Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.8 cats
Director: Ari Aster
Starring: Archie Madekwe | Ellora Torchia | Florence Pugh | Gunnel Fred | Jack Reynor | Vilhelm Blomgren | Will Poulter | William Jackson Harper
Thom says: Last year Ari Aster appeared out of nowhere with his first feature the terrifying HEREDITARY which ended up my favorite film of 2018. So I had enormous expectations for MIDSOMMAR & the viewing actually exceeded them. I was
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Lynn Shelton
Starring: Dan Bakkedahl | Jillian Bell | Jon Bass | Lynn Shelton | Marc Maron | Michaela Watkins | Toby Huss
Chris says: “Lynn Shelton’s first feature in five years (she’s directed a lot of TV in the interim) might be her best. Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and her partner Mary (Michaela Watkins) return to the former’s hometown of Birmingham, Alabama to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Lulu Wang
Starring: Awkwafina | Diana Lim | Jim Liu | Shuzhen Zhao | Tzi Ma
Chris says: “Putting aside its novel narrative hook (‘based on an actual lie”), THE FAREWELL is the latest in a long tradition of family wedding films; it’s also one of the more relatable, realistic depictions of such I’ve seen in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Samuel Maoz
Starring: Lior Ashkenazi | Sarah Adler | Yonaton Shiray
Chris says: “Despite the title-referencing dance step, where one always ends up in the same place where one started, this is continually unpredictable to a degree most other films are not. The extended mid-section swaps the bookending domestic melodrama for
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Chang-dong Lee
Starring: Ah-in Yoo | Jong-seo Jun | Seong-kun Mun | Seung-ho Choi | Soo-Kyung Kim | Steven Yeun
Brett says: “This piece is a sort of ‘Hitchcock re-imagined’ film that slowly burns away at the viewer’s sensitivities and perceptions. At the center of the film is a hint of a love triangle among a part-time delivery boy Jong-su, an
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Director: Simon Baker
Starring: Ben Spence | Elizabeth Debicki | Richard Roxburgh | Samson Coulter | Simon Baker
Julie says: “‘Being afraid is half the fun,’ or is it ? Coming of age surf movie with some depth beneath the surface. “Atmospheric, moody, great cinematography and performances by newcomers Samson Coulter and Ben Spence as well as seasoned actor
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Robin Campillo
Starring: Adele Haenel | Aloïse Sauvage | Antoine Reinartz | Arnaud Valois | Coralie Russier | Félix Maritaud | Nahuel Pérez Biscayart
Thom says: “I distinctly thought I’d like this film much more than I actually did. I’d be a total idiot to question its sincerity or even its verisimilitude but this film about the early days of the Act-Up agitprop movement in
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 3.9
Director: Joel Edgerton
Starring: Cherry Jones | Frank Hoyt Taylor | Joel Edgerton | Lucas Hedges | Madelyn Cline | Nicole Kidman | Russell Crowe | Xavier Dolan
Thom says: “This is a very good achievement by director Joel Edgerton, the Australian actor, in this his second feature after THE GIFT (2015) which was just OK. I loved how he used his compatriots Kidman & Crowe in this largely
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Eero Milonoff | Eva Melander | Jörgen Thorsson
Chris says: “From the writer of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, a contemporary fable about Tina (Eva Melander), a somewhat dumpy middle-aged guard for the Swedish border patrol who is excellent in her job, mostly due to her intense, visceral, almost superhuman
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ethan Hawke
Chris says: “An unconventional biopic (mostly because it’s about someone you’ve never heard of), it features a trio of notable performances, one expected (Alia Shawkat, more impressive with each role she appears in) and one unexpected (musician Charlie Sexton is pretty
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