Tag: Foreign Film Review
The Wind Rises | Review
Miyazaki’s Swan Song A Somber Flight Of Fancy
Earlier this month, legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki, writer and director of such masterpieces as Spirited Away, Castle...
Black Out | Review
Black and Mild: Toonen’s High Octane Adaptation a Bit Derivative
If you could imagine The Hangover remade as a drug fueled action thriller with stylizations...
Easy Money: Hard to Kill | Review
Man of Straw: Kinnaman Beginagain in Energetic Yet Paltry Sequel
While Swedish director Daniel Espinosa’s 2010 film Easy Money kicked off his lucrative international status,...
Love is in the Air | Review
Pressurized: Sagnier and Co. in a Charming Rom-Com Straitjacket
For his first solo film as director, Alexandre Castagnetti nabbed the talented Ludivine Sagnier to headline...
Stranger By the Lake | Review
Wet Hot French Summer: Guiraudie’s Bold, Scintillating New Film
Idiosyncratic filmmaker Alain Guiraudie is set to take the art house by storm with his bold,...
Summer in February | Review
Summer Bummer: Menaul’s Love Triangle Inspires Opposite Emotions
Not every “based on a true story” is actually fit for a feature length film. In fact,...
In Bloom | Review
An Early Frost: Ekvtimishvili & Grob’s Debut a Memoir in Neorealism
The Georgian entry for 2014’s Best Foreign Language Film, In Bloom is the directorial...
Pauline Detective | Review
Pauline at the Beach: Fitoussi’s Breezy Caper Good for a Laugh
Director Marc Fitoussi seems inclined toward breezy-haired, bauble headed gamines that get jostled around...
The Rocket | Review
Silver Linings: Morduant’s Debut a Breezy, Formulaic Crowd Pleaser
After winning awards and audience accolades at nearly every film festival it’s screened at (including Berlin,...
The Invisible Woman | Review
In Plain Sight: Great Expectations for Fiennes' Sophomore Effort
After his brash, testosterone-fueled directorial debut Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes fares far better with the quieter, chest-heaving illicit...
Paradise: Hope | Review
Grand Finale: Seidl’s Final Chapter Strikes Surprisingly Tender Notes
With Paradise: Hope, the crowning chapter of Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise Trilogy, the provocateur surprises...
What’s In a Name? | Review
By Any Other Name: Patellerie & Delaporte’s Debut a Comfortably Forced Farce
Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patelliere’s co-directorial debut, What’s in a...
Night Train to Lisbon | Review
Ride on Time: August and Another Puerile Adaptation
It’s evident that Danish director Bille August favors helming adaptations of challenging novels, though the end result...
Here Comes the Devil | Review
Lock Your Souls Up: Bogliano’s Latest a Decent But Frayed Exercise
Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s tenth feature film, Here Comes the Devil finally shows the Argentinean...
S#x Acts | Review
Sextette: Gurfinkel’s Debut an Uncomfortable Sashay into Female Victimhood
Exuding enough uncomfortable finesse to be ranked as one of several cinematic explorations that appear to...
Caught In the Web | Review
Once Upon a Time, in the Digital Age…: Chen’s Latest a Message Heavy Oddity
A critique of the hounding one sidedness of the omnipresent media...
Twice Born | Review
Emulating Almodóvar: Castellitto Employs Cruz To Pull Heartstrings
The renowned Italian actor turned middling director Sergio Castellitto returns to his place on both sides of...
Love Building | Review
Faulty Blueprint: Rugina’s Debut Pleasures the Crowd, Numbs the Mind
A certifiable hit at the Romanian box office, Iulia Rugina’s directorial debut, Love Building has...
La Jaula de Oro | Review
Trains of Innocence: Savage Road Story to the Land of Broken Dreams
Among the vast and redundant collection of tales dealing with illegal immigration, very...
We Are Mari Pepa | Review
Adolescent Grunge: Kishi Takes Musical Trip Into Adulthood
Undoubtedly making it difficult to find solemnity with a film that opens with a posse of teenagers...
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom | Review
Half Nelson: Chadwick’s Biopic Stretched Thin
An attempt to cover fifty years in the life of South African President Nelson Mandela in the time span...
Philomena | Review
Catholic Kisses: Frears’ Returns with a Loveable Crowd Pleaser
Just when you thought that Stephen Frears’ latest film, Philomena, would be yet another questionable exercise...
The Great Beauty | Review
La Dolce Vita: Sorrentino Visits Rome & Fellini in Opus-like Stroke
In Paolo Sorrentino's lavishly received Italian crime potboiler Il Divo, the stage is set...
Paris Countdown | Review
City of Neon Lights: Marie’s Debut a Soundtrack Assisted Cliché
How the title Paris Countdown was decided upon to stand as the English language translation...
How I Live Now | Review
There's No Place Like Home; Macdonald Pulled By Too Many Strings
This polished as his docu-work, Kevin Macdonald's fourth fiction feature is a little bit...
The Broken Circle Breakdown | Review
A Fiery Ring: Van Groeningen Turns to Somber Tragedy For Latest
Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen, whose previous three films explore ups and downs between...
