Tag: Foreign Film Review
Killers | Review
The Killers Inside Me: The Mo Bros’ International Serial Spree
Directing duo Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto, better known as the Mo Brothers, team for the slice...
The Duke of Burgundy | Review
The Body and the Whip: Strickland’s Sublime Homage to Erotic Cinema
Beginning like something that should have been called Exploits of a Chambermaid, replete with...
Black Sea | Review
Lower Depths: MacDonald’s Latest a Tense Deep Sea Treasure Hunt
While it’s being treated to a December release in his native UK, director Kevin MacDonald’s...
R100 | Review
Joy Pain Club: Matsumoto’s Latest Insistent Weirdness Uneven
After his delightful if belabored 2007 debut Big Man Japan put him on the map, director Hitoshi...
Son of a Gun | Review
Gunsmoke: Avery’s Able-bodied Debut Dulled by Familiar Tropes
The less familiar you are with the dramatic crime genre, perhaps the more engaged you’ll be with...
Involuntary | Review
Cold Cuts: Östlund Examines Behavior Unawares in Astute Sophomore Feature
While Ruben Östlund’s 2004 feature debut The Guitar Mongoloid first played with examinations of human...
Human Capital | Review
For What It’s Worth: Virzi’s Leftist Neo-Noir a Capitalistic Parable
Receiving its North American premiere last spring at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, where it...
The Guitar Mongoloid | Review
People Are Strange: Östlund’s Debut a Curio Set of Characters
Premiering domestically in late 2004 before snagging festival play at a handful of festivals, including...
It’s All So Quiet | Review
I Need a Lover with a Farmhand: Leopold’s Understated Portrait of Desire Deferred
Loneliness and resentment are the dueling, omnipresent emotions on screen in virtually...
Fidelio: Alice’s Journey | Palm Springs International Film Festival Review
Go Ask Alice: Borleteau’s Debut Examines Desire, Gender, and Maturity
Sure to be described as “European,” seemingly in the sense that it relays a familiar...
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death | Review
Blitzkrieg Bop: Harper’s Demurely Serviceable Horror Sequel Revels in Cheap Thrills
Director James Watkins scored a sleeper hit with his 2012 sophomore film, The Woman...
Li’l Quinquin | Review
Life of Quinquin: Dumont’s Foray into Miniseries Format Filled with His Brand of Peculiar Humor
Provocative auteur Bruno Dumont lets loose his comedic side with...
Rec 4: Apocalypse | Review
Wreckollect: Balaguero Returns to Famed Franchise for Gasping Final Chapter
The good news is that we’ve probably seen the last creative juice finally squeezed out...
Tip Top | Review
Vive La France!: Bozon Returns With a Strangeness
Actor turned director Serge Bozon is the most visible member of a small coterie of filmmakers operating...
Song of the Sea | Review
Of Myth and Men: Moore Dons Skin of the Irish Selkies To Craft Stunning Children's Tale of Family Heritage
You can probably count the number...
Leviathan | Review
On the Waterfront: Zvyagintsev’s Sprawling Opus of a Modern, Devouring Regime
Back with his fourth feature, Leviathan, Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev succeeds in cinematic sublimity...
Zero Motivation | Review #2
Band of Girls: Lavie’s Acerbic, Confident Debut
Exacerbated ennui is explored to comedic effect in Tayla Lavie’s striking directorial debut, Zero Motivation, which explores life...
Zero Motivation | Review
A "Staple" Female-centric Portrait: Lavie Adds Dark Charm to Bureaucratic Military Milieu
With a subject so entrenched with weight and political correctness, there seems to...
Video Interview: Krzysztof Zanussi (Foreign Body) – 2014 Toronto Int. Film Festival
We sat down with Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival after the premiere of his new film, Foreign Body....
Pioneer | Review
Oil!: Skjoldbjaerg’s Latest an Icy Conspiracy Thriller
Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjaerg has remained a hard director to peg ever since his celebrated 1997 debut, Insomnia,...
Miss Julie | Review
Touch of Class: Ullmann’s Update of Classic Text Ultimately Lifeless
There are a scant few equals to the texts of playwright August Strindberg’s, his 1888...
Mirage | Review
Saving the Farm: Hajdu Offers Poor Man’s 12 Years A Slave
Set against sprawling plains and a dusty backdrop, Mirage (aka Délibáb) unravels as a...
Once Upon a Time, Veronica | Review
Sex and Candy: Gomes’ Wise, Intricate Character Study
Arriving over two years after its world premiere at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival, Brazilian director Marcelo...
The Imitation Game | Review
Cracking the Code: Tyldum's English Debut Delivers Thrills
Although mathematician Alan Turing OBE was responsible for creating a machine capable of solving the unsolvable Nazi...
The Mule | Review
Mother, Jugs, and Laxatives: Sampson and Mahony’s Curious Exploration of Strange Case
Based on its poster and other marketing materials for Angus Sampson and Tony...
Viktor | Review
From Russia with Schlock: Martinez’s Derivative Revenge Flick
While there’s certainly a modicum of perverse interest to be satisfied in witnessing the rotund Gerard Depardieu...
