Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Heather Lenz
Thom says: “This is they type of documentary that rings all my bells. It’s the life story of now hugely successful Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose work now pops the million dollar ceiling, but for years she suffered through bouts
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: James Kent
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård | Fionn O'Shea | Flora Thiemann | Jack Laskey | Jason Clarke | Keira Knightley | Monika Foris Kvasnicková
Thom says: “It’s post-WWII Hamburg where a colonel is there with his family to help with Reconstruction and they move into a house still populated by the German owner and his shy daughter. Of course, the British colonel and his
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Jeffrey Friedman | Rob Epstein
Chris says: “After a few stabs at making biopics (HOWL, LOVELACE), veteran nonfiction filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman return to form with a slick but affecting documentary about one of the greatest vocalists of her generation. While not held
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Starring: Dome Karukoski | Jörn Donner | Kati Outinen | Sakari Kuosmanen | Sherwan Haji | Tommi Corpela | Tommi Eronen | Ville Virtanen
Thom says: “Aki Kaurismäki has long been one of my TOP 10 Living Directors and this film richly adds to his glamorous acclaim. His top rated films include: CRIME & PUNISHMENT (1983), ARIEL (1988), THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL (1990), La Vie
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Starring: Daniel Giménez Cacho | Juan Minujín | Lola Dueñas | Mariana Nunes | Matheus Nachtergaele | Nahuel Cano
Chris says: “Apart from her debut feature LA CIENAGA, all of Lucrecia Martel’s films have left me cold and damn if I can pinpoint why. As a big fan of stuff like Tarkovsky’s STALKER, it’s not like I abhor slow
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Boots Riley
Starring: Armie Hammer | Danny Glover | Forest Whitaker | Jermaine Fowler | Kate Berlant | Lakeith Stanfield | Lily James | Michael X. Sommers | Omari Hardwick | Tessa Thompson
Thom says: “A good friend gave me a choice of 3 current features & I mistakenly chose this one. I think part of the problem was an age difference. Amongst the 70s group I’m afraid I’ve lost a lot of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Carlos López Estrada
Starring: Daveed Diggs | Ethan Embry | Janina Gavankar | Jasmine Cephas Jones | Rafael Casal
Chris says: “As regional/provincial cinema goes, this is valuable enough—it depicts Oakland lovingly without sentimentalizing it. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal are also good together (and apart) and should each be in more films, please. However, the direction’s ham-fisted, the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Deborah S. Esquenazi
Thom says: “I might be rating this a trifle high but I’m a sucker for these wrongful convictions of innocent people movies ever since the 3rd in the PARADISE LOST series almost was made my FILM-OF-THE-YEAR in 2011 before finally
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: André Téchiné
Starring: Alexis Loret | Corentin Fila | Jean Fornerod | Kacey Mottet Klein | Mama Prassinos | Sandrine Kiberlain | Vanessa Duran
Thom says: “To know that this is Techine’s 29th film recognizes that this he’s indeed a major French film director as he’s used many of the best in the business for his productions that have won quite a few awards.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Desiree Akhavan
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz | Dalton Harrod | Kerry Butler | McCabe Slye | Quinn Shephard | Sasha Lane | Steven Hauck
Chris says: “APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR is one of the better directorial feature debuts of this decade; for her follow-up, Desiree Akhavan eschews the earlier film’s explicit biographical feel (she also starred in it) for an adaptation of Emily Danforth’s novel about
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