Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: James Longley
Bruce says: “I would recommend this film for groups of people to see together, not so they might learn something new but as a catalyst for discussion on Iraq and its future. To adequately discuss the future one must necessarily
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Beatrice Dalle | Grégoire Colin | Michel Subor | Yekaterina Golubeva
Bruce says: “SPOILER ALERT! Anyone who has been to a car show knows about concept cars. L’INTRUS is a film equivalent: a concept film. Finished less than a week before its world premiere in Toronto, L’INTRUS was inspired by the
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Cassandra Freeman | Chiwetel Ejiofor | Christopher Plummer | Clive Owen | Denzel Washington | Jodie Foster | Peter Kybart | Willem Dafoe
Bruce says: “Spike Lee is one of four directors who have defined New York City on film over the past six decades. The others are Woody Allen, Sidney Lumet, and Martin Scorsese. Early in Lee’s career it appeared he was
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Starring: Bérangère Haubruge | Lea Bridarolli | Zoé Auclair
Michael says: “There is a lovely sense of foreboding and mystery in INNOCENCE, but the failure of the film to deliver any sort of payoff make it one of the losers of the festival. Director Lucile Hadzihalilovic is the girlfriend
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Grace Zabriskie | Harry Dean Stanton | Jeremy Irons | Justin Theroux | Laura Dern | Peter J. Lucas
Chris says: “Instead of a filming a completed screenplay, David Lynch took a piecemeal approach to making INLAND EMPIRE: encouraged by the physical freedom a toy-sized digital video camera allows, he would think of an idea, write it down, and
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Bruce says: “For the past twenty years Al Gore has been pursuing environmental issues and he has spent the past seven years touring the world with his environmental lectures focused on global warming. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, based on Gore’s road
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ol Parker
Starring: Lena Headey | Matthew Goode | Piper Perabo
Michael says: “What would you do if moments before saying ‘I do’ at your wedding, you lock eyes with your soul mate, and it’s not the man you’re marrying. To complicate matters, it happens to be a woman and you’re
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Caveh Zahedi
Starring: Anastasia Gershman | Caveh Zahedi | Emily Morse | Greg Watkins | Lindsey Tjian | Rebecca Lord | Stephanie Carwin
Michael says: “Caveh Zahedi is a bit of a cult figure in the independent film world. Many people first saw him as an animated character in Richard Linklater’s WAKING LIFE. He was involved in a pivotal conversation about ‘the holy
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Andrucha Waddington
Starring: Fernanda Montenegro | Fernanda Torres | Seu Jorge
Michael says: “Brazilian filmmaker Andrucha Waddington’s visual tour de force HOUSE OF SAND takes advantage of the spectacular, desolate landscape of the desert dunes in Northern Brazil, but benefits even more from the unparalleled acting of its two leads actresses,
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Yôji Yamada
Starring: Masatoshi Nagase | Takako Matsu | Yukiyoshi Ozawa
Michael says: “With over 60 films under is directorial belt, Yôji Yamada follows up his Chlotrudis Award nominated TWILIGHT SAMURAI with this lovely film THE HIDDEN BLADE. Munezo, like Seibei, the title character in TWILIGHT SAMURAI, is a true samurai
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Heinz Bütler
Bruce says: “According to Cartier-Bresson photography is all about geometry and structure. During the course of the film, Cartier-Bresson looks at his photos with great pleasure and affection and often explains their cultural context to the camera. His photographs often
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Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Laurent Cantet
Starring: Charlotte Rampling | Karen Young | Louise Portal
Michael says: “Laurent Cantet follows up his compelling TIME OUT with a complex tale of political, sexual, and racial issues set in Haiti. Three middle-aged, American women spend extended time at a resort in Haiti where their every need is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Kevin Willmott
Starring: Ellen Page | Patrick Wilson | Sandra Oh
Michael says: “It’s difficult reviewing a film that has been so anticipated, and has been much discussed and speculated about for months before its actual release. Fortunately, HARD CANDY is a film, that while not perfect, lives up to the
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring: Junichi Okada | Rie Miyazawa | Tadanobu Asano
Beth says: “Kore-eda’s newest. He was there, and spoke eloquently before the film (I couldn’t stay for the Q&A). He basically said, ‘this is my first period piece, I wanted to do a samurai film that sort of felt the
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Starring: Hedye Tehrani | Ismail Ghaffari | Kambiz Arshi
Beth says: “Apologies I don’t have a reference nearby and don’t exactly remember the director’s name, but he did TURTLES CAN FLY, a previous TIFF favorite. Like all of his films, this one dealt with the lives of the Kurdish
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ryan Fleck
Starring: Anthony Mackie | Ryan Gosling | Shareeka Epps
Chris says: “Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling), a young, white history teacher and girls’ basketball coach in a mostly black Brooklyn middle school would seem like the ideal mentor. Eschewing the required curriculum, he genuinely inspires his students to think about
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Danny Leiner
Starring: Edie Falco | Maggie Gyllenhaal | Olympia Dukakis | Tony Shaloub
Michael says: “GREAT NEW WONDERFUL is being billed as a 9/11 comedy, and the film is funny, and is also tangentially about the events of September 11, 2001, but for me this film falls squarely into the category of drama
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Sofie Fillières
Starring: Bruno Todeschini | Bulle Ogier | Emmanuelle Devos | Lambert Wilson | Michael Lonsdale
Bruce says: “This film is the story of Fontaine Leglou (Emmanuelle Devos) who is caught by surprise when the man she lives with (Bruno Todeschini) proposes marriage. Why is it so difficult to say ‘yes’ to what every woman is
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Rating: 2.25
Director: Joseph F. Lovett
Michael says: “This brief documentary takes a look at a very delineated period of time; when gay men embraced their sexuality with relish. This era begins with the Stonewall riots in 1967 and ends with the coming of A.I.D.S. in
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Otar Iosseliani
Starring: Jacynthe Jacquet | Otar Iosseliani | Séverin Blanchet
Bruce says: “Friends or acquaintances often groan when the topic of French cinema is raised. I’m mostly puzzled by anyone who categorically dismisses French cinema. GARDENS IN AUTUMN is a film which helps me understand that position. Director Iosseliani has
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