Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Tom Harper
Starring: Craig Parkinson | James Harkness | Jessie Buckley | Julie Walters
Chris says: “Jessie Buckley is so damn good she altogether shreds and transcends this film’s standard “I wanna be a star” trajectory; almost as impressive is how the film itself nearly does the same with its not-entirely-expected, somewhat corny but
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Ljubomir Stefanov | Tamara Kotevska
Michael says: “HONEYLAND was a remarkable documentary; I think it was my top film of the festival. Remarkably shot, incredibly edits, a real gem of a story that was somehow gifted to the filmmaker, HONEYLAND also illuminates a culture I
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Dava Whisenant
Starring: Chita Rivera | David Letterman | Florence Henderson | Martin Short | Sheldon Harnick | Steve Young | Susan Stroman
Chris says: “If a deep dive into the obscure world of 1960s industrial musicals doesn’t at least pique your interest, then this is not a documentary for you. If it at all does, however, you won’t mind spending ninety minutes
Read the review...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
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