Tag: Foreign Film Review
Hungry Hearts | Review
Heart of Glass: Costanzo’s Uncomfortable, Emotional Glance at Madness
Must every cinematic portrait of mental illness be ‘illuminating?’ Your answer to that question may gauge...
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence | Review
Familiar Tune: Andersson Completes Trilogy With Enjoyable, Familiar Chapter
Prolific Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson tends to work infrequently, taking years, if not decades, between film...
Alias Maria | 2015 Cannes Film Festival Review
Guerillas in the Mist: Rugeles Explores the Jungles in Labored Sophomore Effort
An intriguing perspective within a terrifying environment initially makes for a compelling scenario...
Tu dors Nicole | Review
Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Lafleur’s Eccentric Portrait of One Hazy Summer
Quebecois filmmaker Stephane Lafleur’s third film, Tu dors Nicole (“You’re Sleeping Nicole) unfolds over...
Güeros | Review
Like it’s 1999: Ruizpalacios’ Sprightly Directorial Debut
There’s something in the air of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ directorial debut, Güeros, a beautifully shot period piece examining a...
The Japanese Dog | Review
Echoes of Autumn: Jurgiu’s Understated Debut Tender, Unmemorable
Inevitably, it’s difficult to consider the merits of Romanian director Tudor Cristian Jurgiu’s directorial debut The Japanese...
Love at First Fight | Review
Once Bitten: Cailley’s Unique Exploration of Summer Lovin’
Since premiering at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it picked up the FIPRESCI Prize in the...
Chronic | 2015 Cannes Film Festival Review
Prognosis Negative: Franco’s English Language Dance with Death
After winning the Un Certain Regard Award for his 2012 sophomore feature After Lucia, Mexican director Michel...
Cemetery of Splendour | 2015 Cannes Film Festival Review
Syndromes And A Cemetery: Thai Joe Returns With A Familiar Stunner
An elementary school-cum-hospital built atop a "cemetery of kings," ancient spaces reactivated the present,...
In the Shadow of Women | 2015 Cannes Film Festival Review
Masculine/Feminine: Garrel Offers Yet Another Take On A Romantic Rift
As we see with many so-called auteurs, Philippe Garrel has been making the same film...
One Floor Below | 2015 Cannes Film Festival Review
Radu Muntean Updates Rear Window to the Modern Age
Radu Muntean's One Floor Below, the latest entry in the Romanian New Wave, has a bone...
Slow West | Review
Western Dreams: Maclean’s Accomplished, Stylized Debut
Scottish musician John Maclean makes a handsome directorial debut with Slow West, a period western set mainly in 19th century Colorado....
Hunting Elephants | Review
Beasts of Burden: Levi’s Slapstick Heist Film Runs Amuck
For his sophomore film, Israeli director Reshef Levi inserts Patrick Stewart alongside the likes of Sasson...
Saint Laurent | Review
Once again, Make it the Same Only New
With this biopic on the great French fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent, Bertrand Bonello streamlines for himself...
Preggoland | Review
Maternity Syndrome: Tierney’s Undefined Comedy Explores Notions of Motherhood
What begins as a concept full of pleasurably subversive possibilities quickly turns into yet another diluted...
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared | Review
Shot in the Dark: Herngren’s Tiring Road Comedy Overplays Gimmick
Before you can even wrap your mind around its cumbersome title, you’ll be immediately comparing...
Hyena | Review
Scavenger’s Song: Johnson’s Chilling, Stylized Sophomore Feature
Opening with a brooding, atmospheric ambience as we drift through a throbbing drug bust set to an...
Marie’s Story | Review
Marie Huertin, 1885: Ameris Recreates Obscure Instance for Familiar Biopic
There’s no avoiding comparison to the famous story of deaf and blind Helen Keller with...
Days of Grace | Review
Grace is Gone: Gout’s Aggressive Debut Charts Patterns of Criminality
Don’t let the poetic title fool you, as Everardo Gout’s directorial debut Days of Grace...
In the Name of My Daughter | 2015 COLCOA French Film Festival Review
Scene of the Crime: Techine's Overly Involved True Crime Saga
Too often, In the Name of the Daughter, the latest from auteur André Téchiné (and...
Far From the Madding Crowd | Review
It’s All About Love: Vinterberg Revamps Hardy’s Classic Romance
Inevitably, we would have seen some filmmaker tackle a revamp of Thomas Hardy’s classic 1874 novel...
The Water Diviner | Review
Turkey Dressing: Crowe’s Well-Intentioned Debut Ultimately Mundane
In the comparable tradition of Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner, actor Russell Crowe makes a big budget, historically...
24 Days | Review
Barbarian Invasion: Arcady Hits the Headlines for Procedural
Recounting a bizarre kidnapping case from 2006 that reflects the continuing cultural mutation of anti-Semitism and the...
A Perfect Man | 2015 COLCOA Film Festival Review
Words With Friends: Gozlan’s Stylish Noir all Amalgamated Pulp
Enjoyably anxious, director Yann Gozlan’s sophomore feature A Perfect Man (Un homme idéal) would better recall suspense...
