Typically with Russian submissions to the Academy for International Film, you see dark, brutal, dramatic epics often focused on violence. Loveless and Leviathan come to mind. The Russian selection committee look to the future with promising 26-year-old director Kantemir Balagov, only on his third feature but already capturing three major awards at Cannes, two this […]
Director of 27 Dresses Michael Mayer doesn’t seem to have much of a clue how to adapt Anton Chekhov’s play. He’s in good company, as other versions have also disappointed. Despite the lack of inspired direction, the actors rise to the occasion of melodrama, especially Oscar nominee Bening (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool). The
The audience was virtually silent when this comedy debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, and initially no distributor was interested in releasing it. Eventually it was picked up by IFC films. It is often difficult to market such obtuse films as this historical slapstick comedy. “I’ve had nightmares that made more sense
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver Linings Playbook”) reunites with her “Hunger Games” director Francis Lawrence in “Red Sparrow”. My expectations for this film were low due the March release date, and the Hollywood star’s last project was nominated for a Razzie. It begins with one heck of an opening sequence, the first indication this film
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,
Paradise comes from a different perspective on the ending of WWII in Germany, one in which previous leaders and a prisoner reflect on what happened from their viewpoints, why they made the decisions they did, and their regrets. Olga (Vysotskaya) is a Russian noblewoman who joined the French Resistance and got arrested for sheltering Jewish
The ‘Fate’ of the series is secure. There will always be an audience for these films regardless of what implausibility they launch on screen or how poorly the actors deliver their lines. Universal’s mammoth franchise has even started to pull in Oscar winners like Charlize Theron (“Mad Max”) and Helen Mirren (“The Woman in Gold”)
Another film with good intentions; dark history that deserves to be on the big screen, weakened by a terrible script and amateur direction. C-rate television director George Mendeluk and screenwriter Richard Bachynsky Hoover use the “Titanic Movie” model to convey a love story set inside the horrific events of Ukraine’s man-made famine that killed around
I’m often asked what types of films I like. I usually explain that there isn’t a type, but a quest for something original, unique, different, that’s what impresses me. However, here is an example where a far reaching first time filmmaker, Ilya Naishuller (called the next Tarantino) debuts an entirely innovative and unconventional presentation, and