Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Kirby Dick
Michael says: “This entertaining, well-constructed film examines the origins, roles, and corruption of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the organization that provides films with their ratings. Dick is thorough in his investigation. He interviews dozens of filmmakers about
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Robin Campillo
Starring: Catherine Samie | Djemel Barek | Frédéric Pierrot | Géraldine Pailhas | Jonathan Zaccaï | Marie Matheron
Michael says: “French cinema has been delving into such societal issues as traditional home and work life in recent years in such films as Laurent Cantet’s L’EMPLOI DU TEMPS and HUMAN RESOURCES. Now, in his bold directorial debut, Robin Campillo,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: James Marsh
Starring: Gael García Bernal | Laura Harring | Pell James | William Hurt
Chris says: “In one of his first (good) English-speaking roles, Gael Garcia Bernal is a young man who has just finished a stint in the US Navy. Named Elvis (hence the film’s ironic title), he rolls into Corpus Christi, Texas,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Starring: Aaron Eckhart | David Koechner | Katie Holmes | Maria Bello | Rob Lowe | Robert Duvall | William H. Macy
Chris says: “This satire about a slick lobbyist for the tobacco industry (perfectly embodied by Aaron Eckhart) isn’t nearly as subversive or edgy as it thinks it is. Actually, it plays like a less eccentric, dumbed-down version of I HEART
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sergio Rubini
Starring: Fabrizio Bentivoglio | Massimo Venturiello | Paolo Briguglia
Bruce says: “Sergio Rubini has acted in over 50 films including THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. He is also in his own film LA TERRA playing the most odious creature in the film. This is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Eran Riklis
Starring: Adnan Tarabshi | Ashraf Barhom | Evelyn Kaplun | Eyad Sheety | Hiam Abbass | Makram Khoury
Bruce says: “The setting of THE SYRIAN BRIDE is the Golan Heights where the Syrian population numbered 147,000 when captured by Israel in1967. Held under military authority until 1981, Israel offered citizenship or permanent residency to the residents. Today the
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Ali Selim
Starring: Alan Cumming | Elizabeth Reaser | Tim Guinee
Michael says: “This independent film has the feel of a studio picture, with a straight-forward narrative, that hits all the right moments and hammers them home. Basically a nostalgia piece, telling the tale of a young German woman who came
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jonathan Dayton | Valerie Faris
Starring: Abigail Breslin | Alan Arkin | Beth Grant | Greg Kinnear | Paul Dano | Steve Carrell | Toni Collette
Beth C. says: “This film did an excellent job by bringing together a broad range of comedic talent. The film was by most standards a formulaic American summer comedy. But, that’s OK! Because as long as the jokes are funny
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Dustin Hoffman | Emma Thompson | Maggie Gyllenhaal | Queen Latifah | Will Ferrell
Michael says: “Despite rather major concessions to plot, and the fact that Scot and I came up with better motivations for certain characters to make the plot work better, I found STRANGER THAN FICTION to be a valiant piece of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Rebecca Dreyfus
Michael says: “Despite the local interest and fascinating subject; the notorious art-theft at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, STOLEN proves the adage, ‘there’s not much there there.’ Director Rebecca Dreyfus focuses on famous art-theft detective Harold J. Smith, who could
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jeff Stanzler
Starring: Aasif Mandvi | Abdel Kechiche | Elodie Bouchez | Robin Wright Penn | Sandra Oh
Bruce says: “The strangeness of this film’s title matches the tenor of the film. SORRY, HATERS is one of the most disturbing, unsettling films I’ve seen. With two sensational performances by Robin Wright Penn and Abdel Kechiche the film is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: Abbie Cornish | Damian De Montemas | Hollie Andrew | Lynette Curran | Olivia Pigeot | Sam Worthington
Michael says: “SOMERSAULT is a little Australian film that had a brief run earlier this year (yes, it’s eligible) but is now available on DVD. Director Cate Shortland’s debut feature is Heidi’s coming-of-age tale; where a young woman begins discovering
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Malcolm Ingram
Chris says: “Contrary to what popular television shows like Will and Grace tell us, not all gay people live in hip, urbane neighborhoods. Malcolm Ingram’s documentary counters this stereotype by chronicling two gay bars in backwoods Mississippi. One, Rumors, stands
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Haskell Wexler
Bruce says: “Haskell Wexler has quite a reputation. He has won two Oscars for BOUND FOR GLORY and WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? He achieved cult status with MEDIUM COOL, a feature film using the 1968 Democratic Convention riots in
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sydney Pollack
Bruce says: “Sydney Pollock is an experienced, award-winning filmmaker. Until SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY, all of his films have been feature films, not a single documentary in his portfolio. What made him make this film? Gehry and Pollock have been
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Florence Ayisi | Kim Longinotto
Michael says: “To kick off the Spring 2006 edition of the Sunday Eye-Opener, we enjoyed a terrific and inspiring documentary about the court system in Cameroon, Africa. This particular court tackles such cases as divorce, abuse and rape, and the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: David Zeiger
Bruce says: “FTA…Fun, Travel Adventure…Foxtrot, Tango Alpha…Fuck The Army. That is the evolution of the initials that were first used as an Army recruiting slogan in the early Vietnam years. As the war escalated and the troops began to see
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Caroline Neal
Bruce says: “SI SOS BRUJO is a film about efforts, led by cellist Ignacio Varchausky, to preserve tango by a small group of musicians in Buenos Aires. Varchausky is determined that the great tango composers, each having their own recognizably
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Barbara Kopple | Cecila Peck
Michael says: “I’m a sucker for a good music documentary. Barbara Kopple and Cecila Peck were given a gift three years ago, and they have weaved that gift into a smart, compelling, entertaining documentary about the biggest-selling female band of
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Jay Brannan | Justin Bond | Lindsay Beamish | Paul Dawson | PJ DeBoy | Raphael Barker | Sook-Yin Lee
Peter says: “With his new film SHORTBUS, John Cameron Mitchel again demonstrates why he is one of the most innovative writer/directors in independent film today. Mitchell, who also wrote, directed and starred in HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH this time
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