Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Starring: Anong Houngheuangsy | Kang-sheng Lee
Chris says: “Tsai Ming-liang’s a filmmaker who tends to make the same kind of picture over and over, like Yasujiro Ozu (to name one of his precursors) or Hong Sang-Soo (a contemporary.) This isn’t a deterrent, for nearly three decades
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Howard Hawks
Starring: Dolores Moran | Hoagy Carmichael | Humphrey Bogart | Lauren Bacall | Sheldon Leonard | Walter Brennan | Walter Szurovy
Michael says: “After a slight slip with KEY LARGO, we’re back in business. Set in Martinque during WWII, Harry Morgan is an Amiercan ex-pat who reluctantly transports a leader in the French Resistance and his wife to the island, all
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Bruce McDonald
Starring: Allan Hawco | Cathy Jones | Dylan Authors | Julia Sarah Stone | Molly Parker | Rhys Bevan-John | Vi Tang
Michael says: “What a delightful surprise when Chris told me about this charming Canadian film from 2016, written by Chlotrudis pal Daniel MacIvor, directed by the prolific Bruce McDonald, and featuring the magnificent Molly Parker in a supporting role. Set
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Alexis Ostrander
Bruce says: “DEFINING BEAUTY: MS. WHEELCHAIR AMERICA does little to deviate from the standard format for documentaries about contests. From the onset we follow the paths of five contestants who are vying for the title of Ms. Wheelchair America in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Autumn de Wilde
Starring: Angus Imrie | Anya Taylor-Joy | Bill Nighy | Gemma Whelan | Johnny Flynn | Letty Thomas | Miranda Hart | Rupert Graves
Michael says: “Did we need yet another adaptation of Jane Austen’s popular novel Emma? Probably not. Did I thoroughly enjoy Eleanor Catton’s 2020 adaptation of said classic comedy of manners directed by Autumn de Wilde? Yes, I did, despite myself.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Starring: Anne-Marie Jelinek | Ibrahima Boy Bernard Delbard | Mbissine Thérèse Diop | Momar Nar Sene | Nicole Donati | Robert Fontaine
Michael says: “Known as the father of African film, Ousmane Sembene made a bold directorial debut in1966 with the spare but withering commentary in BLACK GIRL. The original French title of the film is La noire de…, which means ‘The black girl of…’,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Bernard Rose
Starring: Chloe Sevigny | Crispin Glover | David Thewlis | Elsa Pataky | Rhys Ifans
Thom says: “Surveying director Rose’s rather run-of-the-mill curriculum vitae (IMMORTAL BELOVED, PAPERHOUSE, CANDYMAN, etc.), I had no reason to suspect I’d enjoy this film so much & would have probably passed on it were it not featuring the indomitable Ms.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jean Cocteau | René Clément
Starring: Jean Marais | Josette Day | Marcel André | Michel Auclair | Mila Parély | Nane Germon | Raoul Marco
Michael says: “After seeing ORPHEUS, I had to finally check out BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, the film that first put Jean Cocteau on the map, and his first feature length directorial narrative. Released in 1946, this French romantic fantasy film
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Peter Yates
Starring: Charlotte Rae | George Segal | Moses Gunn | Paul Sand | Robert Redford | Ron Leibman | Topo Swope | William Redfield
Chris says: “Super fun heist flick where Robert Redford’s self-seriousness greatly benefits from playing off the quirkier likes of George Segal, Ron Leibman and the ever-underrated Paul Sand. It has neither the grit nor the gravitas of director Peter Yates’
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: David Hemmings | Gillian Hills | Jane Birkin | John Castle | Peter Bowles | Sarah Miles | Vanessa Redgrave | Veruschka von Lehndorff
Michael says: “Continuing my odyssey to fill some of the gaps in my movie-viewing history, I caught up with Michelangelo Antonioni’s BLOW-UP. Released in 1966, BLOW-UP, while superficially a mystery of sorts, is really a curiously mysterious, visually stunning look at
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