The Homesman | Review
Jumping Claims: Jones’ Attempt at Revisionist Western Withers Under its Own Intentions
Try as it might, The Homesman, Tommy Lee Jones’ first directorial effort since...
The Theory of Everything | Review
Scenes From a Marriage: Marsh’s Distilled Look at Physicist Stephen Hawking
Spanning twenty five years in their lives together and based on the memoir Travelling...
Open Windows | Review
Peeping Tom: Vigalondo’s Virtual Voyeurism Thriller Too Wrapped Up in Tech
In the barest possible sense, Nacho Vigalondo’s latest film, Open Windows, can perhaps be...
Viva la Liberta | Review
Dead Ringers: Ando’s Self-Adapted Switcheroo a Highlight for Servillo But Little Else
Politics and doppelgangers have hewn a surprisingly wide berth throughout decades of cinema,...
Penance | Review
Till I Can Get My Satisfaction: Kurosawa’s Striking Psychosexual Marathon
Past traumas hopelessly infecting the present factor significantly in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s monolithic psychosexual thriller, Penance,...
Before I Go To Sleep | Review
Sleep, My Love: Joffe’s Effective Woman in Peril Thriller
Adapting S.J. Watson’s pulpy novel Before I Go to Sleep for his second feature film (2010’s...
Private Peaceful | Review
Brother to Brother: O’Connor’s Rudimentary Look at Familial Ravages in WWII
His first film since that ill-advised 2001 remake of Sweet November, which sought to...
Goodbye to Language | Review
Breathless Spectacle: Godard's Three Dimensions are Child's Play
A rough-hewn yet mesmerizing appraisal of the modern world presented from a disturbingly dispassionate point-of-view is the latest...
1,000 Times Goodnight | Review
Words and Pictures: Binoche Dominates Poppe’s Familial Drama
Norwegian director Erik Poppe makes his English language directorial debut with 1,000 Times Goodnight, featuring an internationally...
Life of Riley | Review
Time to Leave: Alain Resnais’ Elegant Swan Song
Alain Resnais, that reluctant member of the French New Wave, passed away in March of 2014, not...
The Dark Valley | Review
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance: Prochaska’s Grimly Pleasing Revenge Yarn
Selected as Austria’s entry for this year’s Foreign Language Oscar submission, The Dark Valley is perhaps...
Revenge of the Green Dragons | Review
Dragon Seed: Lau & Loo’s Dissatisfying NYC Chinese Gang Saga
Martin Scorsese appears as executive producer on Andrew Lau and Andrew Loo’s Revenge of...
The Golden Era | Review
A Complicated Life: Hui’s Sprawling Biopic as Malcontented as Its Subject
Hong Kong director Ann Hui’s extensive filmography has been largely unavailable, though she’s steadily...
Felony | Review
Patch of Blue: Saville’s Sophomore Film Lost in Endless Ellipses
For his first film since his 2007 feature debut Noise, Australian director Matthew Saville returns...
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya | Review
Princess from the Moon: Takahata Bows with Feminist Spin on Fable
Following the news of Hayao Miyazaki’s possible retirement after the release of 2013’s The...
Diplomacy | Review
Paris is Burning: Schlondorff Continues Plumbing the Depths of WWII
Playwright Cyril Gely (who also wrote the play upon which Safy Nebbou’s 2010 film Dumas...
Housebound | Review
Home is Where the Horror Is: Johnson’s Ozzie Horror Tickles Rather Than Chills
Fans of Peter Jackson’s early works of zany, comedy horror will most...
The Goob | 2014 London BFI Film Festival Review
Goober is Great: Norfolk Sets the Scene for Myhill's Debut
Rebellious youths riding motorbikes down dirt roads aside, while there are some similarities to Pawel...
Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead | Review
Dead Again: Wirkola Outstays Welcome of Outlandish Gimmick
For those that were generally amused by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola’s breakout festival hit Dead Snow (2009),...
Automata | Review
I, Robot: Ibanez Saddles Asimov for Arresting A.I. Concoction
Spanish director Gabe Ibanez makes an impressive sci-fi entry with his sophomore feature, Automata, an exploration...
For Those in Peril | Review
Fish Out of Water: Wright’s Debut a Visually Arresting, Moody Allegory
The mythological significance of the sea inflects and infects Paul Wright’s somber directorial debut,...
Partners in Crime | 2014 TIFF Review
Something Scandalous: Teenage Anxiety as a Reflection of Culture
In many ways, Taiwanese director Jung-chi Chang’s sophomore feature, Partners in Crime, is very much like...
The Liberator | Review
Plowing the Sea: Arvelo’s Portrait of Famed Leader Hardly Revolutionary
Arriving with all the earmarks of a truncated and incredibly abridged version of history in...
The Blue Room | Review
Blue in the Face: Amalric’s Simenon Adaptation an Exquisite Enigma
Though actor/director Mathieu Amalric’s last directorial effort, On Tour (2010), landed him a Best Director...
