Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Sanyuan Peng
Starring: Andy Lau | Boran Jing | Sandra Kwan Yue Ng | Tony Ka Fai Leung
Thom says: “It’s rather disconcerting to me that this excellent film from China took such a circuitous route to my viewing pleasure. First-time director Peng might have been a minor problem, but must-see Andy Lau is an in international superstar.
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Radu Jude
Starring: Dana Marineci | Ivana Mladenovic | Lucian Teodor Rus | Serban Pavu
Thom says: “I’m roaring around my brain trying to discover who recommended this superlative film fare to me. While Jude is an established director in Romania I’ve only seen one of his 7 other full-length fiction films AFERIM!, which didn’t
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Julia Reichert | Steven Bognar
Starring: Junming 'Jimmy' Wang | Robert Allen | Sherrod Brown
Diane says: “I guess I was mistaken that AMERICAN FACTORY was eligible, but anyway… This documentary played me like a pinball. It brought out my prejudices, made me question my values, and gave me a lot of angst. Directors Bognar
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Christian Sonderegger
Starring: Coby | Ellen Richard-Hunt | Jacob Hunt | Sara Mound
Thom says: “I had seen Coby previously in an episode of QUOTIDIEN and was won over by his boyish charm. This telling documentary expands on the theme of the transformation of Coby from a 21-year-old female to a 21-year-old male,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Luis Bunuel
Starring: Alfonso Mejía | Estela Inda | Miguel Inclan | Roberto Cobo
Thom says: “Expect these further lapses as age rears its ugly head, but I was perusing new offerings on Prime Video and ran across THE YOUNG & THE DAMNED. From the 1950 date I recognized it to be from Bunuel’s
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza
Starring: Alejandro Castillo | Celine Reymond | Luis Alarcón | Marko Zaror
Jason says: “It is, perhaps, possible to tell just how well-done a parody is by how long it’s able to convince you that it’s the real thing. MANDRILL presents an exceptionally straight face, to the extent that it can come
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hun Jang
Jason says: “SECRET REUNION starts out like a spy movie, the sort they don’t set in the present day anymore because the Cold War has ended everywhere but Korea and Cuba (although from the recent news about a busted Russian
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Banjong Pisanthanakun | Parkpoom Wongpoom | Paween Purikitpanya | Songyos Sugmakanan | Visute Poolvoralaks
Jason says: “The first PHOBIA (called 4BIA in festival programs) was a sort of sampler, offering up four short horror stories from four different directors, also tending toward different types of horror. The follow-up anthology brings the number of stories
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Tae-gyun Kim
Starring: Asami Mizukawa | Dai Watanabe | Motoki Fukami | Tomohisa Yuge
Jason says: “It’s tough not to get just a little excited during the opening sequence of HIGANJIMA, because it makes a thoroughly enjoyable statement: That putting a stake through a vampire’s heart is for people who aren’t truly committed to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Danny Mulheron | Donna Ackersten | Mark Hadlow | Peter Vere-Jones | Ross Jolly | Stuart Devenie
Thom says: “This film was so over-the-top in so many delicious ways and it was totally unexpected. It’s currently unavailable on NetFlix but I came across it at my DVD store and since I’ve had such great luck in the
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