Search results for: Dan Rush

"The Sound of Insects is a very taxing aesthetic experience, and one which does not appear tax with an eye to rewarding the viewer in the end, but which seems content merely to tax and toss out a few nice images at intervals. As an adaptation of a novel which was itself an adaptation of a diary, it almost provides a template of what not to do, namely, to let the narration overwhelm the visual aspect of the work, which is finally the raison d’être of cinema."

While last year we got such items as Monsters, Our Day Will Come and Adam Wingard's A Horrible Way to Die (he returns to the line-up this year in the Midnight Madness section), this edition appears to be a cut above, they've got a pair of excellent features we caught back in Cannes with Joachim Trier's Oslo, August 31 (Un Certain Regard) and Justin Kurzel's Snowtown (Critics' Week). A highly touted item from Venice has also made the cut, and we're especially glad that we'll be able to see Tahar Rahim violently and emotionally lose it in Love and Bruises - Lou Ye's first film in another language and perhaps his "comeback" film of sorts.

The film’s paunchiness is quite surprising considering the taut storytelling of Melville’s popular crime dramas. While attributed with adopting American Film Noir to Europe, the influence flowed both ways, as Melville’s raw, gritty late 60s - early 70s shoot’em ups were stylistically copied by several Hollywood films of the period. His last two films, Le Cercle Rouge and Un Flic were both impressive exercises in gripping hard-boiledness, with the latter even surviving a laughably botched helicopter special effects sequence – filmed in unconvincing miniature, the resulting tableau looked like something from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood – to remain an engrossing entertainment. But this commitment to crystal coherence is sadly lacking in Léon Morin, Priest.

Now that we're done salivating over the unveiling of the Gala and Special Presentation screenings for 2011 Toronto Int. Film Festival, we now put our attention on the official selection of the Venice Film Festival sidebar know as Venice Days. Director Giorgio Gosetti has mounted an edition that includes some gem auteurs and newbie filmmakers we've been keeping tabs on for the better half of 2010/2011.