Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima | Miho Kanno | Tatsuya Mihashi
Chris says: “Made before THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI, this is surely one of Takeshi Kitano’s unlikeliest features. Taking a cue from the Japanese tradition of Bunraku puppet plays, the film presents three intertwined love stories based on them. The first
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Bill Murray | Chloe Sevigny | Frances Conroy | Jeffrey Wright | Jessica Lange | Julie Delpy | Sharon Stone | Tilda Swinton
Chris says: “In Jim Jarmusch’s Cannes-winning film, Bill Murray plays Don Johnston, a weathered, aging lothario and terminal bachelor forever explaining to bemused people that his last name is Johnston with a ‘T.’ Shortly after his latest flame, Sherry (Julie
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Neil Jordan
Starring: Brendan Gleeson | Cillian Murphy | Liam Neeson | Ruth Negga | Stephen Rea
Hilary says: “Neil Jordan’s latest film BREAKFAST ON PLUTO is anchored by an excellent performance by Cillian Murphy as Patrick ‘Kitten’ Braden. Kitten’s mission in life is to leave life in his sleepy Irish village behind and go in search
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Daniel Geller | Dayna Goldfine
Michael says: “BALLETS RUSSES does for ballet what BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN YEARS did for Broadway. The film documents the history of the Ballet Russes, the ballet company (and its offshoot) that defines ballet today through archival footage and interviews with
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Eric Chaikin | Julian Patrillo
Michael says: “Shades of SPELLBOUND! This doc focused on 4 contenders for the National Scrabble Championship. The film follows the four as the spend a year preparing for the tournament, both exploring their lives and their Scrabble successes and failures.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Jean-François Pouliot
Starring: Dominik Michon-Dagenais | Guy-Daniel Tremblay | Nadia Drouin | Raymond Bouchard | Réal Bossé | Rita Lafontaine | Roc LaFortune
Michael says: “This charming, French Canadian film is in the vein of WAKING NED DEVINE and CHOCOLAT, in its sweet, inoffensive, feel-good storyline. These films always make me feel slightly uncomfortable when considered in the independent millieu. Why is it
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Bent Hamer
Starring: Bjørn Floberg | Joachim Calmeyer | Tomas Norström
Diane says: “KITCHEN STORIES will be on my nom list for cinematography: lovely palette (1940s hues of greens and browns), nice shots, esp. of low to high or vice versa showing the two characters’–observer and ‘host’–vantage points. The ending got
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Starring: Chulpan Khamatova | Daniel Brühl | Katrin Saß
Janet says: “In this worthwhile film, a young East German man hides the unification of Germany in order to protect his fragile Socialist mother from dying of shock. Like most films that work the premise of going to any length
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Jang Li
Starring: Baoqiang Wang | Qiang Li | Shuangbao Wang
Michael says: “After winning several awards at recent film festivals, including Berlin and Tribeca, this powerful film explores the dark and the light of humanity as embodied by mine workers in China. Song and Tang work the mines, but they
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Fele Martínez | Gabriel García Bernal | Lluís Homar | Pedro Almodóvar
Bruce says: “Because Pedro Almodóvar is so proficient and so accomplished I tend to perhaps expect too much from him. In BAD EDUCATION we see Almodóvar fine-tuning his craft once again, this time turning to suspense and a bit of
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