It’s only Alfonso Cuaron’s eighth feature film, but the Oscar-winning director of Gravity says he wanted to make Roma for years. It’s already being hailed a masterpiece and a major awards player. Also, it is the only film this season to land at all three major film festivals (Telluride, Venice & Toronto). I was skeptical of a black and […]
A lot has been said and written about the film Burning, South Korea’s submission to the Academy Award foreign film race this year. It began rolling out for the world to see back at the Cannes film festival. Whether critical word of mouth or it’s perplexing nature, Burning has become the second most talked about
Gustav Möller’s directorial debut is impressive on a variety of fronts. What appears to be another single actor, solitary film, like Phone Booth or Locke, is equally taught and thrilling. Möller and his team create suspense with immaculate sound design that helps the viewer visualize what’s happening on the other side of the phone. The
Chile’s submission for foreign film at the 90th Academy Awards takes us into the country’s transgender acceptance struggle. Director Sebastián Lelio specifically chose actress Daniela Vega for her personal story, of course her acting skills and vocal abilities were what gave the director confidence in the performance. The film opens on a massive, stunning waterfall
Following up his haunting and Oscar nominated Leviathan, writer/director Andrey Zvyagintsev returns with another look at bleak, modern Russian life. Loveless is a character study, examining two divorcing parents, neither of which want custody of their child. The details and elements of the film are heartbreaking, but Zvyagintsev spends so much time detailing the personas,
During awards season, I seem to always get to the foreign films last, which is often-times my loss. This year most of the submissions seem to focus on the political. The plots also seem distant and unrelated to problems in America. The Insult is a notable exception. It is a story of ethnic tensions, not
At some point we have all met that person, that individual who refuses to be serious, continuously makes jokes, and is a constant prankster. German filmmaker Maren Ade takes that character and puts him in everyday situations where the people he interacts with don’t know whether he is serious or insane. In her original screenplay,
Italian director Matteo Garrone has changed what I consider visionary after his horror fantasy Tale of Tales. With Disney doling out forgettable fairy tales right and left, and large musical productions like Into the Woods, the origin of the fairy tale has been lost and forgotten. No, I am not talking about Grimm’s fairy tales,
Delusion is sometimes shared—even among a whole crowd of people—but it’s seldom perpetuated in one individual by everyone around her, as in this film, Marguerite (performed expertly by Catherine Frot). Marguerite’s husband, Georges (Marcon) is convinced that it would kill her to learn the truth—that is, that she sings noticeably off key. And it’s astounding
The Bedouin Desert has its own rules, and young Theeb (Al-Hwietal) has learned them well, although he also has a streak of the rebel and is eager to become a man.