Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Johnny To
Starring: Simon Yam | Tian-lin Wang | Tony Leung Ka Fai
Bruce says: “Triads in Hong Kong are similar to Mafia families in Italy and the United States. Each triad controls a specific geographic area and often a certain type of criminal activity such as drug trafficking, gambling, smuggling, prostitution, running
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Nicole Bettauer
Starring: Amy Hill | Bill Brochtrup | Philip Baker Hall
Jay says: “Some people really enjoy when they’re the only ones in the theater, and I can dig that, especially for a matinee where you might have come for the specific point of not dealing with the boors who can
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Georgia Lee
Starring: Elaine Kao | Freda Foh Shen | Jacqueline Kim | Tzi Ma
Bruce says: “Georgia Lee wrote and directed this enjoyable comedy about the Wongs, a dysfunctional Chinese-American family. The three Wong daughters are all going through major changes. Samantha (Jacqueline Kim), the oldest daughter, gave up a promising opportunity to study
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Katherine Dieckmann
Starring: Ken Marino | Lauren Ambrose | Maura Tierney | Paul Rudd
Michael says: “Is it a nostalgia piece looking back on working class lives on Long Island in the late 70’s? Is it a tale of big corporations taking the livelihoods of the individual? Is it a coming-of-age story about a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Ann Consigny | Emmanuelle Seignier | Issach De Bankolé | Jean-Pierre Cassel | Marie-Josée Croze | Marina Hands | Mathieu Amalric | Max von Sydow | Patrick Chesnais
Bruce says: “Julian Schnabel suspects that Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) was superficial and arrogant, not a particularly likeable man, before he suffered the fatal stroke that turned him into a sensitive, reflecting human being. Bauby was editor of Elle magazine
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Anne Sundberg | Ricki Stern
Bruce says: “A few years back had Brian Steidle looked in the mirror he would have seen a U.S. Marine starring back, a military career man not far removed from the days when he was a college beer drinking champion.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Karen Moncrieff
Starring: Brittany Murphy. Piper Laurie | Bruce Davison | James Franco | Kerry Washington | Marcia Gay Harden | Mary Beth Hurt | Mary Steenburgen | Rose Byrne | Toni Collette
Michael says: “With an outstanding cast and a handful of Independent Spirit Award nominations (including Best Director, Best Feature, and Best Supporting Actress), I would have thought that Karen MoNcrieff’s somber, powerful film, THE DEAD GIRL, would have had better
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Frank Oz
Starring: Alan Tudyk | Andy Nyman | Daisy Donovan | Ewen Bremner | Matthew Macfadyen | Peter Dinklage | Rupert Graves
Chris says: “This dyspeptic British comedy regarding a family funeral for a deceased patriarch shouldn’t work at all. It has too many characters to respectfully consider, an abundance of outlandish plot twists, and a steady current of lowbrow humor. And
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Starring: Bernard Blancan | Jamel Debbouze | Roschdy Zem | Sami Bouajila | Samy Nasceri
Bruce says: “Algeria, 1943. Men are marching through the streets urging others to join them in saving France from Nazi Germany. ‘We must liberate France, Mother,’ exclaims Saïd (Jamel Debbouze). ‘I prefer poverty to losing you,’ his mother replies. DAYS
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Julia Loktev
Starring: Gareth Saxe | Josh Philip Weinstein | Luisa Williams
Chris says: “SPOIERS AHEAD! “It’s ideal to go into Julia Loktev’s remarkable debut feature not knowing anything, but it’s also damn near impossible to write about it without disclosing what it’s about. (However, basic knowledge of the plot did not
Read the review...