Monsters: Dark Continent | Review
This Time, It’s… Bore: Green’s Debut Piggybacks Indie Sci-Fi
Seeing as the cephalopod shaped extraterrestrials have only managed to move from conquering Mexico in Gareth...
The Dead Lands | Review
Dead and Buried: Fraser’s Sumptuously Filmed, Familiar Revenge Drama
Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and snagging the distinction of representing New Zealand as the...
Tangerines | Review
Fruit of the Land: Urushadze’s Straightforward Anti-War Sentiment
The horrors of war are quietly examined in Tangerines, a period situational drama from Georgian director Zaza...
The Passionate Thief (1960) | Review
Miracolo!: Monicelli’s Exuberant, Digitally Restored Classic
There hasn’t been a performer that’s come close to equaling the vibrant energy of Italian actress Anna Magnani, that...
That Man From Rio & Up To His Ears | Blu-ray Review
Two of director Philippe de Broca’s earliest renowned titles get new restorations and are available for the first time on Blu-ray, That Man From...
The Babadook | Blu-ray Review
Jennifer Kent’s disturbing directorial debut The Babadook arrives on Blu-ray this week, scoring some of the most critically acclaimed notices ever for a recent...
Félix et Meira | Review
What’s Under the Hat?: Giroux Proposes Unorthodox Paradox
Confectioned with a what makes us different makes us the same counterargument, Maxime Giroux’s third feature is...
Kill Me Three Times | Review
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me: Stenders’ Comedy Noir a Blend of Standard Tricks
Australian filmmaker Kriv Stenders lands his highest profile project yet with...
Black Souls | Review
Now I Lay Me Down to Kill: Munzi’s Enjoyably Reserved Mafia Film
Premiering last fall at the 2014 Venice Film Festival, where it picked up...
Ex Machina | Review
Imitation Game: Garland’ s Compelling Debut Explores Human’s Technological Hubris
Excitingly presented and intelligently written, screenwriter Alex Garland’s directorial debut Ex Machina is certainly one...
52 Tuesdays | Review
Tuesday’s Child: Hyde’s Attentive Examination of Transition
Belonging to a growing number of films taking place over real time, Australian director Sophie Hyde’s directorial debut,...
Effie Gray | Review
Portrait of a Lady: Laxton’s Mannered Version of Victoria Era Repression
There’s well-meaningness to Effie Gray that makes it worthy of discussion, at least for...
Woman in Gold | Review
All that Glitters: Curtis Traps Compelling Kernel in Avalanche of Schmaltz
British television alum Simon Curtis graduated to feature filmmaking in 2011 with the incredibly...
White God | Review
All Dogs Go To: Mundruczo’s Sad Trumpet Ballad an Allegory of Inhumanity
Terminology is key to deciphering the shaggy subtext of Kornel Mundruczo’s allegorical film,...
A Wolf at the Door | Review
Suffer the Children: Coimbra’s Dark Debut is an Affair to Remember
Kidnapping and abduction often make for unsettling cinematic subjects, especially when involving small children....
La Sapienza | Review #2
Spaces Between: Green’s Controlled, Heavily Stylized Metaphor
Eugène Green is an American born filmmaker who has been steadily making foreign films over the past decade...
La Sapienza | Review #1
Style-Over-Substance in a Fancy Baroque Package
French “artiste” Eugène Green’s latest work is further evidence that his overriding career trajectory of indulgent reminiscence, has a deliberately...
Amour Fou | Review
Love Fool: Hausner’s Latest an Exquisitely Shot, Humorous Exploration of Love and Death
With her fourth feature film, Amour Fou, Austrian director Jessica Hausner reveals...
Portrait of the Artist | 2015 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Review
On My Skin: Barraud Explores the Essence of Monstrosity
There are moments within Antoine Barraud’s sophomore feature Portrait of the Artist that tend to feel...
3 Hearts | Review
Heart to Heart to Heart: Jacquot’s Romantic Drama Can’t Cover Every Angle
Despite sporting the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Catherine Deneuve, 3 Hearts, the...
The Connection | 2015 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Review
Le Chapitre Français: Jimenez’s Satisfactory Take on Famed Drug Smuggling Operation
Within the glut of cinematic dramas and thrillers contending with drug smuggling operations and...
Of Horses and Men | Review
A Horse is a Horse, Of Course: Erlingsson’s Debut Visually Striking, Episodic
Iceland’s 2013 submission for Best Foreign Language film was the directorial debut of Benedikt...
Eat Your Bones | 2015 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Review
Family Matters: Hue’s Continued Fascination With Yenish Community
Director Jean-Charles Hue continues with the exploration of the Yenich community, a nomadic group of people that...
The Mafia Only Kills in Summer | Review
Il Sciocco: Pif’s Mafia Tinged Broad Comedy Revels in Pedestrian Frivolity
Apparently partially based on a true story, for whatever that statement is worth, The...
These Final Hours | Review
The Final Countdown: Hilditch Fails to Impress with Aussie Apocalypse
Australian director Zak Hilditch tackles the swiftly encroaching apocalypse in his latest effort, These Final...
Two Men in Town | Review
The Town That Dreaded Showdown: Bouchareb Returns to New Mexican Landscape with Mixed Results
French director Rachid Bouchareb’s long celebrated filmography has garnered two of...
