Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
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
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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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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lionel Baier
Starring: Khaled Khouri | Natacha Koutchoumov | Pierre Chatagny | Rui Alves
Bruce says: “Unlike most gay coming of age stories, GARÇON STUPIDE is not concerned with a sexual identity crisis or gaining acceptance about being gay. Loïc (Pierre Chatagny), a twenty year old Swiss boy loves the fact that he is
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Ari Graynor | Bebe Neuwirth | Griffin Dunne | Jr. | Michael Keaton | Robert Downey
Michael says: “This quirky film is reminiscent one of production team Griffin Dunne and Amy Robinson’s earlier collaborations, AFTER HOURS. Director Hoffman takes a darkly humorous look at the world of theater and the passion of the Boston Red Sox
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Patrice Chéreau
Starring: Claudia Coli | Isabelle Huppert | Pascal Greggory
Bruce says: “GABRIELLE is based on Joseph Conrad’s short story ‘The Return’ considered an anomaly by anyone familiar with his works of fiction, which mostly depict various aspects of adventurous seafaring life and occasionally take jabs at European imperialism. Conrad
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Catherine Keener | Frances McDormand | Jennifer Anniston | Joan Cusack
Michael says: “I really enjoy Nicole Holofcener’s films. Beginning with the brilliant WALKING & TALKING, and LOVELY & AMAZING I find it so delightfully refreshing to see smart films written and directed by a woman, focusing on women, and with
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Amos Gitai
Starring: Carmen Maura | Hana Laszlo | Hiam Abbass | Natalie Portman
Michael says: “FREE ZONE is Amos Gitai’s latest film, illuminating life in Israel and all its strife from a decidedly female point of view. The story revolves around three women, an Israeli, an American living in Israel, and a Palestinian
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Donna Murphy | Ellen Burstyn | Hugh Jackman | Mark Margolis | Rachel Weisz | Stephen McHattie
Bruce says: “THE FOUNTAIN, a barely likeable film, is an overly ambitious opus about love and death that takes place in the past, the present and future. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play Isabel and Tomas in the days of
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Ralph Arlyck
Bruce says: “Ralph Arlyck made a fifteen minute short film in 1969 called SEAN. The film was an interview with year old Sean Farrell. It screened with François Truffaut’s L’ENFANT SAUVAGE and Arlyck proudly displays a congratulatory note he received
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Adam Beach | Jesse Bradford | Ryan Phillippe
Bruce says: “I happen to respect Clint Eastwood as a filmmaker. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is nothing short of magnificent. While my expectations were low going into FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, I was not fully prepared in spite of all
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jeff Zimbalist | Matt Mochary
Bruce says: “This enjoyable film follows a group of young men who eschew the gangster life of the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro by turning to music instead of crime. FAVELA RISING is a good companion piece to BUS
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Director: Ash Christian
Starring: Ash Christian | Ashley Fink | Deborah Theaker | Jonathan Caouette
Michael says: “Our next film picked up on some of the bible-belt conflicts, but wrapped them in a teen comedy with a gay twist. FAT GIRLS is the directorial debut of 21-year-old, Texasn, Ash Christian. This refreshing tale may seem
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Avril Lavigne | Bobby Cannavale | Catalina Sandino Moreno | Ethan Hawke | Greg Kinnear | Paul Dano | Wilmer Valderrama
Bruce says: “Being a fan of Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, I was looking forward to Richard Linklater’s fictionalized version of Schlosser’s multiple exposés of the fast food industry, the Colorado meat packing industry, and the US immigration policies (or
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Daniel Burman
Starring: Arturo Goetz | Daniel Hendler | Julieta Diaz
Bruce says: “Daniel Burman’s FAMILY LAW is the third film in a trilogy about the meaning of family. In each film (WAITING FOR THE MESSIAH and LOST EMBRACE were the first two) a young man named Ariel (Daniel Hendler) is
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Ellen Perry
Bruce says: “Campaigning against the Shining Path terrorists, Alberto Fujimori abolished congress, and created a court system in which enemies of the state were tried and sentenced by hooded judges. In a matter of months Fujimori transformed Peru from a
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