this is a film best to see without knowing anything about it. Well, that is, unless you are put off by
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Brendan Gleeson | ColinFarrell | Ralph Fiennes
Toni says: “IN BRUGES is a very unique dark comedy directed by Martin McDonagh who won the Academy Award in 2005 for his Live Action Short, SIX SHOOTER. I say it is very unique because it has some incredibly funny
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