Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Etienne Comar
Starring: Bea Palya | Bimbam Merstein | Cécile de France | Gabriel Mireté | Johnny Montreuil | Reda Kateb
Julie says: “I really liked this one! Great acting, pd,cin,use of music,story…..very well done and very interesting. I had no ideaa about the life and struggles of this famous musician. “One interesting side note is that when I was in
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Chris Metzler | Jeff Springer | Quinn Costello
Chris says: “Further proof that one can make a movie about *anything*–in this case, twenty-plus pound swamp rats (technical name: nutria) infesting coastal Louisiana and beyond. Fun, educational (Wendell Pierce should narrate everything) and not for the squeamish. 3 cats“
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Bo Burnham
Starring: Daniel Zolghadri | Elsie Fisher | Emily Robinson | Fred Hechinger | Imani Lewis | Jake Ryan | Josh Hamilton | Luke Prael | Missy Yager | Thomas John O'Reilly
Chris says: “I can’t overstate how terrific Elsie Fisher is as Kayla, an awkward, average fourteen-year-old who’s quirky enough to stand apart from any other similarly-aged protagonist you’ve seen before and also recognizable to an almost painfully universal degree. Delectably
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: David Moorst | Maxine Peake | Pearce Quigley | Rachel Finnegan | Rory Kinnear | Simona Bitmate | Tom Meredith
Thom says: “This film appears to have been critically overlooked by almost everyone. Mike Leigh has to be considered one of the greatest directors currently working and his huge number of top-rated gems with me rings in at 13, including
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Amanda Seyfried | Bill Hoag | Cedric the Entertainer | Ethan Hawke | Michael Gaston | Philip Ettinger | Victoria Hill
Chris says: “I believe any work of art has the potential to be both ridiculous and sublime, however rarely one achieves such a tricky balance is. To its credit, FIRST REFORMED is often firmly the latter—the austere opening credits sequence with
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats | 4 cats
Director: Nadine Labaki
Starring: Boluwatife Treasure Bankole | Fadi Kamel Youssef | Kawthar Al Haddad | Yordanos Shiferaw | Zain Al Rafeea
Chris says: “If anything, Nadine Labaki has a talent for coaching great performances from child actors: Zain Al Rafeea, the 12-ish-year-old lead is exceptional for his age, but one-year-old Boluwatife Treasure Bankole nearly goddamn steals the show from him. Loses
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Todd Douglas Miller
Chris says: “Not to diminish all the great moon-landing footage, what stuck with me most here was the first half-hour: a fascinating time capsule of what this country and its people looked like fifty years ago, restored to appear as
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Danny Clinch | T.G. Herrington
Chris says: “Ephemeral but heartfelt and engaging, particularly whenever it shows the dialogue occurring organically between the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Cuban musicians (it spends a little too much time telling us about it.)”
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Zhangke Jia
Starring: Fan Liao | Feng Xiaogang | Tao Zhao | Xu Zheng | Zhang Yibai
Chris says: “Jia Zhangke’s last film, MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART is my favorite of his assessments of how much China has evolved in his lifetime; although this repeats many of that film’s tropes (plus sneaks in a callback to STILL LIFE,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Matt Spicer
Starring: Aubrey Plaza | Billy Magnussen | Elizabeth Olsen | O'Shea Jackson Jr. | Wyatt Russell
Thom says: “One of my favorite things about seeing films is when I cash in on someones recommendation and the film blows me away. Such was the case from Chlotrudis reporters for their strong reviews of this sharp indie winner.
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