Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Ivan Vyrypayev
Starring: Maksim Ushakov | Mikhail Okunev | Polina Agureyeva
Bruce says: “Aside from two or three lovely moments, EUPHORIA is a rather grim and dreary film. Filmed on the steppes of Russia, the terrain is bleak and the story, bleaker. After meeting Vera at a wedding months earlier, Pavel
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Jude Law | Juliette Binoche | Robin Wright Penn | Vera Farmiga
Bruce says: “It’s hard to image how a film with so much potential could leave one feeling totally empty but Anthony Minghella’s flat, soulless BREAKING AND ENTERING does just that. Minghella’s script is the basic problem. It is obvious where
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Catherine Martin
Beth says: “Directed by French-Canadian Catherine Martin, this documentary was focused on a once remote part of Quebec called Charlesvoix. 30 years ago a photographer recorded images of the people and the places of this area, and Martin went back
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
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: 2 cats
Director: Josh Sternfeld
Starring: Aaron Stanford | Allison Janney | Anthony LaPaglia | Mark Webber
Diane says: “Quel disappointment! This story of a father and two sons five years after the mother’s death is a Sundance sponsored film, written and directed by Josh Sternfeld. My guess is that Sternfeld shot three times as many scenes
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
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
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Anand Tucker
Starring: Claire Danes | Jason Schwartzmann | Steve Martin
Chris says: “Why, why, why do I get all hyped up about adaptations of my favorite books, since they rarely turn out well? Steve Martin’s novella surprised me, not only by being so unexpectedly bittersweet, but also in the way
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Hye-jeong Kang | Ji-tae Yu | Min-sik Choi
Thom says: “I’m really quite curious why this film has been so lauded. With Quentin Tarentino having long established the hatred and insidiousness of the ‘revenge’ film, this had the dubious distinction of trying to go one step further. This
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Gus Van Zant
Starring: Asia Argento | Lukas Haas | Michael Pitt | Nicole Vicius | Ricky Jay | Scott Patrick Green
Bruce says: “What worked so well in Gus Van Sant’s ELEPHANT – the revisiting of scenes and events until the viewer had total familiarity with the film’s terrain and understanding of the motivation of the main characters – does not
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Chris Terrio
Starring: Glenn Close | James Marsden | lizabeth Banks
Hilary says: “I am relieved to read that Ismail Merchant was working on another film at the time of his death. I would be terribly sad if that this Hollywood-Normative-in-indie-clothing was his last credit. The plot (such as it is)
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