Diana | Review
The Dish On Di: Hirschbiegel’s Dissection of Princess’ Last Two Years a Trifling Affair
Whether ambivalent or not about Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Princess Di biopic, Diana,...
Last Love | Review
Sleepy Time Love: Nettlebeck Underwhelms with Latest Character Study
German director Sandra Nettlebeck returns with her fourth feature, Last Love, adapted from a novel by...
Man of Tai Chi | Review
Tai Me Up Tai Me Down: Reeves’ Directorial Debut a B Grade Vanity Project
Keanu Reeves. Hardly as woeful as you might assume, the directorial...
Blue is the Warmest Color | Review
Blue is the Color of My True Love’s Hair: Kechiche Takes Us Deep Sea, Baby
For his latest film, Abdellatif Kechiche returns to themes of...
Camille Claudel, 1915 | Review
Snake Pit Soliloquy: Dumont’s Brief Vignette Profoundly Effective
Many are perhaps familiar with Isabelle Adjani’s much hailed Oscar nominated performance as the turn of the...
The Dirties | Review
Masterfully taking on media-making headline subject matters of bullying and school shootings with the rarely witnessed buddy comedy swagger, Canadian writer/director/star Matt Johnson approaches sensitive...
Dark Touch | Review
If Only They Knew She Had the Power: De Van’s Somber Telekinetic Exercise Lacks Verve
Previously a scribe and actress for Francois Ozon in some...
On the Job | Review
Part Time Inmates: Generic Baddies Work Manila’s Streets
At this point in the history of cinema crime dramas have become a commodity for mere financial...
Music Box Make a Vow; Pawlikowski’s “Ida” Receives Foreign Oscar Support
A helping hand is always appreciated when it comes to the foreign film Oscar race. It begins with about 60 submissions from countries such...
Abdellatif Kechiche’s Gets Behind the Green Door with Marilyn “The Ivory Girl” Chambers
Following in the wave of auteur French filmmakers (Bonello, Dumont) gravitating towards the nontraditional biopic projects, it appears that Abdellatif Kechiche was at the...
I’m the same I’m an other | 2013 TIFF Review
Journey to the West Side: The Heartbreaking Work of Sensitive Genius
Lost Persons Area premiered at Cannes as the first in an unfinished trilogy from...
Zaytoun | Review
Pitted Olive: Riklis’ Period Piece Adventure a Sappy Fantasy
Israeli director Eran Riklis returns to familiar territory with Zaytoun, using another unlikely friendship scenario between...
The Colony | Review
They Are What They Are: Renfroe’s Derivative Ice Age
Indie filmmaker Jeff Renfroe returns to Canada for his latest effort, a sci-fi actioneer, The Colony,...
Wadjda | Review
The Kid Without A Bike: Charming Ride Through Gender Politics in the Middle East
Even before the film appears on the screen there is a...
iNumber Number | 2013 TIFF Review
I Think I Got Yours: Marsh’s Latest a Simple Heist Thriller
Considering its locale, its budget, and enjoyably committed performances, South African filmmaker Donovan Marsh’s...
The Station | 2013 TIFF Review
Copy Creature: Kren’s Sophomore Feature a Hybrid Derivative
Following his Berlin set zombie debut Rammbock, Austrian director Marvin Kren returns with The Station, an eco-horror-ish...
Break Loose | 2013 TIFF Review
Loose Caboose: Uchitel’s Latest Clings to Convention
Russian director Alexey Uchitel returns with Break Loose, a romantically tinged period piece crime drama that’s nicely packaged,...
Attila Marcel | 2013 TIFF Review
Keaton-esque Amelie (or Whimsical Pianist)
French director Sylvain Chomet has delighted audiences with his droll animated films The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, earning...
Heart of a Lion | 2013 TIFF Review
Finding Out True Love Is Blind: Karukoski’s Latest Tackles Vehement Racial Tensions
Rising Finnish director Dome Karukoski follows up his hit 2010 comedy Lapland Odyssey...
Populaire | Review
Typist in Love: Roinsard’s Vivid Homage to 50’s Romance is Bearably Predictable
Infusing the unexplored world of competitive typewriting with classic romanticism, Regis Roinsard debut...
Je M’appelle Hmm… | 2013 Venice Film Festival Review
Name Dropper: Conflicting Techniques Clutter Agnes B.’s Debut
French fashion designer and film producer Agnes Trouble makes her directorial and screenwriting debut under the pseudonym...
Medeas | 2013 Venice Film Festival Review
You Gotta See Her: Palloaro’s Debut Trite Yet Lyrical Odyssey of Familial Discord
Any familiarity with the Euripides’ classic Greek tragedy will have you already...
Il Futuro (The Future) | Review
Future Starts Slow: Scherson’s Adaptation a Densely Structured Puzzle
For her third feature film, Chilean born director Alicia Scherson adapts cult Latin American author Roberto...
Closed Circuit | Review
Three Days of Ardour: Crowley’s Political Thriller Blunderbuss
There’s considerable promise at the beginning of Closed Circuit, employing a sort of Mike Figgis cam of multiple...
