Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Dario Grandinetti | Javier Cámara | Leonor Watling | Rosario Flores
Michael says: “A group of us saw Pedro Almodovar’s sublime TALK TO HER last night. That Spanish director’s eye for creating exquisite visual portraits using the language of film just keeps growing. Each scene is so carefully crafted, and his
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Paul Justman
Laura says: “This documentary about the legendary Funk Brothers, who were the studio musicians for all of Motown’s Detroit era hits, was the one I expected to topple GIGANTIC off the top of my doc list, but it didn’t quite
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sarah Polley
Starring: Julian Richings | Kristen Thomson | Matthew Ferguson
Michael says: “I wanted to just say a few words about Sarah’s short film, I SHOUT LOVE. I felt it was quite an accomplished, entertaining, and effective effort from a novice director. Sarah did a terrific job merging the very
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Dylan Kidd
Starring: Campbell Scott | Elizabeth Berkley | Isabella Rossellini | Jesse Eisenberg
Laura says: “Ad exec Roger (Campbell Scott) delights his coworkers and boss and secret lover Joyce (Isabella Rossellini) with his witty rationale on why women will take over the world during a boozy bistro session, but a later visit to
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Yang Zhang
Starring: Fengsen Jia | Hongshen Jia | Shun Xing | Tong Wang | Xiuling Chai
Michael says: “Zhang, whose last film was the family, feel-good film SHOWER, tackles a difficult subject with creativity and insight in QUITTING. Focusing on a troubled young man struggling with drug addiction and the sweeping changes occurring in contemporary China,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mark Pellington
Starring: Debra Messing | Laura Linney | Richard Gere | Will Patton
Laura says: “Gere is good as the grieving widower intent on discovering what his link is to the shadowy things which his wife experienced. He may be onto a startling journalistic piece or he may be losing his mind. He
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Claude Chabrol
Starring: Anna Mouglalis | Isabelle Huppert | Jacques Dutronc | Rodolphe Pauly
Laura says: “Septuagenarian Chabrol, long known as the French Hitchcock, knows how to utilize Huppert’s cool brand of calculation. Their seventh collaboration is both as twisty and as obvious as the black web Mika literally spins with her crochet needle.
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ray Lawrence
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia | Barbara Hershey | Geoffrey Rush | Kerry Armstrong | Leah Purcell | Rachel Blake
Diane says: “An excruciating round robin of infidelities in Sydney, combined with a murder mystery. For some reason, I was expecting a lighter film, but there’s no respite to be had here. “LANTANA is striking in its manipulation of the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Dylan Haggerty | Kelsy Kemper | Raymond J. Barry | Renee Faia
Laura says: “Unemployed San Bernadino cameraman Ron Kobeleski (Dylan Haggerty) has his life turned around and his family placed in jeopardy by the simple act of meeting retired neighbor Walter Ohlinger (Raymond Barry). The video document Ron’s requested of Walter
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: George Ratliff
Michael says: “Scot and I traveled to a place that is thoroughly alien to me tonight: a Pentacostal church in Texas. Director George Ratliff has constructed a fascinating film about Texas’ infamous ‘Hell House.’ This haunted house, now running over
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