Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Richard Ledes
Starring: Meatloaf Aday | Michelle Williams | Tim Guinee
Bruce says: “ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST taught us what better topic for black comedy than lobotomy. FRANCES, a tour de force for Jessica Lange, approached the subject in a somber manner. Along comes A HOLE IN ONE, directed
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Michael Mayer
Starring: Colin Farrell | Dallas Roberts | Robin Wright Penn | Sissy Spacek
Chris says: “Even though it cuts out a fairly major character and settles for an omniscient point of view (rather than the book’s chapter = character narration), Michael Cunningham mostly captures the essence of his beautiful book in his adapted
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Director: Oren Rudavsky
Diane says: “This docu by Menachem Daum has something in common with DOGVILLE: the acceptance of a refugee and its impact on both sides. In DOGVILLE, people need to know if the woman on the run is worthy before they
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Jet Li | Maggie Cheung | Tony Leung | Zhang Zhiyi
Chris says: “Zhang Yimou’s long-delayed (in the US, anyway) martial arts epic is stunning, at least technically. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle outdoes himself, the awesome color-coding even more sensual than IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE’s rain-drenched streets and intricate, congested apartments.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Alan Rickman | Daniel Radcliffe | Emma Watson | Rupert Grint
Chris says: “Of course this is the best Harry Potter film by miles, as Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN director Alfonso Cuarón is a virtuoso compared to the execrable Chris Columbus. This is the first Harry Potter book I’ve actually read
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Penny Panayotopoulou
Starring: Ioanna Tsirigouli | Stelios Mainas | Yorgos Karayannis
Diane says: “Writer/director Penny Panayotopoulou’s 2002 debut hasn’t gotten much of a release, but Ellen and I saw it in Newburyport. It’s a negative of THE RETURN: in 1969 Athens, a traveling salesman comes home for a few days to
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Takashi Miike
Michael says: “Ah, the rollercoaster ride that is a Takashi Miike film. With his latest American release, GOZU, we have a ride that starts of slowly, if perplexing. Midway through, things have gotten downright freakish, but the pace is still
Read the review...Guerilla: the Taking of Patty Hearst (USA; 90 min.) directed by: Robert Stonedocumentary Michael says: “It’s a fascinating subject, to be sure, and the archival news footage and interviews with two of the surviving members of the Symbionese Liberation
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ryan Fleck
Starring: Karen Clinton | Matt Kerr | Shareeka Epps
Chris says: “I wish our short film festival received more entries like this somber, subtle, soulful sketch about a 12 year-old girl and one of her teachers. Everything is delicately nuanced and left open; if the filmmakers succeed in expanding
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Starring: Chulpan Khamatova | Daniel Brühl | Katrin Saß
Janet says: “In this worthwhile film, a young East German man hides the unification of Germany in order to protect his fragile Socialist mother from dying of shock. Like most films that work the premise of going to any length
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