Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Hiner Saleem
Starring: Ivan Franek | Lala Sarkissian | Romik Avinian
Bruce says: “VODKA LEMON is short on plot but long on atmosphere and political statement. In is winter in Armenia and the small village is covered with heavy snow. It is a dry climate, for most of the people sit
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Mark Dornford-May
Starring: Andile Tshoni | Lungelwa Blou | Pauline Malefane
Michael says: “There have been many film versions of Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, but U-CARMEN EKHAYELITSHA must certainly be one of the most vivid, enthralling, and satisfying to date. Director Dornford-May first presented this African Carmen on stage with the
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Rating: 4.2 cats
Director: Michael Cuesta
Starring: Annabella Sciorra | Conor Donovan | Jayne Atkinson | Jeremy Renner | Jesse Camancho | Linus Roache | Marcia DeBonis | Zoe Weizenbaum
Chris says: “As I watched Michael Cuesta’s subtly audacious follow-up to L.I.E., I was continually anxious. The film sets up and courts so many potential wrong turns (dubious ones that Todd Solondz would probably gleefully travel down), but then constantly
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Starring: Abdol Rahman Karim | Avaz Latif | Soran Ebrahim
Michael says: “I think trailers for foreign films about children with English-language voiceover should be BANNED! TURTLES CAN FLY follows NOBODY KNOWS with a trailer that waxes poetic about nobility, hope, inspiration… in over-sentimentalized, lyrical prose when the truth is,
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring: Banlop Lomnoi | Huai Dessom | Sakda Kaewbuadee
Chris says: “This Thai film begins as a generally straightforward, refreshingly matter-of-fact gay romance between Keng, a soldier, and Tong, a young man from the provinces. This goes on for about an hour, building up a heady sense of erotic
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Takashi Nakamura
Starring: Akiko Hiramatsu | Megumi Toyoguchi
Michael says: “I’ve been trying to keep up with 2005 films I’ve missed in the theatre by catching them on DVD when they appear. The most recent in this category is a bit of Japanese anime entitled A TREE OF
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Khyentse Norbu
Starring: Lhakpa Dorji | Sonam Lhamo | Tsewang Dandup
Beth C. says: “TRAVELLERS & MAGICIANS uses the popular ‘story-within-a-story’ method to present a character’s moral crisis within the context of other people who have gone through similar struggles. I found this film to be enjoyable and entertaining for the
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Benoît Jacquot
Starring: Isild Le Besco | Laurence Cordier | Nicolas Duvauchelle | Ouassini Embarek
Bruce says: “The French really know how to capture self-absorption. When it works for me as in the current LOOK AT ME, it is a joy. Other recent films such as RED LIGHTS, LOVE ME IF YOU DARE, KINGS AND
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Pablo Berger
Starring: Candela Peña | Fernando Tejero | Javier Cámara | Juan Diego | Mads Mikkelsen | Malena Alterio | Ramón Barea
Hilary says: “Struggling door-to-door encyclopedia salesman Alfredo’s (Javier Camara, TALK TO HER, BAD EDUCATION) boss, Don Carlos (Juan Diego), offers him a choice: participate in a series of ‘educational’ films the encyclopedia company will be producing for their Scandinavian market,
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Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Jun Ichikawa
Starring: Issei Ogata | Rie Miyazawa
Michael says: “In the tradition of Tsai Ming Liang’s masterful WHAT TIME IS IT THERE, Jun Ichikawa’s TONY TAKITANI is a tale of loneliness filled with gorgeous imagery and moments of sudden humor. Tony’s mother died in childbirth, and he
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Mike Mills
Starring: Benjamin Bratt | Keanu Reeves | Lou Taylor Pucci | Tilda Swinton | Vincent D'Onofrio
Michael says: “Mike Mills’ THUMBSUCKER is a coming-of-age film that features some terrific performances but doesn’t really say anything new. Justin is a senior in high school who still sucks his thumb when he is stressed. He’s on the debate
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Starring: Chang Chen | Di Mei | Liao Su-jen | Mei Fang | Shu Qi
Bruce says: “Hou Hsaio-hsien covers three different decades within the last 100 years. The actors Qi Shu and Chen Chang play the lead characters in all three vignettes. ‘A Time for Love’ begins with a game of pool while the
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Rating: 1.75
Director: Donal Logue
Starring: Donal Logue | Jason Isaacs | Kirk Fox | Stephen Dorff
Scot says: “I really did write this outside the Brattle before the film’s climax occurred, but found that I couldn’t send via my Blackberry: “One of the worst films I’ve seen in recent years. Actually, I am outside the Brattle
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Mark Wexler
Bruce says: “TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE is a documentary about the filmmaker Haskell Wexler, a two time Oscar winner for cinematography, directed by his son Mark Wexler. Part way through TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE one of the talking
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ji-woon Kim
Starring: Geun-yeung Mun | Jung-ah Yum | Su-jeong Lim
Michael says: “I am a fan of the Asian ‘hair horror’ genre kicked off so wonderfully several years ago by RINGU. Strangely enough, so does the American movie market. A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is a Korean entry into the
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Avi Lewis
Michael says: “Continuing the trend of political or socially conscious films, the Canadian team of writer Naomi Klein and director Avi Lewis (both political activists – Klein appeared in THE CORPORATION) offer their first documentary, THE TAKE. This sometimes powerful,
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: William Eggleston
Bruce says: “Robert Gordon who has worked with Eggleston for many years, edited over 30 hours of film into a 76 minute film. The footage Gordon edited is the only non-still photography that Eggleston has taken on. He passionately pursued
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Paula Yates
Bruce says: “As political documentaries go STATE OF FEAR is absolutely compelling and nearly perfect. Using the twenty year reign of terror in Peru from 1980-2000, director Pamela Yates explores how terrorism in Peru led to the erosion of democracy.
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Anna Paquin | Jeff Daniels | Jesse Eisenberg | Laura Linney
Michael says: “Noah Baumbach’s look at an intellectual family coming apart at the seams is funny and mildly horrifying at the same time. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney play a pair of authors with two children. Daniels’ Bernard Berkham is
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Fien Troch
Starring: Jan Decleir | Josse De Pauw | Natali Broods
Bruce says: “SOMEONE ELSE’S HAPPINESS is a story of loss, guilt and suspicion. The opening shots are gorgeous; a sudden thud is heard and the camera pans to a child who is struggling to get up alongside a road but
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